Christopher Pickles (Gazette & Herald, October 15) writes that wind turbines are rather beautiful.

He is entitled to his view, although most of us see them as blots on the landscape. If they were an effective energy source, we would also put up with them.

However, the truth is very different. The countless wind turbines now wrecking our countryside need 100 per cent back-up from nuclear or fossil fuel power stations, negating any energy that they might generate. They destroy our birdlife and consume valuable agricultural land when food shortages are on the horizon.

They are inefficient, weather dependent and, as a result of their heavy subsidy, greatly increase fuel bills. At a time of growing fuel poverty, this is another malign consequence of these monstrous structures. There is a looming fuel crisis in our country and, when it arrives, our obsession with these alien invaders will be a principal cause.

Toby Horton, UKIP prospective parliamentary candidate for Thirsk and Malton