WE HEAR that the present situation has made many people think about how, in our throw-away society, we buy too often and don’t expect things to last, writes Hugh Besent.

One of the worst culprits is the clothes industry, and yet the materials which are the most durable and diverse are natural fibres such as wool, cotton, flax, linen and silk. Perhaps we will see a change to a more sustainable economy; it is clearly time.

Sadly, wool is going through an all time low in both prices and volumes manufactured.

How many other industries have to wait a year for payment for goods?

In June, the British Wool Marketing Board announced that there would be no part payment this year and sheep farmers will have to wait until next May to receive any payments at all. Yet sheep are shorn for their welfare and shearers are paid for their trouble.

When climate change protesters who are so vocal about waste and especially plastic unsustainability, I cannot help but notice what many wear and look at their lifestyle.

Invariably it is plastic coated wind proof or lycra trousers and many travel all over this country and beyond on bikes with plastic seating and rubber tyres or on aeroplanes.

Wool has so many uses in the home, from insulation during building to fireproofing, as well as for goods such as carpet and sofas as it is naturally fire resistant. We forget that flax used to be widely grown in the Severn Valley hence the name Arddleen. Such fibres are renewable and need to be considered seriously again.

Wales has less sheep than it used to have but keeping sheep is still an important part of the rural economy and this is another threat to its existence.

Surely the various governments of the UK could see some way to support the Wool Marketing Board in their endeavours to resolve the current crisis?