SIR – In his letter (T&A, January 8), Ron Harding carries on the tripe emenating almost daily by your correspondent C Hindle about banks making money out of thin air.

Nonsense, they make it out of money deposited with them by people who would rather make a little money by way of interest while the banks earn money by means of higher interest rates.

When I buy a tin of beans I pay more for it than the shop has paid the producer, who has sold it to them at a price higher than the cost of producing it. When one takes out a loan from a bank one pays for the service at a higher price than the cost of providing it.

It is all money, yes, but only the Bank of England can authorise the printing of it.

Philip Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley