It is not too late to transform the ‘five towns’, writes Joan Walley, former MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, while Richard Ross describes how Thatcher’s deindustrialisation of Britain saw the destruction of the pottery industry A worker at the former Wedgewood factory and pottery in Stoke-on-Trent paints a design on teacups. Photograph: Roger Bamber/Alamy A worker at the former Wedgewood factory and pottery in Stoke-on-Trent paints a design on teacups. Photograph: Roger Bamber/Alamy Letters Wed 20 Jan 2021 12.02 EST Last modified on Wed 20 Jan 2021 23.37 EST Your editorial beautifully lures your readers into a gentle, entertaining but stark overview of the effect that pit closures and outsourcing had on the warm and caring people of the Potteries (The Guardian view on The Great Pottery Throw Down: eccentric and kind, 15 January).