KEN BARNES (Letters, January 3) has his facts completely wrong when he says coal is not millions of years old. A lot of it was laid down in the carboniferous period, between roughly 360 million and 300 million years ago.

Alan Robinson, Lindley Street, Holgate, York.

 

• THE climate-change denier big guns are finally rolling out on to the battlefield and I have seen the light.

Ken Barnes insists coal is only a few thousand years old and that the solution to the world’s challenges is to make more coal. I have long understood that if you want a decent analysis of climate change or the fossil record, it is better to speak with a Baptist minister from South Carolina rather than waste time listening to the views of climate scientists or palaeontologists.

I have seen those helpful websites that explain that climate scientists all tell lies because they earn money from peddling their nightmare vision, as do all the employees at the Meteorological Office, the members of the Royal Society, government scientists around the planet, NASA, ESA, everyone employed at the UN, etc.

Talk to a cab driver rather than an economist if you want sound advice on running the country’s finances. Never trust anyone with professional qualifications, lad, they are all on the make.

Henceforth, if I want the unvarnished truth on sedimentary rocks, I won’t listen to geologists I will turn to Ken Barnes. Let’s make coal... shall we use your machine, Ken?

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York.