This has been the warmest decade in central England since records began in 1659, and one year was the warmest ever, at 1.25 degrees centigrade above the previous 30-year average.

No, this has not been lifted from the current Meteorological Office website but was relating to the 1730s, the warmest year being 1733.

It should also be noted that the last decade of the 17th century had been cool on average, which meant that a comparison of those two decades gave a change of about plus two degrees centigrade, averaged over periods of five years, surely “hockey stick” graph material (Al Gore, please note).

Can any comparison be made with what happened after the 1730s with the present ?

Well, maybe. The warm decade ended abruptly, because 1740 was and remains the coolest year on record (the winter of 1740 was almost matched by 1963) and the remainder of that decade was also relatively cooler. As I have previously suggested, the next five to ten years should indicate whether “greenhouse” gas emissions are the primary cause of the recent warming. David Randon, Blue Slates Close, Wheldrake, York.