The first casualty of war is the truth, says Matthew Laverack (Letters, November).

In the midst of Cop26, and given what’s at stake for us all, it’s a pity he holds the outdated views he does and seems to have succumbed to falsehoods.

He must think that the majority of the world’s scientists, and all the politicians, experts and activists gathered in Glasgow, have all got it wrong.

Does he really believe mankind has not caused devastating damage to our planet? What does he blame recent extreme weather events on? And which climate change folk is Mr Laverack talking about when he mentions those ‘frightened’ of an ‘honest, open debate’?

He also says the mainstream media is not reporting the ‘other’ narrative.

Perhaps that’s because qualified, professional journalists are reporting the facts, not fake news, which is all too often a poisonous ingredient of social media.

Actually, over the years, the proper media often lined up a climate scientist against a denier for a debate. But then more grim events and findings were, and are still being, recorded by scientific experts.

The earth is not flat. And we’re still, sadly, ruining it. The awful facts speak for themselves.

Helen Leavey, Fishergate, York

 

Hypocrisy of Biden’s huge COP26 cavalcade

The hypocrisy of politicians attending COP26 in Glasgow was exemplified when President Biden of the USA arrived at the conference centre courtesy of a 20 vehicle motorcade.

Peter Rickaby, West Park, Selby, North Yorkshire

 

What great timing for ‘Big Stink Mark 2’

Much sense is talked in your letters of November 1 about the great British sewage outage outrage. Call it ‘The Big Stink Mark 2’ if you like!

How perverse is the timing that the ‘proverbial hitting the fan’ has surfaced as COP26 gets underway.

I’ve always felt uneasy about privatised utilities such as water, gas and electricity.

Should these ‘necessities of life’ be marketised at all? Past experience with nationalised industries was, let’s say, at best mixed. Even so, to my mind they shouldn’t be sources of private profit, share dividends and large bonuses.

Bring back nationalisation but not as before? That should keep the think tanks and blue-sky thinkers busy for a while!

Or would that be more money down the drain?

In the meantime I hope the powers-that-be don’t privatise the air we breathe.

Derek Reed, Middlethorpe Drive, York