Letters: Camilla should not be called ‘Queen Consort’

Zero sense

Sir: Ross Clark’s article (‘Hot air’, 12 November) neatly sums up some of the fallacies of the net zero target. Electricity generation currently fulfils about 20 per cent of the UK’s total energy demand – of which at best 40 per cent is covered by wind, solar, and hydro: i.e. 8 per cent of total energy demand is fulfilled from renewable sources. Are we really expected to believe that in the next 27 years electricity generation from renewables will grow 12.5 times – or from any source five times – and that the infrastructure will be put in place to deliver it?

James Fairbairn

Oxford

Thank you, Jeremy

Sir: I lunched today with friends, one fighting the unwinnable battle against Motor Neurone Disease. I have known him for more than 50 years and the sadness in seeing him in such decline was immense. Sitting by the fire after with my new copy of The Spectator,I inevitably turned to Jeremy Clarke’s column (12 November) and read of his kindness, like my chum’s, in turning out to join his friends for a lunch he could not eat. It was very moving to read Jeremy’s assertion that it may be his last such lunch – barring a turn for the better. I am sure I am not alone in wanting to thank him, and Catriona and his family, for his courageous, witty and honest writing on his long battle with cancer. Our thoughts are with him.

Christopher D. Forrest

Conserving energy

Sir: Stephen Bayley wants to have a rant about ‘heritage’ and my book has provided him with the chance (Books, 12 November). He has long made up his mind about the subject and nothing was ever going to persuade him otherwise, least of all reading a book on the topic – and one which he admits to not having entirely read.