IF Kerala, an Indian State of 35million, can lose only four to the coronavirus why is our government pretending to be on top of the science? How can we trust these people with our well-being and economy?

They also pretend to be getting to grips with the climate crisis. They often assert they’ll leave the environment in a better state than before. Manchester University’s Professor of Energy and Climate Change points to delusional government figures saying that carbon dioxide emissions have decreased 44 per cent since 1990. These figures exclude shipping, aviation, imports and exports. The truer figure is 10 per cent, mostly achieved by accident rather than policy; the banking collapse and EU sulphur regulations. So much for leadership! Professor Anderson warns we’ve left it so late we’ll need carbon rationing if we want to survive.

Our carbon budget is spent and we must pay attention. Chair of the defence select committee MP Tobias Ellwood speaks of a can-do attitude in designing a new normal and, referring to VE Day, invites all ideas. I invite him to defend us. Not to leave us at Dunkirk. Public money should not be continuing to fund destruction.

Many of us over many years have been staying alert to the scientists’ warnings with increasing horror. Economic collapse goes hand in hand with the collapse of life-support systems. Billions more climate-related deaths are predicted; they already number 400,000 annually, most of them children.

Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s understanding of chemistry in 1987 meant she acted swiftly to avert the disaster of ozone depletion, arguing for rich nations to help the poor transition away from dangerous refrigerants. Nearly losing our planet’s protective ozone layer was not a good idea!

So it’s a great pity Conservative Cllr Broadhead (Letters, May 15) does not seem to understand Cllr Bull’s wake-up call and the need for revolutionary behavioural change to keep our regular rain and harvests. Well-informed representatives should be planning our protection and working with risk management experts and climate scientists to inform public policy as the world we’ve known vanishes forever.

SUSAN CHAPMAN

Parkwood Road, Southbourne