I see that in his latest letter concerning his pet subject on overcrowding, N Taylor dismisses Mr Margrett's comments as 'more waffle' and states loftily that 'I can compare anything I like, with anything else'.
Is the repeated comment that 'England is three times more densely populated than China' supposed to support his argument? It is like comparing apples and bananas.
Using 2004 figures, England's population density is approximately 250 and China has a density of 134 per square kilometre. But the Chinese average is derived from variations as wide as 2,600 in Shanghai municipality to seven in Qinghai province.
The nearest land area match to England within China is Anhui province with a density of 400. More relevant is the fact that just about 50 per cent of the Chinese population still live in rural areas, whereas in England the figure is 11 per cent.
This suggests that in theory, there is still a great deal of potential development space in England if we choose to use land in that way.
As regards global warming, and Mr Taylor's other doom-mongering assertions, the situation is far more complex than he portrays it and cannot be ascribed just to rising carbon dioxide emissions.
Equally, the eventual outcome is just as uncertain and Mankind may well be 'at the mercy of nature'.
A REECE,
Worcester.
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