Growing and burning bio-fuel only serves to reduce the need for fossil

Growing and burning bio-fuel only serves to reduce the need for fossil fuels: there are probably better ways of doing that.Professor G S SOLT Olney, Milton KeynesSir: Having spent much of the past two decades seeking to alert people to the magnitude of the threats which accelerated climate change causes, it would be churlish not to welcome their seriousness being recognised so fully by your columnist Johann Hari (31 December). Planting forests only increases the amount of held carbon if the wood is not burnt or allowed to rot. To hold enough carbon to make a significant difference needs need huge living forests. Roughly speaking, the rest is a fixed total, divided between living organisms, their fossil fuel remains and CO2 dissolved in water or as gas in the atmosphere. We can vote for further state intervention in our lives with yet more loss of liberty, or we can seek out parties or individuals who stand up for liberty and freedom.RICHARD CADMAN Booton, NorfolkSir: How appropriate that Mr Howard, the soon-to-be-forgotten leader of a soon-to-be-forgotten party, should seek to represent an alleged “forgotten majority”.PHILIP GOLDENBERG Woking, Surrey Trees and climate Sir: It’s clear why forestry won’t reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in the long term (“Keystone copse”, 5 January).The world has a fixed amount of carbon, most of it bound as mineral carbonates. The Conservative case against war in Iraq was not argued, with honourable exceptions such as Kenneth Clarke; the importance of the rule of law in terms of resisting detention without trial has not been upheld; the case for a small state which would involve opposing the introduction of compulsory ID cards not made.Those who are dissatisfied by this government have been given no viable Conservative alternative to vote for.

The profoundly illiberal ID card scheme will take us further down this route.At the next general election we have, for the first time in a very long time, a real and crucial choice to make as voters. What is frightening, however, is just how much this government has shifted the balance of power between the state and the individual towards the state. It identifies the lack of both principle and philosophy underpinning the positions of the Government and Conservative opposition.The failure of the Conservative Party is surely rooted in its inability to counter the neo-conservative strategies of New Labour and to present a coherent alternative. If believing in the right of the individual to determine his or her own destiny; not to be locked up without trial; and to be able to walk our streets without having to prove who he/she is all amount to the definition of a liberal, then I for one am proud to be both “wishy-washy” and “woolly-minded”.We should perhaps never have expected a Labour government, coming as it does from a statist, “we know best” tradition, to advance the cause of civil liberties, though many of us held out more hope from New Labour than has proved sensible.

An election based entirely upon the rather unhealthy motivation of voting against seems inevitable.IAN PARTRIDGE Bradford, West YorkshireSir: We liberals must stand up against the Government’s attempt to pervert our language to make “liberal” a term of abuse. Thank you for your help and support at this desperate hour of need.SAVANTHI SAMARASEKERA Galle, Sri Lanka Tories fail to offer a viable alternative Sir: John Rentoul’s analysis (Opinion, 6 January) offers a sad reflection on the state of politics in the country. My uncles are getting fresh bread baked at the local bakeries and are distributing it in Galle town. We are transporting bowsers of clean drinking water from the interior to the town. We are doing all we can to console those who are traumatised There are many orphans and elderly who have lost everyone.

We are united in our grief and are helping each other.Most of all we are overwhelmed and touched at the generosity of the British people We do not feel alone; your kindness will never be forgotten. Had it been a normal working day the death toll would have been much higher. We still do not know exactly how many have lost their lives.All the locals are helping the destitute in every possible way. The local schools, temples and the Galle Cathedral are housing the homeless My family and I are distributing food parcels My mother has given away all our clothes. Sunday masses were being offered in two churches along the south-eastern coast at Matara and Tangalle when the wave struck.