Michelle Nijhuis reports that we are losing between 1% and 2.2% of species every decade, (“It’s always a joy to discover a new species”, Comment). Given the suspected number of species of plant and animal of 12m (1.9m known), this is an astonishing number to be destroying, up to 26,000 a year.
However, things are much worse than that. The problem is that there are only between 5,000 and 6,000 mammalian species. They are all to some extent vulnerable due to their size, the need for space and that there is nowhere easy to hide or run to.
Once they are gone we lose our connection with evolution.
It is not so much how many as which are going extinct in the wild that is crucial. The article declares there could be a trillion species in the tree of life but once that connection is gone who will care? There is a danger too that some religious extremists will even celebrate the loss of that connection.
Nicholas Hales
Bath
Animals on the front line
There were church services, dedications and commemorations to those who fought bravely and were killed in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.
A two-minute silence was held in memory of all those humans killed. However, no mention was made of all the horses and other animals that died in this war.
Eight million horses and countless mules and donkeys died in the First World War. They were used to transport ammunition and supplies to the front and many died, not only from the horrors of shellfire, but also from the terrible weather and appalling conditions. Dogs were also used to send messages and pigeons were used as carriers.
War is waged by people, not by animals. Surely they could have been honoured and thanked?
Sharon Hopkins
Oxford
Nicola Sturgeon’s fine example
While agreeing with your editorial on the lack of a “serious, sensible and convincing leader” to offer reassurance in this time of meltdown, I felt you could have included a sentence or two on Scotland’s good fortune in having such a leader in Nicola Sturgeon (“After a week of chaos and rancour, who will save us from this parade of pitiful leaders?”, Comment).
I am not an SNP member but it was extremely reassuring to hear her on the Friday morning following the result and then to have a further statement after the Scottish cabinet meeting on the Saturday morning.
Unlike their English counterparts, the Scottish government had obviously thought through both possible results and were ready to do their utmost to protect Scotland’s interests.
No wonder several people I know who voted No in the Scottish independence referendum are now reconsidering that.
Frances Sedgwick
Fort William
Celebrities, keep shtoom
As a Corbyn supporter, I nevertheless recognise the strength of feeling on both sides surrounding his leadership. I don’t want to see 18 years in the wilderness again as we struggle with our soul, yet neither do I want to see 13 years of majority government where little is done to radically transform society.
I am certainly not enthused, though, by a “rush of celebrities” calling for Corbyn to stand down (“The bitter struggle for Labour’s soul”, News).
To me, that takes us back to the early days of Blair and Cool Britannia, when style triumphed over substance.
Tim Mickleburgh
Grimsby
We are Lib Dem cuckoos
“The picturesque Oxfordshire town of Woodstock” may at first sight look like a “Tory heartland” (News). In fact, both it and the neighbouring town of Charlbury are the yellow cuckoos in Cameron’s blue nest, consistently returning Lib Dem district councillors.
As Labour implodes, it is to the Lib Dems and their fellow centre-left travellers – the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens – that we must look for a way out of this unholy mess.
Richard Fairhurst
Charlbury
Oxfordshire
Gove is no train spotter
I have been an Observer reader for 50 years. Never have I read an edition as closely as I did last week.
However, where did the comparison between Michael Gove and train spotters come from? “Nerdish”? OK, I can see where you are coming from, but “know it all” and “clever dickish”? (Leader.)
I do not think knowledge of steam locomotive wheel arrangements or when the Somerset and Dorset closed (1966, since you ask) constitutes convincing evidence of these character flaws. My favourite writer, Bill Bryson, regularly takes a good-humoured pop at UK railway enthusiasts, asserting in his latest British travelogue that the nation’s 108 preserved steam railways are surely 106 too many. However, I am sure that even Bill would draw the line at the comparison with Gove!
Chris Wright
Lower Shiplake
Oxfordshire
