Congratulations on a notably hard-hitting editorial (28 December). I can only fault it on one point – your contention that Leeds and Manchester carry more weight in Westminster than do Somerset or Cumbria. Not with the Conservatives, they don’t. If they did, the government would be acting on George Monbiot’s advice and re-afforesting the uplands, to mitigate flooding in urban areas downstream.
Emeritus professor Glyn Turton
Shipley, West Yorkshire
• Your headline “Failed flood defences cast doubt on UK readiness for new weather era” (Report, 28 December) prompts me to write to congratulate the British people for apparently having joined the US in establishing spending priorities – bombing in Syria is more important than flood defences at home. Well done, you. So it is in the US as well. War over healthcare, war over infrastructure and war over education and on and on. Clever, aren’t we?
Anne Kass
Albuquerque, New Mexico
• The government should consider employing a specialist in place names to advise on flood policy. The name Mytholmroyd means “clearing at the river-mouths”, suggesting that the flood was predictable, and that those cleared trees could now do with replacing.
Professor Judith Jesch
President, English Place-Name Society
• Is Cameron’s “northern powerhouse” to be driven by hydro-electric?
Dr John Armstrong
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• So, Cameron didn’t fix the pumps while the sun was shining.
Dr Colin Smith
West Kirby, Wirral
• Is it me, or have the storms got worse since they started giving them names?
Chris Jones
Bewdley, Worcestershire
More letters on the UK floods
• Time to get real about the UK’s flood defences
• Rewild the landscape to absorb storm waters
• Common sense on flood prevention is being swept aside
• Missing contour data hampers UK’s floods response
• Floating structures go with the flow
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
