OUR planet is going through an unsettled phase.

Who cannot be overawed by the horrendous television scenes of the floods in Australia and elsewhere?

All the politicians in the world cannot stem Nature, no matter how much money they pledge to put it right. We are at the mercy of the elements – or is it the wrath of God? We can only dance in time to the tune that is played, and then clean up the debris.

We have had one of the coldest winters on record. The last one was in 1976, when the sea froze as it did this year, and it was followed by a very hot summer with a drought and hosepipe bans.

When I was younger, we burnt coal from the mines and wood from the fallen trees and we didn’t worry about global warming. We could go out at night and see myriads of stars in the heavens and thought it would last forever!

Holiday flights pumping out fumes are killing our natural world, but I guess we are stuck with it now.

Irene Littlejohns, Tow Law.