DES Morgan refers to “a former chairman of the IPCC” being critical of that organisation’s overstatement of the impact of climate change. If Des means Robert Watson he should have quoted him properly. Watson says that to say the minor errors reported undermine the whole body of evidence is untenable. In a hostile BBC interview/interrogation by Andrew Neil, Watson robustly defended the science on climate change. So for Des to claim Prof Watson as a recruit for climate change sceptics is a bit rich. Des only specifically refers to one error of fact. He enjoys pitting his own logic and that of “many schoolboys” against climate scientists who he says claimed half the Netherlands was below sea level. Watson points out that the Dutch Ministry of Transport uses the figure of 60 per cent below high water level during storms, and that in any case this is about definitions.

Des claims an unnamed “driver of climate change theory” has “confirmed” … no warming for the past 15 years. In fact the warmest 11 years on record happened over the last 13 years and warming has accelerated globally over the last 20 years as pointed out by the head of the World Meteorological Organisation. This is in an article showing how the source of Des’ claim had misunderstood the statistics.

Des can doubt the science but he’s wrong to argue that climate scientists are abandoning the consensus on climate change.

PETER SMITH Woodside Avenue Swindon