Washing up as an opportunity for birdwatching
SIR – We dispensed with our inefficient dishwasher (Letters, July 28) some years ago. I find washing up by hand a pleasant experience.
As I gaze out of the kitchen window I not only observe the birds feeding, but also get a chance to compile a list of jobs for my husband to complete in the garden.
Janet Newis
Sidcup, Kent
SIR – My gas tariff is going up from 2.40p per kwh to 3.177p per kwh and my electricity from 13.65p per kwh to 18.165p per kwh – a 32 per cent increase. I have also just heard from Wessex Water that our monthly direct debit will be rising from £45 to £71 – a 57 per cent increase.
No doubt all will continue rising in order to “save the planet”, until I’m sitting shivering in the dark with no internet, television or car, telling my wife and son not to flush.
Meanwhile, the Earth’s population is increasing by about a billion people every 12 years. That’s a billion extra children eating their way through all the world’s food, cooked on fires burning wood from chopped-down forests and jungles in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Greta Thunberg might rally children against climate change, but the supreme irony is that they’re causing it. All the net-zero carbon virtue-signalling from faux-greens such as Allegra Stratton (Comment, July 27) is useless compared to that. Actually it’s worse than useless, it’s political suicide.
John Duffield
Poole, Dorset
SIR – Do households that pre-rinse dishes really use an additional 27,000 litres of water a year (report, July 27)? I use about 10 litres to rinse everything, then a rapid 27-minute dishwasher programme, and it all comes out sparkling.
Richard Morris
Lutterworth, Leicestershire
SIR – The engineer who came to mend our dishwasher told me the main reason he was called out was “to clear blockages caused by people using their machines as waste disposal units”. He looks set for a busy time.
Dr Dennis Claridge
Guisborough, North Yorkshire
SIR – Failing to pre-rinse dishes results in blocked spray bars – grains of rice being the usual culprit. You then need to rewash items to remove the gritty bits, which is not very environmentally friendly at all.
Dr Tony Mcallister
Bengeo, Hertfordshire