In different employment I drove all around the west end and city of London which was like Grand Theft Auto at times, then along the N125 in the 90’s which was more like Russian roulette.

I have had an EV for 4 years now and I love it. Most of the electricity I use comes from renewable power and does not have to be carted from Saudi to get to me.

I picture Douglas in front of his 99” flatscreen on Sky Fox news loop, next to a shrine to St. Clarkson of the North Circular, Daily Mail a-twitch with fury. “If you ask me Marjory, this climate change is tommy-rot, it’s all a hoax started by Hillary in a pizza place in Washington, along with the Chinese”.

Climate change is a very real and very dangerous fact according to virtually all climate science and the views of deniers will have the same effect the lack of action by such as Trump and Bolsonara can be seen to have had on covid. To just drive old inefficient vehicles around for fun is just plain irresponsible.

Lithium extraction is messy, of course, but so is fracking. The difference is that when the battery ends its life the lithium is recycled. The products of fracking just go into the atmosphere and contribute to extending the Sahara up to the Alentejo. Point 1 invalid.

My Leaf doesn’t know anything about Netflix and just shows me navigational and operational details. Sure, having to navigate menu trees just to operate the radio or aircon is highly annoying to one who would rather just have the simple knobs, levers and buttons of past decades, but that is modern cars, ICE as well as EV. (Even though the car speaks in the voice of Joanna Lumley in a bath of champagne). Point 2 invalid.

For heaven’s sake, if you are going to denigrate Greta’s heroic efforts, she has been front and centre of media for months. Getting her name wrong is sloppiness on steroids, you obviously know nothing about her.

And it’s not ..&co, she did this herself from school age, the little sausage. Point 3 invalid.

“Downstream opportunities in the lithium value-stream” I agree it is clumsy management-speak, but to say you don’t understand it is disingenuous at the least. It just means there are advantages to be had in many situations following the actual mining. Not that difficult I would say. Point 4 invalid.

Things have to be fixed by 2050 they say. Douglas and I may be dead by then, Greta won’t, nor, I hope will the planet.

The Portugal News: you disown these views at the end of the article, but Not Good Enough. You wouldn’t publish extracts from Mein Kampf with the same disclaimer. This is disinformation, sure it’s free speech, but so is shouting “fire” in a crowded cinema.

Colin Burgess, By email