Time to get real about the UK’s flood defences | Letters

If people such as floods minister Rory Stewart, David Cameron and other politicians are to serve a useful function to the public on issues such as flooding we need them to finally learn and apply a new vocabulary. They must replace useless words like "unprecedented" and "extraordinary" with the words "predicted", "adaptation", "mitigation", and "climate change". They must replace platitudes such as "once-in-100-years event", designed to give an excuse for doing nothing, with a new vocabulary that accepts changed circumstances and responsibilities.

They must acknowledge the predicted changes in rainfall patterns that the Met Office and others have been warning about for well over a decade.