LAST week's correspondence from the Mole alleging high conspiracy in the running of the planet made for interesting reading. A predilection for conspiracy theories made me look up David Icke's web site mentioned in the letter. Very entertaining! My best read in ages. Even if only a fraction of this were true then I would be truly disturbed. However I have a number of questions. Even allowing for the fact that there is this huge grey monolith of alternative power then surely it has failed.

By now it must be apparent to anyone that the world is running out of control rather than operating at the behest of some mystic power. Take the environment. We are currently in the midst of what is known as the Sixth Extinction. Within a short time up to three quarters of this planet's mammals will have been exterminated. Some scientists even doubt that humanity can survive beyond fifty to a hundred years. On the political front there is turmoil everywhere. This does not speak for a discernible world order rather than a set of circumstances that are quickly deteriorating into chaos.

Even if this planet was needed for colonisation from an invading species it would be a poor choice for a long term future. Some authorities believe that eventually - perhaps sooner rather than later - the sun will heat up so much it will just incinerate the whole world. Ergo, as a long term investment this earth does not make for the best real estate around.

Presumably the conspiracy theorists will be able to chart each stage of this decline as an incontrovertible marker to world domination. The trouble is that on the evidence of recent events it doesn't look that way.

Howard Roper Smythe

Torrisholme

Lancaster