Dear Sir/Madam,

In today's Times you quote someone attending a dinner that Mr. Gore gave as a thank you to donors to his presidential campaign as saying: "People weren't quite sure what to talk about. People knew it was unseemly to talk about Clinton. But they also thought it was unseemly to talk about Bush. So, after a long pause, they talked about the environment." (A Thankful Gore Clasps Donors Before They Stray, 5 March 2001).

It may come as a shock to some Americans, but many people in Europe, including myself, consider the environment to be far more interesting and infinitely more important than either your former or present president.