Zinc rooftops are more than just a French fancy

The iconic zinc rooftops of Paris, dramatically termed “scorching” (“Zinc-fried steak frites? Paris heatwave sends rooftop temperatures to 80C”, 21 June) provide beauty, a sustainable solution and protection. These elegant roofs are a symbol of Paris akin to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.  To this end, Unesco recently recognised the specialised craft of installing and maintaining these distinctive Parisian rooftops.

The article claims that people living beneath them are “overheating”, but zinc sheets actually reflect solar radiation, thereby reducing the heating of the building. As they weather naturally to create those admired grey Parisian rooftops, their reflectivity decreases but transitions to an increased degree of thermal emission, which results in very little heat gain.  

Zinc roofing is designed as a ventilated structure under the roof sheet, so any heat quickly dissipates and does not heat the building’s interior. Zinc sheets also cool down quickly with cloud cover or at night. Mitigating the greenhouse effect can be accomplished more effectively by replacing older windows and improving insulation.

Also, zinc is a sustainable material. Zinc roofs can be recycled, typically contain recycled content and last up to 100 years – minimising the materials needed for repair and replacement, carbon emissions and lifetime costs. Given the many advantages of zinc, Paris should continue to celebrate its sustainable and beautiful rooftops.

Andrew Green, Executive Director, International Zinc Association, Durham, NC, USA

Melanie Reid correctly identifies that “The social model leaves much to be desired”, (15 June), and that impairments are more than social constructs. For many disabled people, like myself, chronic pain, fatigue and the symptoms of an underlying condition are all too real every day.

Yet to dismiss the social model is to throw away one of the most powerful levers for change.

As Reid notes, nearly half of young people who are not in education, employment or training (Neet) are disabled. But it is the social model that explains why and points us towards solutions. 

Inaccessible workplaces can be addressed by expanding Access to Work, a grant scheme for disabled workers. A lack of suitable part-time and flexible roles could be solved through recruitment incentives, while the struggle to get reasonable adjustments implemented could be eased by loosening tax rules on occupational health.

The social model asks what barriers are leaving disabled people behind and how to fix them. It reminds us that the disadvantages disabled people face are not inevitable but, crucially, are ones that good policy can remove.

Arun Veerappan, Research Director, The Disability Policy Centre, London

Your Observer view on leaving the EU (“Brexit was a bad idea”, 21 June) states that “There is not yet an overwhelming majority for rejoining”. Certain folk a decade back hailed a 13:12 advisory referendum outcome as “overwhelming”; yet, to no surprise to the 48.1% of us, the then-vaunted “will of the people” has since proved little more than a will-o’-the-wisp – such as arise sporadically when pockets of methane (from rotting matter) somehow encounter an opportune spark.

Ian Miles Storrington, West Sussex

Perhaps Daniel Hannan, Arron Banks, Dominic Cummings, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson (“The Brexiteers: where are they now?”, 22 June) and the main culprit, Nigel Farage, could be the next contestants on Celebrity “Political” Traitors, with Rupert Lowe replacing Claudia Winkleman as the host, providing his customary medieval sentence for this crime.

Mel Fidler Dronfield, Derbyshire

Rob Draper wonders why there have been so many goals scored in less than two weeks of the World Cup and suspects the new Adidas Trionda ball has something to do with it (“Is high World Cup goal count due to the new football? Probably not”, 22 June). 

He speculates that it could be due to this fast-moving ball, scientifically tested in a Japanese university wind tunnel, having “the smallest drag crisis speed of all the balls” tested. There could be a simpler explanation for the goal glut – namely, bad goalkeeping! If the Curaçao keeper can make 15 saves in 90 minutes for a clean sheet against a strong Ecuador side, why haven’t other keepers performed at a similar level?

Mick Beeby Westbury on Trym, Bristol

Eva Wiseman’s musings on the latest wellness craze (“Why the multibillion-dollar global sleep industry is keeping me awake at night”, 17 June) reminded me of the wise words from the late, great Willie Rushton: “I don’t understand people who can’t sleep, I find four light & bitters do me just fine.”

Robert Boston Kingshill, Kent 

David Aaronovitch suggests that in the end “it may be better to be Trump’s enemy than his ally”. (“Echoes of Chamberlain: Trump’s Iran agreement is ‘the Emperor’s New Deal’”, 22 June). This is precisely the plot of  the 1959 satirical comedy starring Peter Sellers, The Mouse that Roared, and the outcome for Iran was exactly the same. But no laughter this time round.

Dr Ceri Brown, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Photograph by Alamy