WHILE agreeing with the thrust of Denis Bruce's letter (September 23, what is destroying the planet is not "capitalism" but land monopoly, "rent-seeking" as economists call it.

Capitalism is a good thing; we owe our standard of living to it. The first capitalists were the first farmers, who didn't consume all they produced but kept some of it for the next crop. Okay, there is capital monopoly, but it's based on land monopoly and can't survive without it.

"Land" as an economic term is more than just terra firma; it includes all natural resources and even the ether. All states are the legal owner of their territorial basis, exercising their right of eminent domain, and if they weren't chronically anti-social they'd ensure that land values were not trousered by landlords like me earning money in their sleep.

George Morton, Rosyth.