Your article "Italy's elite dismayed by vanishing beaches" (News, last week) refers in the standfirst to "rising sea levels eat[ing] away at the coast". Once again, an article is only newsworthy if the spectre of the sea rising to cover all our cities can be foretold.  The article goes on to say: "Experts blame development along Italy's rivers. . . which have slowed down the. . . flow out to sea of sediment needed to replenish beaches after storms." This happens all around our own coast and is most often a manmade change to the natural sediment flow that causes erosion of our favourite beaches.  The sea level in the Mediterranean changes for a variety of very complex reasons, of which an increase in global sea levels is just one.  Peter McEwen  Reading