Neither you nor Mr Boot needs to read W. J. Reichmann’s 1961 classic Use and Abuse of Statistics, but it’s worth mentioning for the benefit of the less enlightened. Not surprisingly, it’s out of print, but it isn’t unobtainable.

I await further developments with interest. Greta Thunberg will no doubt blame the existence of brown eggs on the Jews. David Attenborough will make a documentary showing that brown eggs, like brown moths, have evolved because of the burning of fossil fuels. And Mr Andy Burnham will win the Makerfield by-election with 98% of the vote after promising to be “tough on brown eggs, tough on the causes of brown eggs”.

It will all be eggstremely eggsciting!

I have read a bit about chickens. We used to have some Rhode Island reds, which lay brown eggs. Chickens with white earlobes (usually accompanied with white feathers) tend to lay white eggs. Chickens with red earlobes tend to lay brown eggs. There are even some breeds with blue-green earlobes that lay pale blue-green eggs. My understanding of the proliferation in America of eggs with white shells is that the chickens that produce the eggs (leghorns) have a slightly higher egg-to-feed ratio. Thus, following that truly American trait of pursuing the almighty dollar, farmers tend to favor the leghorn. Europeans, being less concerned with profit (really?), tend to raise chickens that produce brown eggs. However, based entirely on nothing scientific, the past decade has seen a rise in the availability of brown eggs. I seem to recall many years ago hearing brown are more healthful, but that is merely a marketing ploy. I think any preference among buyers is just based on familiarity. That is, people whose mother served them eggs with white shells will tend to buy white-shelled eggs.

I question the calculations behind the derivation of the carbon footprint of any chicken, domesticated or wild.