A Cambridge professor who claimed that assassins may have murdered three British scientists investigating the impact of global warming has had a complaint against The Times dismissed by the press regulator. Peter Wadhams said in an interview that he feared he might also have been targeted himself. When his comments were published byThe Times, the academic complained that he had been misquoted and that the newspaper had breached a duty of confidentiality towards him. An investigation by the Independent Press Standards Organisation has found that Professor Wadhams did make the claims reported and has cleared the newspaper of breaching the editors’ code of practice. –David Brown, The Times, 28 September 2015
Peter Wadhams is something of a favourite at [Bishop Hill], his researches into the paranormal, his physics-free sea-ice predictions and his concerns about assassination having provided readers with much entertainment over the years. The last of these claims led to an official complaint to the Press Regulator, but it seems that Prof Wadhams’ complaint has been no more successful than his doom-laden predictions about the Arctic. Prof Wadhams is an advisor to Pope Francis. –Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, 28 September 2015
Why did no one speak out against this idiocy? Well, of course, a few did — people such as former chancellor Nigel Lawson, the Tory MP Peter Lilley, and journalists Christopher Booker and Richard North. But for years these sceptical voices have been drowned out by the yells of hypocritical politicians, greedy corporations, green zealots and a gullible public that ‘something must be done’ to deal with the supposed menace of man-made carbon dioxide. The great dash for diesel was a huge, expensive con inflicted on us by people who should have known better — and indeed did know better — but were so dazzled by the climate change scare that they could not see the bigger picture. It isn’t the first time this has happened, and it won’t be the last. –James Delingpole, The Great Diesel Scandal, Daily Mail, 9 August 2014‘
The Pope makes valuable contributions on religious matter. But he has no business banging on about climate change. That has nothing to do with faith. It’s about science and provable facts. That science is disputed, some of it discredited. The Pope’s believe in it is irrelevant. Stick to religion, Your Holiness. —Editorial, The Sun, 25 September 2015
Pope Francis is generally popular around the world, but when he highlights the global effects of climate change Friday at the United Nations General Assembly, he may get a lukewarm reception from many Americans and Europeans. Concern about climate change is relatively low in the United States and Europe. A median of 42% among both Europeans and Americans reports being very concerned about the issue. And in the U.S., partisan differences are stark. A majority of Democrats (62%) say they are very concerned about climate change, compared with just 20% of Republicans. –Jill Carle, Pew Research Center, 25 September 2015
You will be hearing a lot about 2015 having the fourth lowest minimum Arctic ice extent ever recorded. Here is what they are not telling you: While Arctic ice varies a lot seasonally, there was a slightly increasing trend [in recent years], particularly in the last five years. The value for 2015 is for the record so far; the final number will be known at year end. –Ron Clutz, Science Matters, 26 September 2015
The “rush for diesel” might seem an unmatchably counterproductive idiocy on the part of the EU member states, as they sought to prove themselves the saviours of the earth. In fact, it is merely one of a number of catastrophic components in the climate-change policy makers’ hall of infamy. The inability to deal with the crises afflicting the European Union is blamed by the European Commission on member states failing to act as one. Yet unity behind a terrible policy is worse than any disagreement: and in no cause has the EU been more destructively united than in the battle against the alleged existential threat to the planet known as climate change. –Dominic Lawson, The Sunday Times, 27 September 2015
