In Friday's Independent, Johann Hari has achieved a quite remarkable feat. How I wish that the global warming deniers were right Are you prepared to take a 50-50 gamble on the habitability of the planet? In just 1400 words he manages to cram in just about every...
Tipping Point for the Climate Porn Industry
Headlines don't get much more alarmist than this... As Tory Outcast points out, the story that the Independent Newspaper thinks a catastrophe is in fact far more mundane: The article by Tony Patterson tells the story of two commercial vessels which have managed to...
80% and the Climate Change Aristocracy
The Independent newspaper announced yesterday that The UK should cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by mid-century, the Government's climate change committee recommended today. The committee said a more stringent target than the 60 per cent cut...
Off the Grid: Microgeneration – the Spark of Endarkenment
John Vidal, Guardian Environment Editor, claimed yesterday that British buildings equipped with solar panels, mini wind turbines and other renewable energy sources could generate as much electricity a year as five nuclear power stations, a government-backed industry...
Who'd've Discredited It?
'Case against climate change discredited by study' shrieked the Independent yesterday. That must be one hell of a study. Except that it isn't: A difference in the way British and American ships measured the temperature of the ocean during the 1940s may explain why the...
Something old, something blue, something borrowed, something green
Bernard Ingham, former press secretary to Margaret Thatcher, asks in the Yorkshire Post (H/T Benny Peiser): In the election for London's Mayor, the Greens got just over three per cent of the vote. Leaving aside such misguided places as Norwich, where the Green Party...
Fat People are Killing the Butterflies
Steve Connor, science editor at the Independent newspaper warns us that Tropical insects rather than polar bears could be among the first species to become extinct as a result of global warming, a study has found. What does that even mean? Are the polar bears OK...
"I'm Dreamin' of a White Easter"
It's spring. And you can tell, not by the chirping of birds in the trees, or the frolicking of lambs in the fields, but by the whining and bleating of journalists in the Independent and Guardian newspapers about how spring is coming earlier every year, and how this...
The Independent – Where the Sun Never Shines
Prof. Philip Stott ponders the decline of the Independent newspaper... Well, I never like the loss of media and debating outlets, but I have to say that the demise, if that were ever to happen, of the Indie would bring fewer tears to my eyes than most. As a purveyor...
Antediluvian Diluvial Delusions
According to news reports:British scientists say a soon-to-be-released study supports the idea that global warming caused by humans is responsible for this summer's heavy rains.Let's face it, it would be nice to be able to blame somebody for this rubbish summer, with...