Walport, Spiked

I have a short piece over at Spiked Online on UK Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Mark Walport's injunction that climate sceptics should 'grow up'. According to an article in The Times (London) earlier this week, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Mark...

Scientific adviser or court jester?

Sir Mark Walport’s demand that climate-change sceptics ‘grow up’ only reveals his ignorance about the climate debate. According to an article in The Times (London) earlier this week, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Mark Walport, is about to start a...

The Sleeping Dragon… Sleeps

"The sleeping dragon has awoken", says Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). CHINA’S 12GW SOLAR MARKET OUTSTRIPPED ALL EXPECTATIONS IN 2013 23 January 2014 Last year was a record year for PV installation worldwide, with a rush of activity in China on the back of a...

Science and Anti-Science. Again.

Michael Mann is denying the debate again, arguing in the New York Times, 'If You See Something, Say Something'. THE overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that human-caused climate change is happening. Yet a fringe minority of our populace clings to an...

Buy a Newspaper, or the Planet Dies…

Over at the Guardian, Professor of Journalism and former editor of the Daily Mirror, Roy Greenslade observes that... The Independent is up for sale. The paper's founder, and current chairman of its publishing company, Andreas Whittam Smith, has been authorised to seek...

Re-Writing Mission History?

Stephan Lewnadowsky has an article at The Conversation, saying that sceptics are wrong, in their pointing and mocking of the failed Spirit of Mawson expedition. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and by now you might have seen dramatic images of...

Science, Advocacy, Politics, Technocracy

Judith Curry and Brigitte Nerlich have been focussing on some interesting questions about scientists and advocacy. Judith Curry has quite a series on the subject, but the two posts linked to seem to have been provoked in part by Kevin Anderson's comments urging...