tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58964422009-02-21T16:44:24.369ZA Weblog monitoring coverage of environmental issues and science in the UK media. By Professor Emeritus Philip Stott. The aim is to assess whether a subject is being fairly covered by press, radio, and television. Above all, the Weblog will focus on science, but not just on poor science. It will also bring to public notice good science that is being ignored because it may be politically inconvenient.Philipnoreply@blogger.comBlogger591125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-73559502427499390102007-10-13T18:06:00.001+01:002007-10-13T18:20:17.556+01:00

Philip's New BlogPlease note that, officially, from Sunday, October 14, 2007, I have started a completely new blog at a new site. This has just gone live. I do hope you will visit:Global Warming Politics: A Hot Topic BlogThe battle against so much 'global warming' claptrap must continue.Philip, off to his new home.

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1162824807560078762006-11-06T14:53:00.000Z2006-11-06T15:40:13.046Z

Full Stern Ahead to Much Waffle and Weeping, Hype and Hubris.....My apologies for not having commented on the Stern report - I have been immensely busy, including broadcasting and writing about the report in the press. At last, however, I have a moment, stimulated also by what must surely be the nadir of tear-stained right-on comment, inevitably by Our Madeleine of the Sorrows in today's The

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1160059191402802552006-10-05T15:30:00.000+01:002006-10-05T20:46:32.186+01:00

Do I detect the first tiny rumblings of a paradigm shift in climate-change science?"The greenhouse effect must play some role. But those who are absolutely certain that the rise in temperatures is due solely to carbon dioxide have no scientific justification. It's pure guesswork." [Henrik Svensmark, Director of the Centre for Sun-Climate Research, Danish National Space Center, joint author of the

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1153217558452261152006-07-18T11:07:00.000+01:002006-07-18T11:22:31.286+01:00

Time to shuttle off to that 'Home Planet' again.....Our 11th Series of the critical environment programme, 'Home Planet', begins today on BBC Radio 4 at 15.02 pm BST. The Series then runs for 12 more Tuesdays into October, and, as with the last Series, it will include some Gardeners' Question Time-type 'out-and-about' slots (the first in Swansea). These are great fun, and most rewarding.If you

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1152624851649177702006-07-11T14:33:00.000+01:002006-07-11T16:42:36.633+01:00

Going nuclear.....At last, we are to get a reasonable UK Government energy policy, and one that includes a new generation of nuclear power plants and a strategy for clean coal, exactly what 'EnviroSpin' has been proposing over the last two years [see: 'Nuclear plants set for go-ahead' (BBC Online Politics News, July 11)]:"Number 10 says 'wishful thinking will not keep the lights on', as ministers

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1152442207795104832006-07-09T11:46:00.000+01:002006-07-09T17:26:38.486+01:00

Where farming is concerned, beware romantic European nationalisms.....Recently, there have been a spate of alpine flower-tinted articles on old-fashioned European farming by middle-class journalists just home from their continental holidays, as well exemplified by Magnus Linklater writing in The Times ('Picturesque little farms, delicious local produce ... Obvious clue: not Britain' - apologies,

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1152287687829799542006-07-07T16:53:00.000+01:002006-07-07T19:46:49.106+01:00

The 10 final proofs of 'global warming'.....You should believe in 'global warming' when.....(1) apocalyptic academics stop flying round the world to conferences and for their extended summer holidays - er, sorry - 'field research';(2) The Guardian and The Independent stop advertising cheap flights and holidays;(3) the Cameroonian middle classes give up their holiday villas in Provence, Tuscany,

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1152269993938793682006-07-07T11:58:00.000+01:002006-07-08T23:15:13.340+01:00

From Pooter to Lowry: saving the humble British house from wheelie bins and solar panels..... If some latter-day Nikolaus Pevsner were to arise with a penchant for recording the Victorian and Edwardian terraced house and villa, every book in the series would, sadly, have to contain the following entry: "Anytown: Victoria Street - a road of humble, but honest, terraced houses, once with

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1151586147553132302006-06-29T13:51:00.000+01:002006-06-29T19:54:22.880+01:00

Europe's hypocrisy and shame needs to be thrown in the Manneken Pis.....For 10 years, ecochondriac Europe has been lecturing and haranguing the rest of the world about 'The Great Global Warming Scare'. Its hypocrisy knows no bounds. The reality is truly shame-making:(a) Germany, Europe's biggest emitter of so-called 'greenhouse gases', has just announced that it will permit an increase in

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1151572734407968922006-06-29T10:16:00.000+01:002006-06-29T10:42:31.963+01:00

The 'global warming' industry (mafia?).....The excellent John Brignell over at Number Watch has produced a wondrous list of everything that the 'global warming' industry, or mafia, has concocted as media scares (and all on 0.6 degrees C over 100 to 150 years): 'A complete list of things caused by global warming'.If you think John has missed any of the rampant nonsense (there is so much!), he is

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1151444602768768022006-06-27T22:37:00.000+01:002006-06-27T23:24:27.976+01:00

Europe's climate policies fall apart.....As long-predicted on 'EnviroSpin', Europe's blatant hypocrisy in constantly claiming the moral high ground over climate change is being revealed for all to witness. It is not a pleasant sight.Europe's leadership is in tatters, as economic reality catches up with the rhetoric. Let's hope that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of European hype and

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150983318514327292006-06-22T14:27:00.000+01:002006-06-22T17:19:13.670+01:00

Coming clean over climate change.....In their political heart-of-hearts, all Governments (including those in Europe) know that there is absolutely nothing we can do predictably about climate change, and, indeed, extremely little practically to curb the rise of 'greenhouse gas' emissions. Unfortunately, through a type of tabloid-hysteria in the old broadsheet world, including the BBC, the

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150910023538608542006-06-21T18:11:00.000+01:002006-06-21T18:31:16.066+01:00

New Mini Poll.....After much testing and searching, 'EnviroSpin' has, at last, a new Mini Poll service [with Pollhost]. This carries no adverts on the blog, but only on the results pages, and I approve entirely of Pollhost's policies, which reject web sites that exhibit racism, hatred, harassment, adult content, obscene material, nudity, and pornography. I thus feel confident that the advertising

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150801591418810522006-06-20T12:00:00.000+01:002006-06-20T12:06:31.443+01:00

News without those pesky ads.....I am delighted to say that 'EnviroSpin' can now offer a regular 'Science News' ticker (courtesy of ABC) [opposite], without the danger of any uncontrolled pesky ads. The ticker checks for stories regularly (around every 10 minutes) - just click on the 'Headline' for the full story.Philip, so glad to have dropped those ads. A celebratory coffee is needed. I hope to

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150744028646284342006-06-19T19:52:00.000+01:002006-06-19T22:48:26.086+01:00

An apology: the sudden removal of certain services.....I must apologise for the precipitate removal from this blog of certain services which I know were valued by visitors to 'EnviroSpin' (e.g. the daily 'Science News' and the Mini Polls). Very sadly, some of the advertisements put up by the service providers have become increasingly unacceptable for a Family Friendly Site, like 'EnviroSpin', and

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150730573789958022006-06-19T16:18:00.000+01:002006-06-19T18:23:14.976+01:00

Middle-class panics from MMR to 'global warming'.....Not being a medic, I have refrained from commenting on the disastrous 'yummy-mummy' panic over the MMR vaccine and its [seemingly non-existent] link with autism [see: 'Misplaced autism worries fuel measles outbreak' (The Guardian, June 16)].As you may recall, confidence among the professional and media-type middle classes in the MMR (measles,

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150708498239910602006-06-19T10:09:00.000+01:002006-06-19T10:25:14.203+01:00

'Sceptical Landscapes' back on air.....I hope it is not too solipsist to let you know that the five programmes of my little radio Series, 'Sceptical Landscapes', are being repeated, one after the other, each day this week on BBC Radio 4 at 3.45 pm (BST).You can listen in live each day here [select: 'Now on air', and click the Listen Live button].Philip, 3.45 pm? Why not have tea in the garden

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1150628254606292122006-06-18T11:03:00.000+01:002006-06-18T13:00:18.050+01:00

Political ecology and environmentalism: Marxism through the back door.....For a long time now, there has been an uneasy feeling that the grand narrative of environmentalism is morphing into the grand narrative of Marxism, but in a new guise. Of course, this is rarely admitted, or made transparent, the deep faiths of environmentalism being cleverly dressed up in pseudo-scientific gobbledygook,

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1149848144677507692006-06-09T11:11:00.000+01:002006-06-09T11:35:38.426+01:00

Wow! Animals evolve in response to climate change.....Many newspapers, including some which should know better, are getting over-excited about the 'discovery' that bees, butterflies, birds, and "b....." squirrels might actually adapt to climate change, a story more sensibly reported here: 'Recent, rapid climate change is driving evolution of animal species' (EurekaAlert!, June 8).Not to be

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1149758676457502642006-06-08T10:23:00.000+01:002006-06-08T11:37:20.716+01:00

Wishful thinking versus the petrolheads.....Only recently, Sir Jonathon Porritt, he of the boringly-PC 'Sustainability Commission', called Jeremy Clarkson, he of the highly-successful television show, Top Gear, an "outstandingly bigoted petrolhead" [see: 'Scourge of the greens: Clarkson branded "a bigoted petrolhead"', The Independent (May 31)]:"He has insisted there is almost certainly no such

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1149670170160720942006-06-07T09:46:00.000+01:002006-06-07T12:57:03.146+01:00

In the UK, just another day of carbon claptrap.....Yesterday was a classic for carbon claptrap in the UK, from BBC Television, from scientists, and from big business. What nonsense is being peddled in the name of 'global warming'!BBC Television, as ever, was the worst, with yet another gloom-mongering effort, 'Five disasters waiting to happen' (BBC 2). The only disaster is that we have to pay a

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1149056142425029042006-05-31T07:14:00.000+01:002006-06-07T17:19:35.303+01:00

Despite the tabloid vitriol, in the real world Bjørn Lomborg is winning.....The most recent ad hominem attack on Bjørn Lomborg ("Not again!", I hear you groan) by Johann Hari in The Independent (May 20) [available at Hari's web site] is one of the more disgraceful for some time, and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Such vitriol represents the worst type of tabloid journalism masquerading as

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1148909255735368312006-05-29T14:22:00.000+01:002006-05-29T15:01:13.986+01:00

Is the EU totally Cnutters?.....In its infinite wisdom, and with God-like power, the EU has today decreed that we can STOP climate change, and that "YOU CONTROL CLIMATE CHANGE" [BBC Online Europe News, May 29] (I bet you are pleased!)King Canute (Cnut) I, Canute the Great, Knútr inn ríki, Knud II den Store, Knut den mektige (994/995 – 1035) would most graciously beg to differ:[Copyright: Philip

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1148654110071936232006-05-26T15:31:00.000+01:002006-05-26T15:40:49.410+01:00

Music to your ears.....Now I don't spend all my time battling the forces of irrationality.You might like to visit my new web site, just up on the Web, to see what I get up to in my spare time: Philip Stott's Music Box.I hope you enjoy Stotty's efforts. The first time you load the site, it may take a minute, as it includes a full Clarinet concerto. I have checked the speed on my own system,

Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5896442.post-1148539846021622432006-05-25T07:46:00.000+01:002006-05-25T08:44:58.813+01:00

'Your Auntie Beeb NEEDS YOU!'.....Climate Chaos Comic: Page 2 [as threatened: Page 1 was yesterday!]:[Copyright: Philip Stott, 2006]Philip, "Now get to it you procrastinating proles and 'Save the Planet'!" "Wot! No windfarm on your roof yet? You lazy laggard! Three showings of Climate Chaos for you then!" "I'm orf for brekkers! WHERE'S MY COFFEE?!! Get marching there, Man!"

Philipnoreply@blogger.com