Britannia Radio

THERE'S SUMMIT ABOUT GORDON...

I have had a deluge of emails from enraged B-BBC readers in recent days over the way in which the State Broadcaster has chosen to cover the "Climategate" issue. When you see how the BBC is gushing over the way in which Brown has cynically hijacked the Commonwealth summit to evangelise further on AGW, I share their pain. It seems to me that the AGW industry is coming under some sustained scrutiny and being shown up for the grotesque hoax that some of us have argued all along - but the BBC will have none of this. In Beebworld "the science is settled" and when climate experts such as Marcus Brigstocke and Diane Abbot confirm this, who are we to argue back?

Hudson Hushed

Paul Hudson, the BBC weatherman who in October was forwarded some of the Climategate emails (those relating to his article "What happened to global warming?") has been gagged by the BBC. From the Hull Daily Mail:

When contacted by the Mail, the weatherman said he was not allowed to comment and asked us to speak to the BBC press office.
A BBC spokesperson said: "Paul wrote a blog for the BBC website on October 9 entitled Whatever Happened To Global Warming. There was a big reaction to the article – not just here but around the world. Among those who responded were Professor Michael E Mann and Stephen Schneider whose e-mails were among a small handful forwarded to Paul on October 12.
"Although of interest, Paul wanted to consider the e-mails as part of a wider piece, following up his original blog piece.
"Last week, Paul spotted these few e-mails were among thousands published on the Internet following the alleged hacking of the UEA computer system.
"Paul passed this information on to colleagues at the BBC, who ran with the story, and then linked to the e-mails on his blog this Monday."

Hudson posted a brief follow-up to his original article on October 12, the day he was forwarded the emails. The emails weren't mentioned in that blog post nor in the five subsequent ones written prior to the CRU story breaking last week. If Hudson wanted to "consider the emails as part of a wider piece", he wasn't in any rush to do so.

(Note - the Hull Daily Mail article appears to misquote Hudson's blog, stating: "I was forwarded the chain of e-mails on October 23". It actually says: "I was forwarded the chain of e-mails on the 12th October".)

HARRABIN SKEWERED

James Delingpole, of the Daily Telegraph, here, has an excellent assessment of Roger Harrabin's role in reporting what is now being called Climategate.

COCKERMOUTH NONSENSE

Diane Abbott MP, as those who worked with her in the early days of TV-am will attest, is not the brightest tool in the box. But she knows a political opportunity when she sees it. Last night - miracle of miracles - the BBC1 programme on which she reguarly appears, This Week, mentioned "climate change", and there was a sensible exchange between Michael Portillo and Andrew Neil in which the ex-MP mentioned the CRU emails and said the affair illustrated the need for politicians to exercise caution in backing expensive measures that almost certainly were not needed. Bravo!

Ms Abbott's response? To pronounce, without any doubt or hesitation (and no evidence, either), that the Cockermouth floods proved that "climate change" was definitely happening and must be halted. An audience member on last night's Question Time made the same blunt assertion. The culprit responsible for this inanity? Well it must be in no small measure the BBC itself. On the back of its relentless tide of pro-warming propaganda, Ms Abbott - and millions like her - have become self-declared scientific experts, influenced by the "climate change" soundbites the BBC push out round the clock. And Ms Abott - as well as people like last night's Question Time panellist the charmless Marcus Brigstocke - seize on this propaganda with relish because it accords with their lefty agenda to cripple our economy and create their ultimate goal of a Stalinist state.