IPCC

UN

The blogosphere and, belatedly, the MSM have been full of tales of conflicts of interest amongst scientists and politicians regarding climate change. The indefatigable Richard North tells of yet another, here. Financial linkages and patronage are particularly egregious in large bodies such as the EU, UN, IPCC but also exist in Westminster and the City. Are we surprised at nefarious goings-on in the IPCC; remember 'oil for food' in the UN? Are we surprised at lies from Westminster; who can forget the 'dodgy dossier'?

Also, remember, in May 2007, Francis Nheme, Zimbabwe's environment and tourism minister, was elected as chairman of the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development', the main United Nations inter-governmental body on the environment.

Defending the decision, and completely missing the point, Zimbabwe's UN ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku asked:

Haven't they done well?

Sensible minds such as Richard North and Christopher Booker are just beginning to be noticed in the MSM. They have been 'banging on' about global warming for years but their exposé of Dr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC and his breathtaking conflicts of interest has been published in the Telegraph. The Australian has also taken up the subject.

The Emperor's new clothes

I have contacted the Conservative shadow Energy and Climate minister Greg Clark regarding Climategate/Warmergate and have been told he'll be 'getting back to me.' He'd better hurry because he'll need to be on the right side here.

The tectonic plates are moving - on one side are: the MSM, governments, big energy and 'sustainability' companies, climate change scientists in receipt of research grants versus, on the other: the blogosphere, public opinion, small business and scientists not in receipt of climate change grants.

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Grahame Greene's Our Man in Havana tells the story of James Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman living in Batista's Cuba, who is recruited to work for the British Secret Service. He has no information so simply makes it up. He says he has a network of informants and sends a circuit diagram of a vacuum cleaner claiming that this is the plan of a secret military site. The service sends extra staff to Cuba to help Wormold. When the deception is finally revealed, rather than admit they were taken in by his invented sketch, and afraid that their agency would lose all credibility with others if the affair were exposed, the top officers of the service assign Wormold to headquarters and decorate him with an OBE.