Quote of the day

A propos of my earlier piece about the Hockey Stick, here's Keith Briffa's take on the "NAS defence", from Climategate email no 1140039406.

...you have to consider that since the [Third Assessment Report], there has been a lot of argument re [the] `hockey stick' and the real independence of the inputs to most subsequent analyses is minimal. True, there have been many different techniques used... but the efficacy of these is still far from established.

Comments

[stephen richards]

Briffa has been quiet for some time and it was clear from the CG emails that he wasn't 110% behind Mann et al. I had wondered from the quiet whether he was waiting for the right moment to start to come out. Perhaps this is it.

[BBD]

And Briffa concludes:

For what it worth , the above comments are my (honestly long considered) views - and I would not be happy to go further . Of course this discussion now needs to go to the wider Chapter authorship, but do not let Susan [Solomon] (or Mike [Mann]) push you (us) beyond where we know is right.

[diogenes]

having been in similar situations, I empathise with Briffa...

[Pharos]

To be fair to Muir Russell, this email and many others were quoted and debated in their 'Independent' Review, and, reading between the lines, Briffa is credited mainly for taking serious notice of MM and trying to find a perch between a sceptical rock and a politically correct hard place.

[Steve McIntyre]

Pharos, your take on Briffa is totally unfounded. He did all that he could to frustrate us and disparage us.

[Jiminy Cricket]

O/T... It is worse than we thought....

Guardian: Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink, Exclusive: Record rise, despite recession, means 2C target almost out of reach

I think the clue to why this piece now is...

Governments are to meet next week in Bonn for the next round of the UN talks, but little progress is expected.

[Pete H]

Pharos, your take on Briffa is totally unfounded. He did all that he could to frustrate us and disparage us.
May 30, 2011 at 3:09 AM | Steve McIntyre

Thanks for pointing that out Steve. Regulars over at your place know it well. Briffa has a testicular challenged problem and only questions in what he thought were private emails.

[Geoff Sherrington]

If you search the Climategate emails for "money", you get back a dozen or so hits, mainly about K Briffa dealing with Russians over tree ring projects. He comes over as a bit of a bully, holding back payment until his payees toe the party line and dutifully report results from which he can then select useful material.

[Pharos]

Steve McIntyre

Obviously my sympathy for the devil was undeserved. Thanks for the clarification and for correcting my take.

[mangochutney]

I wonder if Richard Black and the BBC will cover this story

I've emailed Black with links here, WUWT & CA, just in case selective hearing means he hasn't heard about the story