Tuesday
Dec312013
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Slingong
Dec 31, 2013 Climate: MetOffice Congratulations to Julia Slingo, who has been damed (if that's the right word) in the New Year's honours list.
Dec 31, 2013 Climate: MetOffice
Reader Comments (32)
Wonder who recommended her 'stout defence' of the meme?
Climate science leads to significant rewards for its practitioners at all levels.
Played a blinder, she did.
To be fair, in the context of who she is and what her function is, this is the sort of award that comes "with the rations". The Damehood for Penelope Keith is much more valuable in my opinion as is the long overdue knighthood for my old friend Geoff Palmer!
As an uneddicated Aussie, I've never understood the "dame" thing. Too many American movies, perhaps.
Anyway, anyone who calls me a dame is looking for either a devastating riposte or a slug to the jaw, depending on the circumstances.
The most charitable comment I can come up with, is that giving 'honours' to partisan proponents of the alarmist ' policy based evidence making' procedures, can only bring the whole corrupt 'honours' system into further disrepute.
Corruption pays. Three MPs involved in the expenses scandal are knighted (for services to themselves perhaps).
Congratulations Dame Slingo! Plenty of athletes and sports men and women get gongs but soothsayers have traditionally been neglected. It is high time that at least one of them received an honour. My only gripe is that Ed Balls wasn't also made a dame. After all, he has done for economic forecasting what Julia Slingo has done for long term weather forecasting!
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
Probably a case of Cameron reminding a disinterested and increasingly skeptical public that he said that he wished the coalition to be (seen to be) the greenest government ever in advance of both future reversal of green measures in frantic attempts to increase energy supplies and, when that is found to be too late, actual power cuts.
The poor lady- to be so misused!
There's usually some awkward sods who refuse an "honour" - I'd be more interested in that list.
Oh come on, it is the pantomime season. Just look at it as a pantomime dameship
Remember, this is the same establishment that gave Fred Goodwin and Jimmy Saviel knighthoods.
To answer johana, a damehood is the female equivalent of a knighthood - so men are 'Sir' somebody and women are 'Dame' somebody. First names are used after Sir or Dame
"Damned" might have been more appropriate...
In this oh-so-politically-correct day and age, is it not considered to be sexual discrimination to call males "Sir" and females "Dame"? I'm confused.
The wife of a "Sir" is a Lady.
I once heard that the husband of a "Dame" can use "Gaffer".
Woe, woe and thrice woe.
For services to pseudoscience?
Pantomime dame.
Dame Slingo is very apt as it makes the following anagrams,"Dogma lines"and " A gold mines". Happy new year.
Makes a nice spoonerism too, particularly for our antipodean friends.
Dec 31, 2013 at 9:56 AM | Roy
I'd have thought a suitable award for Ed Balls would be to play the rear end of a pantomime horse for a season.
From the new pantomime 'A thing of the past'
Audience - 'Behind you...It's behind you..
Dame S -'I'm not falling for tha aaaaaaagghhh'
The Slingong was on the south-west lunchtime BBC news. TV remains intact - just.
Shamed and Damed
Words fail me.....
I was surprised that it wasn't mentioned on the national lunchtime news, but there is one thing the BBC gives priority to over CAGW and that is "celebrities", particularly their own, so Penelope Keith et al. got the full treatment.
Lead story was Shumacher's skiing accident - or rather the followup which they still regard as important enough to have a reporter and crew outside the hospital for a Pointless Piece To Camera. Mind you if it had been a footballer the Honours story wouldn't have got a look in.
Dame Slingo anagrams include..
Denial Smog, Gonad Limes, Dials Gnome, Enigma Sold, Male Doings, Emails Dong, Malign Dose, Mango Slide, and La Smidgeon
(Crossword fanatics put together the recipient list - based on anagram appropriateness post award - it is a civil service tradition).
"There's usually some awkward sods who refuse an "honour" - I'd be more interested in that list."
David Bowie once turned one down I believe.
No Comment -
As my Mother told me, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
Ah, Dame Julia ("we're not out of the woods yet") Slingo!
30 more years?
"Congratulations Dame Slingo! Plenty of athletes and sports men and women get gongs but soothsayers have traditionally been neglected. It is high time that at least one of them received an honour. My only gripe is that Ed Balls wasn't also made a dame."
Does this mean Tim Ball is twice as deserving?
Surprised that Ed Davey wasn't made a pantomime dame..
I mean - when he screws his face up all earnestly, he reminds me ever so much of Les Dawson...
I can't wait for her next howler. Remember how she blamed last years very wet UK winter/spring on the higher temperatures in the northern Atlantic and the Arctic. When you looked at the rainfall figures those for England were very high and those for most of Scotland were below average. How a warmer ocean would make one country wetter and the other conjoined country drier at the same time was never explained. When it was demonstrated that it was all caused by the Jet stream moving we never heard a further peep out of her. Not even an apology.
Hardly befitting of a dame. Hopefully she will keep us amused for some time yet. It won't be 'barbeque summers ' though.