Friday
Sep122014
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Scientists decline the poison chalice
Sep 12, 2014 Bureaucrats DECC When it was announced that David Mackay would be stepping down from his role as chief scientific adviser at DECC, I speculated that it might be a tricky vacancy to fill, what with rumours of blackouts impending.
Here we are nearly six months later. Mackay has gone and no scientist seems to have stepped forward to take up the poison chalice.
I would say they chose...wisely.
Reader Comments (17)
What's the pay? Good pension? I'll do it. Do I need a phd or will a 1st in Computer Science be enough? I'll just have to chair a few meetings won't I. It's no problem.
David McKay Mr winter power cuts.
So a Knight hood for him then
I believe they are waiting on the "Nobel Laureate" Dr Michael Mann being free to take up the post. He will bring his enormous diplomatic skill to the post and convince the public about the imminent danger of CAGW. No doubt he will bring fluffy polar bears holding hocky sticks to work as his icon.
Or should that be enormous ego???
I applied for this position. At the end of May I was advised that I had not been shortlisted for interview. They said the position had attracted a large amount of interest and the selection panel were faced with selecting a shortlist from a substantial number of highly qualified applicants.
What is needed is a chief engineering advisor. Fat chance of that. Odds on it will be another academic with no industry experience.
"I speculated that it might be a tricky vacancy to fill, ..."
There can be few academics with the demonstrable ignorance & blatant bias vis-a-vis wind vs fracking, that MacKay has shown.
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/wind-farm-footprint-understated-by-prof-mackay/
Sir Clive Sinclair
What did the UK use for lighting before candles? Electricity ...
Pointman
@Pointman: Very droll. :-)
Kind of reminds me of Mr Nice (Howard Marks) applying for the position of Drugs Czar - a position he was eminently qualified to fill... He uses the experience and the amusing rejection letter as a part of his forays into "spoken cabaret"
On balance though my vote goes to bringing in yet another North American to UK gubmint - Micky M for CSA at DECC!
They must be looking for another Mark Walport who knows nothing about energy density or meteorology. Walport is in fact a medical scientist. Mackay's 'Sustainable energy - without the hot air' more or less proves that we could not build enough wind turbines to meet UK demand, even if the wind blew nonstop.
As Phillip Bratby says a practical man like an engineer would not go along with their impractical ideas.
I mentioned Meteorology as opposed to Climatology/Earth Science. Meteorologists are in the main practical men working with known observations to forecast the weather. Since Michael Fish got caught out with the 1987 great storm, weather satellites provide the Met-man with an instantaneous picture of the World 's weather.
The global Argo dataset provides scientist with information they never had before and they are engaged in hunt the presumed missing heat. There is no evidence to show that a varying temperature of ocean currents is other than a historical natural cyclic event. Can anyone prove that anthropogenic CO2 has caused the oceans to gobble-up more heat and hence cause the hiatus?
"They said the position had attracted a large amount of interest and the selection panel were faced with selecting a shortlist from a substantial number of highly qualified applicants."
By happenstance, I have found a copy of the shortlist. It's not marked "secret," so I suppose it wouldn't be out of place to upload it here:
Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith (Well educated in mideastern animal husbandry)
Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris (Expert on small wattage appliances)
Nigel Incubator-Jones (Very fond of trees, possibly a dildoclimatology degree)
Gervaise Brook-Hampster (Involved in recycling at an early age)
Oliver St. John-Mollusc (His father well-known for liking horses)
No. Me, me, me ,me, me. I've got a Ph.D. And I've also drunk a fair amount of poison in my time. It would be fantastic to have a chalice to go with it.
If DECC follows normal form for an organization then MacKay will be the whipping boy for many months when anything goes pear shaped.
"...Chose wisely."
Well, that sure is a nice way to say it.
Duck, don't make eye contact, scatter and run is more like it. They should offer the post to one of the blind deaf faithful; perhaps that noisy Caroline MP?
This is when you need your black, blind, lesbian , single mother who was an immigrant , with all those boxes ticked they could never be criticised no matter what they did. Add a side order of fanatical green and I think we have the 'ideal' candidate profile , actual knowledge of the area not required as long as they have 'strong beliefs '
I say they should cut out the middleman and appoint Vladimir Putin.