From time time to time I have remarked on the tendency of those prominent in sci-policy circles to invent poisonous allegations about prominent global warming sceptics. Paul Nurse's inventions about Nigel Lawson are a case in point, the fulminations of the "we're being rude about sceptics so we don't need to tell the truth" types at the Guardian another.
You can point out as often as you like that these people are being dishonest and it will have little effect. In the circles in which they move telling the truth is no particular virtue and dishonesty is no particular sin.
I was reminded of this when reading the remarks of Lord Krebs, the chairman of the Adaptation Committee of the Committee on Climate Change in a speech he made to the Oxford Farming Conference recently:
There are still some people who, in the face of overwhelming evidence and analysis, think that climate change is either not happening, is not caused by humans, or is nothing to worry about, or some combination of all three. Perhaps they get confused between year to year variation in weather and long term effects of climate change. The former Secretary of State for the Environment, Owen Paterson, is one of these climate deniers.
They are not sceptics: that is what scientists are. I am a statutory advisor to Defra on adaptation to climate change, and the guidance I was given was not to mention the words climate change to him when offering advice!
And here are Owen Paterson's stated views on climate change:
Of course the climate is changing. There is a human element. What’s important for me and for Defra is to adapt and to make sure that we do have good coastal defences. And I’m very proud that although it was terrible for those who were flooded, families, lives and businesses, don’t forget that 1.4m properties were protected.
I fancy that the bit about Paterson not wanting to speak to advisers about climate change has more to do with the simple fact that climate change is DECC's remit rather than Defra's. The clue is in the title.
This feeling that one can fabricate allegations against one's political opponents is a revolting and increasingly common tendency in public life. Krebs and his ilk are a cancer.