Tuesday
Jun232015
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Is this a joke?
Jun 23, 2015 BBC Readers will enjoy this transcript of an interview between the BBC's Adrian Goldberg and Professor Hugh Montgomery of the Lancet's health and climate thingy.
"Tell us just how how bad things are Professor".
"Well it's really, really bad Adrian. We're probably all going to die".
"I think listeners would like to know just how painful their deaths are going to be, Professor, or can I call you `sir'."
"Well, Adrian, I think it's going to be like purgatory, only more so"...
Sheesh.
Reader Comments (70)
(link got fixed - thanks)
Sheesh hardly covers it.
link u/s btw
"We're probably all going to die."
I was under the apparently mistaken impression that death was, well, dead certain. But thanks to unfettered spewing of carbon pollution, peer-reviewed science has removed dead certainty and replaced it with "probably."
This. Is. Awesome. News.
The mere fact that the BBC would contemplate such utter drivel says it all.
We're probably all going to die.
There's no "probably" about it. We're all going to die. They just can't get the uncertainty thing right.
He asked the"finance guys" [no - I don't know what that means] if they could "move the money" [no - I don't know what that means either] and they told him "yeah - there's no shortage of money - easy to fix that".
Well, I suppose I am one of those "finance guys" who "move the money". I can tell you right now, I have not seen any "climate fix" in which I would risk one penny of the £10 billion pound portfolio over which I preside.
chris y, LOL.
Indeed if we were to plot life expentancy with fossil fuels use, we might draw that conclusion.
"And it's a simple fact of physics that that [increased greenhouse gas] will cause retained energy in our atmospheric system. And actually, whilst there's much talk about there being a debate about this, in the scientific community there just isn't. There are no, kind of, of all the scientists whom I know, that any will believe at all that climate change is not, in this circumstance, due to humans producing greenhouse gases. The debate now is what we do about it. "
So, no need to discuss how much warming, or any disagreement thereon.
I think people will struggle to comment on this because it just beggars belief that an intelligent well educated man could come out with such sewage and do it live on the BBC.
"There are no, kind of, of all the scientists whom I know, that any will believe at all that climate change is not, in this circumstance, due to humans producing greenhouse gases."
He obviously doesn't read the IPCC reports. The scientists claim that over 50% of the temperature rise was caused by humans in the latter half of the 20th century. Before that humans were a negligible contributor to temperature rises. The temperature rose by about 0.5C in the latter half of the 20th century, so the humans caused 0.26C (I'm assuming that's more than 50%) and temperatures rose 0.85C from 1880 to 2000. So 0.59C of the temperature increase/climate change had bugger all to do with humans.
Sheesh indeed.
I just can't take them seriously any longer.
To have a serious discussion on science, you have to have some common ground. But when one side is living in cloud cuckoo land, what on earth will they accept as an argument? It's a waste of time trying to engage with them!
And it is bizarre beyond belief that they get on air.
One B, two Os, two Ls one C one K and one S describe this in full.
I was under the apparently mistaken impression that death was, well, dead certain.
It is estimated that in total about 100-110 billion humans have been born. Out of those, 7 billion are still alive. Therefore even the threshold of 95% isn't met. So death isn't statistically certain.
Isn't statistics wonderful?
Philhippos, some points are worth repeating :-)
I have to say I love this sort of comedy sketch. There are people out there who will reach a tipping point and another fresh sceptic will stagger towards the light.
Given that Montgomery is obviously on the BBC "researcher" quick-dial list this is likely not the last we're going to hear from this "London Leader".
Yet again Boris Johnston's invocation to noisome black cabbies looks like it could be recycled....
It could be parody - but it ain't - it's something much more corrosive and toxic.
But telling everyone how bad it is going to be whilst being paid to travel to exotic locations, being served exotic drinks by exotic waitresses, was part of the dream of a brave new world through climate science, that got the previous Chair of the IPCC into trouble.
Shouldn't FIFA and the IPCC merge and create Fantasy International Climate Change, for greedy fantasists everywhere?
Whenever I see "really, really" as a qualifier for something, I assume it's coming from someone that has the emotional maturity of a 6 year old.
I assume this was really a joke, since none of the extracts appears in the real interview. Other commenters above don't seem to have checked.
I noticed that Steve "We're probably all going to die" isn't there. Has the transcript been amended?
Sjoerd : "So death isn't statistically certain."
Nice one!!
The one I quote is that according to research humans share 98-99% of DNA.
But men and women share only share 45 chromosome out of 46 thus men and women are only 97.8% alike.
... thus proving that men have more in common with (male) Chimpanzees than women.
This has got to be a joke, surely - not even a voodoo zealot would believe this nonsense. Perhaps it should be preserved as concrete proof that CAGW is a scam - and a caveat to avoid having anything to do with the medical profession.
JC - read the transcript - nothing reported here was in it at all - total fiction.
The transcript read like an early draft of the dialogue from Ghostbusters:
Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
Mayor: All right, all right! I get the point!
mike haseler, that 97% figure looks suspiciously familiar. Does it prove that chimpanzees are more intelligent than psychologists believing in global warming, irrespective of the size and colour of their banana?
Steve ta
I was referring to the transcript - it's worse than the bishop's post.
@ steve ta
Hilarious!
One would need to blind not to observe that the climate literati are throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, into their attempts to get something out of what will almost certainly be a debacle in Paris.
I'm not a believer in conspiracy theories but in this case one has to wonder whose hand, or hands, are coordinating the media blitz?
Personally I can't wait to see all the toys flying out of the prams following Paris. One can imagine the headlines, "We're all doomed, doomed I tell you" whilst others will claim success from will likely be an abject failure. It's a pity that Tariq Aziz has died, he would probably have had a lot of consulting options.
They really do seem quite desperate. .
HaroldW (Jun 23, 2015 at 2:52 PM), you've highlighted the fundamental flaw in his argument!
However, based upon this part of his statement...
"There are no, kind of, of all the scientists whom I know, that any will believe at all that climate change is not, in this circumstance, due to humans producing greenhouse gases."
...I suspect he really does not understands what he's talking about. Worse still, it sounds like he's misreading a script that someone else prepared for him.
It is a real credit to the sublime enlightenment of the climate concerned that they are surprised to find out we will all die.
It is a damning indictment of the BBC that they consider such alarmist idiocratic claptrap as "news".
95% probability of death is in the Green Party manifesto. The clause was sponsored by WWF and seconded by a person from NZ.
Mike Singleton : "debacle in Paris.... Personally I can't wait to see all the toys flying out of the prams following Paris."
Do you mean the dead parrot talks?
Haven't you heard global warming is only resting!
Monty Python video of "resting" denier.
well if we are gonna be dying faster we will release less CO2..Isnt this negative feedback or something?
Quickly, someone contact the POPE, this guy needs an exorcism ASAP. In another 4 months it will be too late. The demons have already taken his soul.
another day reading climate stuff
more confirmation that I am in a coma and you are all figments of my imagination
is it possible that Gaia, in her wisdom, has created "climate science' in order to give me a clue ... I mean, that this is a coma and that there is still hope?
Is this a joke? no its is just a reminder that although the actual science and reality does not support them , their unquestioning faith , and self serving interest , is all they need .
If there's no problem with the money, professor Montgomery is culpable of letting 4,100 children under 5 die each day of a curable disease
These medical types are always right; just like the climate faithful.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/10October/Pages/Saturated-fat-link-with-heart-disease-questioned.aspx
and now
http://openheart.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000196.full
even the Mail has picked up on it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2582867/Saturated-fat-DOESNT-cause-heart-disease-all.html
That transcript is surely a joke..... isn't it??
A classic double play on people's fear and hope hot-buttons. Just the same as religions do.
"that's straightforward physics". "it's a simple fact of physics". Clearly he failed his physics at school, hence Montgomery studied something else not so demanding.
They're shifting the narrative away from outright 'warming', ie their campaign is being too reliant solely on temperatures, and instead onto general health issues, which are outside of the warming remit but carry a more profound personal consequence.
So instead of citing a generic 'global warming' - which doesn't really resonate with or frighten many individuals, they're now saying 'YOU are going to suffer ill-health as a result of us burning fossil fuels'. That's very focussed onto the individual as a selfish person rather than humanity. Nowt like bringing it all close to home, then.
What this actually means is their temperature-based scare campaign has failed, and this is their 'Take 2'.
I can't find these exchanges in the linked transcript. Has it been edited since the post was made?
Am I wrong in believing that global temperatures haven't risen in 18 years. If so what are these utter lunatics who pretend to be doctors / scientists talking about?
Even if temperatures do rise how do we know that's not a good thing?
Third question, why can't I earn millions from talking alarmist garbage about catastrophic man made climate change?
This silliness reminds of a Marist Brother, a teaching colleague in a RC co-ed here in NZ some years ago.
A slightly ditzy female year 13 student approached him breathlessly in the school grounds - ' Brother, Brother, I've heard that the death rate here in New Zealand is going up!!!'
My unflappable colleague smiled at her and said
'We still get only one death per person, as far as I know, so don't worry about it.'
"I think listeners would like to know just how painful their deaths are going to be, Professor, or can I call you `sir'."
I think that's after the Knighthood.
It's just first mover advantage on the climate prat of the year award. It's just a bit hazy about whether it's Helmond or the BBC Climaticus Maximus Pratticus is doing it.
Pointman
Simply #GreeniesAreStupid
" can't find these exchanges in the linked transcript."
Nic, I think the Bish was paraphrasing the real content from the exchange there. The gist is identical though. I can't believe that this comes from a 'Professor' and the nonsense he has just spouted won't be challenged by anyone else in professional academia...
He's very knowledgeable about purgatory.
Did he go there for a vacation?
no joke Bish
Extract from WIKI on Hugh Montgomery (physician) -
"Other interests[edit]
Montgomery has several notable achievements outside the field of medicine. He has been awarded the title of London Leader by the London Sustainable Development Commission for his work in climate change and health under the auspices of Project Genie; he was also a founding member of the UK Climate and Health Council and one of the co-authors of the UCL-Lancet Commission" in 2009. Montgomery is also a published children's book author.
Montgomery has a wide variety of interests.[9] Montgomery has complemented his interest in fitness with achievements which include the 100 km ultra marathons, holding the world record for underwater piano playing as well as climbing Everest with the Extreme Everest research group to undertake research.[10]"
all you need to make a judgment on his views IMHO.
ps - not sure what "Project Genie" is/was, any idea's ?