Bishop Hill The madness of Lord Deben
Lord Deben was on the Today programme promoting the Committee on Climate Change's 2015 progress report, which I shall read at my leisure. However Lord D's performance was amazing: he sounds more and more like Paul Ehrlich every day. No doubt the writing in capital letters will follow in due course.
This was completely swivel-eyed stuff, a full-on regurgitation of every bit of environmentalist disinformation that he could conjure up in three minutes with barely a pause for breath. For example, we had a bogeyman tale about Bangladesh facing doom, although Lord D was rather vague about what precisely it was that was going to be causing this crisis:
Bangladesh will be practically be unable to be lived in if we do not halt the march of climate change and we'll have 170 million displaced people wandering around the world looking for somewhere to live.
One assumes he means the old sea level rise canard, about which the academic literature says something very different:
There is a widespread misconception that a rising sea-level with global warming will overwhelm Bangladesh’s coastal area contour by contour and will thereby displace as many as 10–30 million people in the 21st century.
Brammer H. Bangladesh’s dynamic coastal regions and sea-level rise. Climate Risk Management 2014; 1: 51-62
We had a fairy story about drought and floods in the UK, despite the fact that every reputable scientists says it's almost impossible to predict rainfall at a regional level and particularly for the UK.
And then there was the inevitable bonkers conspiracy theory about big oil-funded opposition to his madness.
This was, in its way, an extraordinary performance and you have to wonder whether the great man is losing his grip on reality. What do you think?
The audio is below.
Reader Comments (60)
I thought he was bang on about anyone ignoring the risks being a very bad father.
You guys are going to have some very angry kids.
@Gubulgaria: Good old fashioned scare stories are best. I have fortunately schooled my offsrping to challenge each & every "claim" about doom & gloom, & the moment somebody moans, drones, whines, & whinges, about the "facts", I have trained them to seek out the fictions, before drawing any firm conclusions! So hopefully, I won't be considered a "very bad" father! If you, sir, are going to have some very angry "kids", (small young goats), then that is your issue, not mine!
Dodgy burger.
"is losing his grip"
Only now? He lost it a long time ago, as poor Cordelia could testify.
" It's like the BBC can't even be bothered now. Just let the bullshit flow." : said a tweeter
Another Tweeter : "Repeated the catechism with ever-greater hysteria each time."
......We have Lord Deben on to "talk about CLIMATE CHANGE"
= .......................................to sell RENEWABLE ENERGY gimmicks from him and his pals
Deben to Humphreys 'fossil industry spends billions getting people like you to say things like that.'
Lord Deben : "the science on #climate change is stronger than that on smoking and health. No critic is taken seriously any more"
... Tweeter : “This is what the facts are”, says scaremongering Deben.
Except the ones he chooses to ignore, obviously. ..(shows graph of FAILED models vs Reality ...Pity on radio you can't just hold it up.)
- Direct link to audio stream Deben was on at 8.41am ..He was last last on March 27th
..Please don't be drawn off topic by @Gub ..I'll just say : What kind of father stuffs a burger into his toddlers mouth just for a TV PR stunt to show how safe it is from mad cow disease ?... photos
Alan
+1 (and the 'kids')
I came in about half way through the 'interview', and I listened with increasing incredulity to Deben's lies, half-lies and delusions. Even by Deben's standards this was breathtaking, and left me, well.... gobsmacked seems the best word. I'm afraid I was raging at the end, both because of Deben and because R4 did not provide a proper expert (?Ridley) to counter his lies. Humphrey's was out of his depth.
Did you say that for a bet Gubulgaria?
My son thinks opposing carbon fuel is madness. He certainly has no plans that don't involve using it.
Gubulgaria on Jun 30, 2015 at 9:59 AM
"I thought he was bang on about anyone ignoring the risks being a very bad father."
You mean, like feeding your children 'mad cow disease burgers':
John Gummer: Beef eater
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/369625.stm
Go on! Go mad, and buy some British Beef.
There's a transcript of it here:
https://sites.google.com/site/mytranscriptbox/2015/20150630_r4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hnzHtm1jhL4
As Lord Deben spoke this is all I could hear.
Mad he might be, but his madness is highly profitable!
ooh, I'm a bad father now.
my list of failings grows and grows.
His ignorance is appalling. His irresponsibility is unforgivable.
I don't think most people's children in the UK will be happy about the likes of Deben dismantling their civilisation, and putting them into massive debt in order to pay out subsidies for unreliables to achieve virtually no overall reduction in CO2. Moreover depriving poor people elsewhere of cheap energy, as Deben connives in, based on predictions which have never been accurate, will ensure we are flooded with their children as economic migrants - something that is already happening.
What did happen to that terribly frightening bug that was going to eat us all alive back in the 90s? I recall somebody in the office with a newspaper with all the "facts" across the front page! They had far more better scares than this AGW lark back then! I am convinced they have got some scarier stories in store to keep the fear mongering going whilst AGW dwindles!
Lord Deben used to be my MP. He always struck me as an ineffectual figure with an inferiority complex. Perhaps this is his way of compensating.
Bangladesh will be practically be unable to be lived in if we do not halt the march of climate change and we'll have 170 million displaced people wandering around the world looking for somewhere to live.
Having failed to scare the British people with threats of warmer summers or less frost, he now jumps on another political bandwagon by pumping up fears of inundation from millions of muslim migrants. Political opportunism at its most flagrant.
Put him on every program. The more people hear the whiney little shrimp the more people will realise it is a scam to make him and his cohorts rich. I don't think that quoting the pope is going to help his cause in the UK. The BBC needs to up its game and get some more believable people on. Perhaps they could get Putin to give his opinion?
Non Sequiturs is his hallmark as he makes a series of wild claims ..Such that if a child checks through the transcript they'll see Deben is raving.
You would have to be a bad father to think you know best. Or better than him?
♪Trust and Obey for there's no other way to be Grabby of Sleazes.
Than to Trust and Obey.♫
He does sound a bit culty, doesn't he?
It is difficult to tell if these are real rantings of a mad man or just a facade.
After all if you go to Roswell and give a talk about aliens you will have a full house with gold in you pocket. However, if you give one saying that there are so such things and that area 51 is just a military base, no one will turn up!
Alarmism sells and you can get very rich quickly.Look at all the people in both Houses of Parliament earning a lot from renewables!
I thought we had finally got rid of him at the last election, but he managed to stay at the trough and his nose is stuffed well inside.
I think Humphrys was on the money with his religious quip. As religious belief has dwindled there are parts of the population that have replaced fear of damnation to a new fear of the 'Revelations' catastrophe of AGW.
What Deben knows about science could be written in large font on the back of a second class stamp.
His stunt with the burger may have seemed foolhardy, but it remains to this day that there was no science basis for saying that BSE was a threat to humans. Lots of computer modelling, bit like AGW really.
Umm ... I thought the Beeb weren't allowed to have people talking about topics in which they hold no qualifications and that would limit Gummer to history and Westwood to frocks
I'm always puzzled about the way 'The Science' is talked about in a reverential tone that no one can be allowed to argue about, when it is discussing 'Climate Science'. However when we have the science saying that nuclear power, GMOs fracking etc are perfectly safe, it is open season for any scientifically illiterate 'activist' to make ill informed arguments against it.
I couldn't listen - did he blame tonight's Leap Second (at midnight) on climate change?
I heard it.
Absolutely barking.
I reckon that burger did for him. He sounds like a complete loon.
As a fully signed up marketing man Debs is doing a great job for his side. If enough people keep on telling the same lie then it will be believed, in addition it would be true to say "panic and the world panics with you" ^.^
As a friend of mine would put it
I got the impression John Humphreys realised fairly quickly that Deben was spouting nonsense so gave up on any semblance of an interview. Deben did a great job of making the climate change argument seem ridiculous by rabbiting on about Bangladesh becoming uninhabitable.
I normally turn the radio off before he opens his mouth. This morning I listened to him all the way through and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. He was brilliant!
It should be compulsory listening for everyone and he should have a radio slot every morning.
That would shut down the entire climate change industry in a matter of weeks. The deluge of propaganda does more to discredit climate science than serious reasoned argument.
It is also interesting that the biased BBC's blatant presentation of one side of the argument is hardly worth mentioning these days. We have come to expect it as BBC policy.
Those nameless fossil fuel industry people must have spent an awful lot of billions to get Humphrys to tell Deben that his predictions are based on models. Is Humphrys saying anything?
It was interesting to see the response to the accusation that 'Climate Change is like a religion'.
Because Debden used the argument:
"Believe or not as you wish. If you do, you are all right. But if you don't, you run a huge risk... "
This is almost precisely the argument that Pascal used to justify belief in a (Christian) God. It is well known by theologians and philosophers, and is called 'Pascal's Wager'. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_Wager
So, in response to the accusation that Climate Change is not science but religion, Debden used a theological argument to claim that belief in Climate Change is sensible. Game, Set and Match, I would imagine...
I would say Climate change is a religion. I am no theologian, but the foundation of all religions is the belief in a supernatural being. The only difference with climate change is that it is founded on the belief in a supernatural molecule. ;)
Debden - every one knows you never go full retard - even if you're a Greenie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6WHBO_Qc-Q
Pointman
The bloke protesteth far too much. Almost complete nonsense from start to finish with his Bangladesh claims being especially top notch hand-wringing gibberish. ('170 million refugees'!!) John Humphries didn't challenge him enough though, imo. Was just another BBC-provided free hit for the green blob.
If this is a real quote from the audio (I can't listen to it I am supposed to be working)
"Deben to Humphreys 'fossil industry spends billions getting people like you to say things like that.'"
I'm surprised John Humphreys didn't take his head off...
"It's going to be bad, very bad , but there is a solution more mugsidies for our biz mates." that's what wealthy businessmen like Lord Deben and Lord Krebs seem to be saying today.
- What would a good interview have been like ?
" I know that your report says that Climate Change is the biggest threat ever ..but let me stop you in your list of forthcoming catastrophes ..and ask you : Isn't your report about getting SUBSIDIES increased ?
... cos as we see the current subsidies are capped to max at £7.6 billion on consumer bills in 2020/2021. ..BUT you say investors need certainty and are talking about need to rise to £9 billion a year in 2025 before falling.
Then in addition you call for more incentives for Greening : 'EXTENDING FUNDING for the Renewable Heat Incentive, Levy Control Framework and support for renewables, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear energy.
'continued subsidies for ultra low emissions vehicles, such as the plug-in car grant"
'echarging points and hydrogen refuelling stations.'
'development of heat networks and CCS.'
That's great for those that have business in those area, but the man on the street is going to have to pay for it all ..isn't he ?
..And it will make NEGLIGIBLE difference to world CO2 . won't it ?"
Now I've stopped regular listening of the Today program it just sounds like a propaganda channel pretending to be impartial.
I expect it was pretty much the same when people listened to Lord haw haw.
Addendum ... reading the comments it sounds as if it was less that completely biased. That's not enough for me to want to listen, but it's better than being completely biased.
The conspicuous consumption of mad cow burgers in the past does much to explain the present rhetoric of the climate wars.
I wonder what will be on the Vatican menu tomorrow?
http://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2015/06/habemus-antipapam-ukip-surprise-in.html
Good point +1 ................Jun 30, 2015 at 12:39 PM | @Dodgy Geezer
What a very bizarre claim
Over the last twenty years, my children have grown up. Thanks to the religious fanaticism required by the green goons, my adult children have learned to ask questions; especially why, what and when.
The classic questions every reporter and interviewer should ask when hearing 'new' or 'old' claims. Discerning the motive behind the jet setting greens ultra modern greens and CAGWrs frames their shrill cries as the lies they are.
Pay attention to the good Bishop's notes about Deben repeating old long ago falsified disaster predictions. No matter how many times the lie is repeated, does not make it true. Also note that when CAGW disciple's frantically repeat their claims, every refrain sounds more like a cult's religious chant for the mindless.
Speaking of madness on TV, I happened to catch a promo on BBC America last night about a program on tonight featuring Obama and Attenborough discussing climate change. Unfortunately I shall either be watching cartoons or sleeping when it is scheduled so I will miss all the hard science based discussion between these two great minds.
Failed MP's, punted into the Lord's, rely on a loss of mental faculties to avoid being held to account for previous misdeeds.
Deben's grasp of money, seems stronger than ever, so is his insanity carefully contrived, or is he acting, on legal advice?
What do you think?
I think Deben is a slime monster that knows exactly what he is doing, sending messages of 'loyalty' out to those whose pockets he is hopping to pick .
That such a old school Tory has become a 'hero' to the greens merely shows that nothing washes whiter than 'green wash ' perhaps no eco friendly but certainly pocket friendly .
David Davies calls out the climate change scam at Deben's report launch.
Monmouthshire MP and climate realist David Davies crashed today’s parliamentary launch of the Committee on Climate Change’s new report and used the opportunity to ask some awkward questions.
It pains me to say it but I think Hebe above is close to the answer.