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 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."
That jerk Gummer, is a peer of the realm thanks to some Tory tw*t - Dave actually turned this gimp into, a knob. The only way to rid us of this pestilential ball of green slime - is via transportation out of Westminster - in a black suit donning a wooden overcoat.
BOFA - I deem perhaps you are thinking of the deselected MP and egregious, fawning green serial trougher Tim Yeo - maybe?
Lord Deben, so what did he know about Lord Janner,s antics.
and Leon Britton
A gobful of hot spurting Deben. You just know it's the BBC.
"If you, sir, are going to have some very angry "kids", (small young goats), then that is your issue, not mine!"
--Alan the Brit
I thought I was the only person left in the world who steadfastly equated kids with young goats.
"[W]hy, what and when: The classic questions every reporter and interviewer should ask when hearing 'new' or 'old' claims." --ATheoK
Reporter? What are these 'reporter' things of which you spik? Do you perhaps mean 'regurgitator?'
I thought the questions were challenging. Unexpected. To argue would become clashing assertions. Better to elicit more BS.
Of course it's a religion:
a) it is based on faith, not facts, and therefore does not recognise logical argument or discussion
b) it has its high priests who may not be questioned, and its heretics whom it persecutes
c) it requires of its acolytes that they make pointless but highly visible sacrifices (ie build windmills)
d) it proselytises endlessly, especially amongst the young (give me the child and I will give you the man etc etc)
and most telling of all
d) it gets into bed with the civil power and they cross-justify and prop each other up, each enhancing the other's power
No question, it is a religion.
Phil Howerton:
The same madness has gripped broadcasters in NZ, with the Obama - Attenborough mutual admiration/nonsense being widely advertised. Sickening stuff.
Dumb, Devious or Double Bluffing - Where's Deben coming from ?
- mad ??
- or bad, I have seen a similar Tory Lord lie in front of me. The fact that he cunningly waited until the public questions had finished semmed to show, he knew what he was doing
- Or is it a double bluff by the Tories by having their own Green Loonies ..it gives them resistance against Greens.
.... To play Devils Advocate - Cameron and team are playing something right they are on the winning side. This pretending to be green and handing out subsidies to your corrupt mates sames to work.
The No 10 policy advisor seemed insistent that they should listen to mad-Green groups. Perhaps, the Tories know it's not so important if people like you, but really important that large groups don't hate you, cos that's how governments gets voted out ....they get hated and momentum build up to vote them out.
So by playing a game they avoid this.
"If even the Pope comes out and says "This is a serious risk", you would be a very sensible person to say "WTF does the Pope know about it?""
Fixed it.