Unbalanced - Josh 344

On Wednesday the BBC's Newsnight interviewed Emma Thompson on the newsworthy topic of left wing activists protesting about drilling for oil in the Arctic. And refugees. And voting for Jeremy Corbyn.

Emma clearly did not have a clue what she was talking about - even Richard Betts, from the Met Office, said she was wrong (good on you, Richard). Ed Hawkins, Climate Scientist, also tweeted "what Emma Thompson said was scientifically inaccurate & implausible." 

Sadly Emma had not got the memo on coal not being the 'dirtiest' fuel. It isnt, biofuels and wood burning stoves are worse - the Guardian is not very keen on them either.

Newsnight's Emily Maitlis suggested Emma get herself arrested. Hmm.

Cartoons by Josh

[Update: added Ed's Tweet]

Update on Sep 6, 2015 by Josh

David Rose writes about the interview in the Daily Mail and with more damning indictment of Emma from Richard Betts. You can read Richard's thoughts in full on the Helix website here.

In summary, Richard says Emma is wrong, unhelpful and probably making matters worse.

Emma, in response, asks if Richard is insane.

Oh dear.

Here we go again

The government, in its infinite foolishness, has spent a million quid or thereabouts to get researchers to develop a process for converting draff and pot ale, by-products of the distillery business, into butanol for use as a biofuel. The people involved are now seeking another considerably larger wad of cash from the taxpayer to scale the process up.

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A cap on hunger

Precisely what is meant by sustainable development has never been entirely clear, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it was something to do with killing off as many people in the third world as possible. Take, for example, the case of biofuels, which were touted by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (among others) as important contributors to sustainable development and a mighty blow in the war against fossil fuels to boot. When European farmers saw the possibilities it was not long before corrupt bureaucrats in the EU leapt into action and put legislation in place to make the dreams of environmentalists and farmers a reality.

The problem was that it was a reality that involved quite a lot of hunger, not a little outright starvation, and perhaps some landgrabs too.

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Craven Kramer

The Mail reports that EU demands for ever increasing proportions of "renewables" in liquid transport fuels mean that consumers are soon going to be using a new blend of fuel called E10. This has a higher ethanol content and therefore significantly lower energy density, which means that the motorist is going to be hit with a double whammy of fuel that is both more expensive and less efficient.

In response, the LibDem transport minister Baroness Kramer pretends that retailers have some sort of a choice about the new fuels:

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Biofuel billions

Biofuels will serve the interests of large industrial groups rather than helping to cut carbon emissions and ward off climate change, according to research to be published in the International Journal of Environment and Health this month.

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