BBC responds to complaint #2: Different day – Same old #GreenCrap

I recently sent another complaint to the BBC, which they have now replied to. Their reply fails to address my main point, which is that all available scientific evidence shows extreme weather events have not increased in frequency or intensity since records began. Their utterly lame justification is that NGO’s and aid agencies say they have, so it must be true:

Dear Mr Tattersall
Reference [redacted]
Thanks for contacting us regarding ‘Breakfast’ broadcast on the 17 November.

We understand you were unhappy with the interview with Oxfam’s Max Lawson as you felt that Max wasn’t challenged sufficiently.

We make no editorial comment or judgement on the views expressed by contributors to our programmes, and our aim is simply to provide enough information for viewers to make up their own minds.

This may include hearing opinions which some people may personally disagree with but which individuals may be fully entitled to hold in the context of legitimate debate.

The BBC is committed to impartial and balanced coverage when it comes to this issue.
There is broad scientific agreement on the issue of climate change and we reflect this accordingly;however, we do aim to ensure that we also offer time to the dissenting voices.

Constitutional illegality of EU treaties affecting the Sovereignty of Britains Peoples

This is a repost of a page I found which looks into the issue of the rights of Britain’s people and the way our constitution is constructed so as to prevent us being sold down the river by the politicians of the day. Before we start, a couple of quotes:

“This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union…”
(Maastricht Treaty 1992)

“Now we’ve signed it – we had better go and read it”
(Douglas Hurd, former Foreign Secretary on the Maastricht Treaty)

Parliamentary Limits

Ironically, it seems that the power parliament has most interest in exercising nowadays is the manufacture of criminals, by making more and more conduct illegal, regardless of the effect on our essential rights guaranteed under common law. If government, any government, “believes it can do as it wishes without the constraint of a constitution which is enforceable then no-one and nothing is safe.” These are the views of a lawyer who has made a special study of the EU’s corpus juris proposals.

A government above the law is a menace to be defeated

Lord Scarman

Parliament cannot do as it wishes. There are a great many things parliament cannot do. It cannot sit for more than five years, it cannot permit anyone not elected to speak in its chamber, nor anyone who has not sworn an oath of allegiance, it cannot dissolve itself and it cannot legitimately depose The Queen.

Hinkley Point — Deal or No Deal?

Roger Helmer MEP

Exactly half a century after the world’s first commercial nuclear plant began operation in 1956, British politicians decided to reverse the decline of the industry their predecessors had pioneered.  Back in the ‘50s, it took just five years to plan, commission and build Calder Hall, which began producing energy in October 1956.  But it has taken two governments seven years to draft energy bills, planning bills, design assessments, and much more besides to get to the point where we are now. French and Chinese state-owned companies will invest $16 billion on the new reactors at Hinkley Point.  I’m delighted that at last we’re building new nuclear.  But is the financial package a good deal for the energy consumer?

The short answer is No. The operators of Hinkley will receive a strike price £92.50 /MWh fully indexed to the Consumer Price Index (with a small discount if they proceed with a…

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Scottish police helicopter crashes into Glasgow centre pub, Friday night

Breaking news helicopter heavily crashing into Glasgow pub on a Friday night.

I have heard sufficient to state this a police helicopter in fatal mechanical trouble, is embedded in the pub roof, with at least many injuries and probably fatalities. Thank goodness no fire.

Eye witnesses directly mentioned the distinctive markings on the tail and on the rotor, few others operate at night and over a city. A serial number was given, if correct, police.  [Police Scotland confirmed early today that its aircraft was involved.  The police helicopter is staffed by a civilian pilot and two officers.]

Less certain the rotor was not turning (press reporter eye witness).

May be a Eurocopter, operated by Strathclyde police

http://www.eurocopter.co.uk/site/en/ref/home.html

Murphy’s lore, Member of Westminster Parliament connects climate change and Typhoon Haiyan, government still in belief

… Although many will rightly ask questions about climate change, this is also a story about poverty. …

…

I want to conclude on climate change. It is neither wise nor accurate to attribute any specific weather event to climate change, but we do know that climate change is real. Due to the nature of what we are discussing today, I shall make this observation gently: there are worrying noises from parts of the Government regarding renewed scepticism about taking action on climate change. Will the Secretary of State put it on record that she is determined to take renewed action on climate change, which is one of the most pressing developmental and poverty reduction priorities for the Government, I am sure, and certainly for the Opposition?

Mr Jim Murphy (East Renfrewshire [Scotland])

Talk about trying it on, trying not to seem to be saying.

The Austrian problem, waking up to reality

Pierre L. Gosselin at NoTricksZone has posted an article about the Austrian weather service admitting, well at least in effect, there is a problem with models, at least the computer climate kind.

Staggering Concessions By Austria’s National Weather Service: “Natural Factors Substantial…Models Inadequate”!

By P Gosselin on 27. November 2013

A November 11, 2013 press release by Austria’s national weather service, the Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), somehow got by me. And not surprisingly it was completely ignored by the German-language mainstream media. It’s titled: “Slower temperature increase: climate models under scrutiny“.

In the introduction the ZAMG writes:

If one compares the temperature development of the last 15 years to the simulations from the new climate model generation, then one sees a substantial deviation between reality and model: the so-called temperature hiatus.”

I wonder what the major would make of all this fuss today?  He was proud of his country, teach others how to handle snow.

Read more here http://notrickszone.com/2013/11/27/staggering-concessions-by-austrias-national-weather-service-natural-factors-substantial-models-inadequate/

UK Drillers and Water Companies sign Memorandum of Understanding

H/T to Emily Gosden for this press release from the Water UK website:

Water UK and UKOOG to work together to minimise the impact of shale gas development on water resources in the UK

27/11/13

Water UK, which represents the water industry, and the UK Onshore Operators Group, the onshore oil and gas industry’s representative body, are to work together to help minimise the impact of onshore oil and gas development in the UK on the country’s water resources.

Water UK and UKOOG today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which ensures their respective members will cooperate throughout the shale gas exploration and extraction process.

A key aim of the agreement is to give the public greater confidence and reassurance that everything will be done to minimise the effects on water resources and the environment.

Water UK has reviewed recent reports into shale gas extraction, and believes that while there are potential risks to water and wastewater services, these can be mitigated given proper enforcement of the regulatory framework.

Death toll rises to 31,000 as UK Govt. Dithers over Fracking

The number of excess winter deaths rose 25% last winter to over 31,000, mostly pensioners. It’s long past time for Cameron to pull his thumb out of his arse wake up, smell the coffee and get to grips with the reality of the results of his government’s ‘Vote blue – Go Green – Turn Blue’ policies. Ofgem has no power to regulate the prices charged by ‘the big six’ energy companies. Why not? The profit they are making per household has doubled as temperatures have fallen and they have increased prices. In addition, ‘Green Taxes’ are now up to 10% of peoples fuel bill.

Prices up, temperature down. Image credit : Climatereason.com

Why Phi? – Exoplanets Extra

‘An exoplanet, or extrasolar planet, is a planet outside the Solar System’ – Wikipedia.

At least 175 multiple planetary systems have been found as of 25 November 2013. Stuart Graham investigates.

Exoplanets are a mixed bunch. Some are 10 times the size of Jupiter, others seem more like moons and may orbit their star in less than 2 days. Here we’ll look first at a small planetary body in the solar system, see how it relates to its neighbours, and then see what similarities and/or differences can be found in a few selected exoplanet systems. There may even be a few surprises.

Less well-known than Pluto is its supposed twin Orcus, or 90482 Orcus to give its full name. It’s a trans-Neptunian object or maybe a dwarf planet. As it even has its own moon Vanth, it has the reputation of being the ‘anti-Pluto’. Its orbit looks like a mirror image of Pluto’s orbit (red: Pluto, blue: Orcus, grey: Neptune).

— Symmetric orbits of Orcus and Pluto – image credit Wikipedia —

Atlantic Array: Monster Offshore Windfarm Plan to be Scrapped

Back on Sept 11, North Devon Council rejected the Atlantic Array, but the plan was to go to the secretary of state for a final decision. Rumour is now circulating that the plan is to be scrapped. This will be a great victory for commonsense if it turns out to be the case. First the BBC report from September:

Plans for an off-shore wind farm double the size of any currently operating in Britain have been rejected by councillors in north Devon.
About 25 protesters against the Atlantic Array plan attended the North Devon Planning Committee meeting.
After two hours of speeches and debate, councillors voted 10 to three to reject the scheme on six grounds.
A final decision will be made by the Secretary of State next year.

Atlantic Array
Up to 240 turbines
Turbines will be up to 220m (721ft) high
Capacity: 1,200 MW, enough to power about 900,000 homes
About 16.5km from the closest point to shore on the north Devon coast, 22.5km from the closest point to shore on the South Wales coast and 13.5km from Lundy Island
Connected to mainland at Alverdiscott

Comet Ison: Could a break up pose a threat to Earth?

Comet Ison makes solar approach on Thursday, passing a mere 720,000 miles from the solar surface. It’ll get hot. This could cause a break-up, with fragments then heading on as yet unpredictable trajectories. Could this pose a threat to Earth? Stuart Clark at the Guardian has the following obs:

If it survives an encounter with the sun this week, comet Ison will put on an impressive early morning display in the run-up to Christmas. But anyone hoping for a Bethlehem-style celestial sign on the big day will be disappointed. By then the comet will probably be too faint to see with a naked eye.

Ison is currently speeding towards a fiery encounter on Thursday, which could destroy it. It will pass 720,000 miles above the solar surface, 130 times closer than our planet ever reaches.

The intense sunlight will heat the comet to about 2,700C, speeding up its evaporation. In the past some comets have been seen to vaporise under such an onslaught.

Nicola Scafetta and Richard Willson: New paper linking short term solar variation with planetary periods

Congratulations to Nicola Scafetta  and Richard Willson on the publication of their new paper, made freely available by high impact journal Pattern Recognition in Physics :

Multiscale comparative spectral analysis of satellite total solar irradiance measurements from 2003 to 2013 reveals a planetary modulation of solar activity and its nonlinear dependence on the 11 yr solar cycle.

Climate Skepticism in Norway

Donna Lafroimboise on a positive experience with Norwegian Sceptics

Big Picture News, Informed Analysis

There should be spaces in our communities where climate skeptics can speak freely. A group in Norway is an excellent example.

After departing the Warsaw climate summit, I visited Oslo at the invitation of Klimarealistene. This climate skeptic group has translated my IPCC exposé, The Delinquent Teenager, into Norwegian and published it in paperback there.

Klimarealistene hosted, organized, and publicized an event in which I was the guest speaker. In the neighbourhood of 100 people attended – including a politician or two, a couple of journalists, and an individual linked to that country’s Academy of Sciences.

This is an extremely active skeptic group. One of the secrets to their success appears to be the fact that they sell annual memberships. This provides them with a modest budget that permits them to organize events such as mine.

The group also holds a regular “Climate Pizza” gathering at an…

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Michael Kelly: The CRU Mails – anatomy of Climategate

Hat tip to Geoff Chambers and Tom Nelson for alerting us to this gem hidden away on archive.org. A the beginnings of  plot for a film about the Climategate emailS plus background research by Michael Kelly. It’s very long, and I’m reblogging it here so it doesn’t get lost. Dip in and enjoy.

PDF of this article with external links is here (320k)

The CRU Mails
by Michael Kelly

Like an Aristophanes satire, like Hamlet, it opens with two slaves, spear-carriers, little people. Footsoldiers of history, two researchers in a corrupt and impoverished mid-90s Russia schlep through the tundra to take core samples from trees at the behest of the bigger fish in far-off East Anglia. Stepan and Rashit don’t even have their own e-mail address and like characters in some absurdist comedy must pass jointly under the name of Tatiana M. Dedkova. Conscientious and obliging, they strike a human note all through this drama. Their talk is of mundane material concerns, the smallness of funds, the expense of helicopters, the scramble for grants. They are the ones who get their hands dirty, and their vicissitudes periodically revived my interest during the slower stretches of the tale, those otherwise devoted to abstruse details of committee work and other longueurs. ‘We also collected many wood samples from living and dead larches of various ages. But we were bited by many thousands of mosquitos especially small ones.’ They are perhaps the only likeable characters on the establishment side, apart from the exasperated and appalled IT man Harry in the separate ‘Harry_read_me’ document, and I cheered up whenever they appeared. ‘Slaves’ is horseshit, and ‘footsoldiers’ insulting, but if scientists are allowed to put a creative spin on facts, I can certainly do so. They are respected scientists: in fact, it emerges, eminent or destined to be eminent. But they talk funny and are at the beck and call of CRU, are financially dependent on them; when the film is made they will be comedy relief, played by Alexei Sayle and the dopey one out of The Fast Show.

Nicola Scafetta: Video – The Astronomical Origins of Climate Change on Earth

Dr Nicola Scafetta has asked for assistance from the talkshop to disseminate a talk he has given at the John Locke Foundation recently. We are very happy to oblige. Video below the break. The John Locke Foundation introduces the video with this text:

Nicola Scafetta is a research scientist at the Active Cavity Radiometer Solar Irradiance Monitor Lab group and an adjunct assistant professor in the physics department at Duke University. His research interests are in theoretical and applied statistics and nonlinear models of complex processes. He has published peer-reviewed papers in journals covering a wide variety of disciplines, including astronomy, biology, climatology, economics, medicine, physics and sociology. In this speech, he discusses “The Sun, the Moon, and the Planets: The Astronomical Origins of Climate Change on Earth.”

This is great stuff, with Nicola launching straight into the heart of the matter from minute number 1.  He says right at the beginning that the oscillations in the solar system caused by planetary motion are mirrored by climate changes on Earth. Someting we have discussed a lot here over the last four years.

Oops, P Gosselin reports on creep into German politics

Image 7 of a sequence showing on faz.net, a German political newspaper.

Gosselin writes

Germany’s FAZ Features Chart No German Was Ever Supposed To See: John Christy’s “Catastrophic Errors Graph”

By P Gosselin on 23. November 2013

Today Germany’s flagship political daily, the renowned Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which has long been a disciple of global warming religion (woeful deficits in climate sciences have long been a problem of the German mainstream media) raised a few eyebrows in daring to feature the global warming-blasphemous chart that no German was ever supposed to see.
http://notrickszone.com/2013/11/23/germanys-faz-features-chart-no-german-was-ever-supposed-to-see-john-christys-catastrophic-errors-graph/

Case law in US for putting the knife to birds

Originally published Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 3:10 PM

Wind-farm bird deaths bring $1M in fines

Wyoming wind-farm operator Duke Energy Renewables pleaded guilty in the first federal case of its kind, admitting its turbines at two sites have killed 14 golden eagles and 149 other birds since 2009.

— Seattle Times,
story from The New York Times and The Associated Press

h/t to Roger Andrews on Suggestions.

Berlin tries to force deal for wind farm increase

A paywalled article in The Times today

Ben Webster Environment Editor, Warsaw
Last updated at 12:01AM, November 22 2013

Germany is seeking to force Britain and other European countries to commit themselves to building many more wind and solar farms under a new European Union target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Berlin is demanding that the 2030 emissions target, which the EU is negotiating as its contribution to a global deal on emissions, should include a minimum level of renewable energy.

Britain opposes this and says that countries should be allowed to meet their share of the target by whatever means they choose. This would give Britain the flexibility to focus on cutting carbon dioxide emissions by building more

Wind turbine noise nuisance abated by court

From the Falmouth Patch:

Barnstable Superior CourtJudge Muse issued an order requiring the Town to return immediately to the 7 hours ON, 7 hours OFF operation of the town’s wind turbines. 

The Court further stipulated that on Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, the turbines will be shut down. 

No gas here, strange tale of the crater

I was unaware of this until today when someone pointed to a photograph in a newspaper.

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derweze

Derwese, Turkmenistan

Remarkably Microsoft have a good shot Bing