Climate change – the China Syndrome

The usual contrarians are bedwetting all over the Guardian forum, terrified by change and unable to understand the point Canute demonstrated so clearly. After China announced a program of renewable developments so massive it made even banker’s payouts look paltry, and the puzzling way China is discussing limits to their own CO2 emissions despite the fact climate change is clearly a pack of western lies, I invited the Chinese Premiere to give us his point of view…

The Wages of Fear

Henry Porter – the Guardian’s civil liberties columnist – wrote an article the conclusion of which I agree with – that our passive, complacent nature is encouraging the erosion of our civil liberties. However, the way the argument is constructed and the premises on which it is based give me cause for concern, because although we may have somewhat disenfranchised ourselves, the root cause is not addressed in his piece. This is my response.

Climate Change: the tax scam

Secret memo from Mr. Darling to Mr. Brown

Gordon,

I’ve had a great idea for a tax scam. We tax the crap out of resources, transport, energy, manufacturing – anything we can think of – in the name of climate change, and watch the loot roll in. We will of course need to dump VAT because the stupid punters, not knowing what’s good for them, have stopped buying all the stuff on which our tax base depends, but no worries. The collapse of our export markets are a bit of a worry, but we can fudge that. We’ll also need to keep the army on the street at all times because the population is rioting like they did over fuel taxes, but this time we have far greater civil unrest (by an order of magnitude). We’ll get Al Gore to compensate the MOD for that.

What do I know? Well, not much science…

Sometimes in climate change debates I am confronted by detailed science. This happened the other day, when someone posited a whole range of theories, and concluded by asking me “What would be your best fit theory?” It was at this point I realised I didn’t have one, and the reasons for this were worth exploring.

Politics: Corruption of the less than innocent

How many good people have discovered that, in a corrupt place, the only way to conduct business is on terms set by the proprietor?

Guardian Forum: Censorship trouble at t’mill

I am a regular contributor to the UK Guardian’s Comment Is Free forum, where there are often complaints about moderation policy and the uneven way it is enforced. Quite often, people using abusive language simply refuse to accept responsibility for their actions. Some go as far as to suggest that moderators are colluding with their contributors, protecting them over-zealously, and enforcing censorship rather than moderation. Yesterday, I joined an open thread where I defended moderation, remarked about the responsibilities inherent in the principle of free speech, observed that occasional errors of judgement were inevitable and rejected conspiracy claims as being rather unlikely. Then something really strange happened in a climate change threat I was contributing to..

Solar power – the need for investment

I have an entirely un-scientific predilection for solar, largely because I don’t like the economics of big engineering such as wind turbines, geothermal or tidal systems, where build, installation and operating costs can be so high. Of course, projects like desert installations are of a similar scale and impact, requiring HVDC distribution systems to make economic sense or much of the power would be lost during transmission.

Why Iran will never nuke Israel

The threat of Iran using nuclear weapons on Israel is a fiction for public consumption. Considered strategically and by weighing outcomes it is clear this threat is non-existent and mere hyperbole. These are the reasons why:

The Fighting Atheists

In the UK’s Guardian forum, to which I contribute from time to time, the subject of atheism often crops up, and I have been puzzled by the huge responses to articles on this subject, and the allegedly “shrill” tone of the atheist response, an accusation made repeatedly by those fighting to assert or maintain the validity of institutional religious influence in a secular society.

While I do not find the atheist position shrill, I do find it to be on the attack. The reason is that to many observers, religion appears to be making a comeback.

Imploding conspiracies and why they don’t work.

My amusement at the climate change denial hysterics offered in lieu of reasoned debate is tempered somewhat by concern for people whose fear and paranoia so overpowers their common sense. I cannot imagine what kind of world such people must occupy, where they constantly imagine (or manufacture) so many forces aligned against them. There seems little point in discussing the science when so much of it – and any institution that supports it – may be dismissed as part of some conspiracy, as unlikely as that really it. But my real interest is in the conspiracy theories themselves, and how little merit they have when examined.