I apologise for again posting about Richard Black, but he increasingly personifies all that is wrong with the BBC’s climate reporting. Last year, he went against form and posted this item, showing that research – for once, not based on models but actual observations – had illustrated that the Gulf Stream showed no signs of slowing down. This was a big poke in the eye for the alarmists who have repeatedly predicted that the switch-off would trigger ice-melt doom. Their fears were sensationally portrayed in the nonsense catastrophe movie The Day After Tomorrow as well as in the many spoutings of Mr Al Gore.
Today, though, Mr Black seems to have forgotten about all that, and like a faithful puppy, he is reporting with clear, unadulterated admiration the latest exploits of the egomaniac so-called polar explorer Pen Hadow. Here, in his description of Mr Hadow’s last polar expedition in 2009, Anthony Watts gives ten very simple reasons why anything this foolhardy would-be Scott does must be taken with a huge dose of cynicism, among them, that he has already made up his mind that he can swim most of the way to the Arctic Circle (yes, swim), and questionable competence (in having to be rescued at huge expense and leaving behind polluting supply oil). In short, the man is a fantasist.
Notwithstanding, Mr Black clearly believes that his new mission is important, and he repeats with odd disregard of his own writing, Mr Hadow’s fears that the Gulf Stream is in danger of switching off, as well – of course – as the usual scaremongering about the Arctic ice is melting “faster than the computer models predict”. In the real world, Arctic ice is low, but as real world observers have pointed out, there are clear natural reasons for it. And what Mr Black never mentions is that this is more than compensated for by the fact that Antarctic Sea ice is heading the opposite way, underlining that there is no danger of world indundation anytime soon.
What is even more sinister about this sensationlist, highly selective reporting is his pay-off line. In his latest so-called news report, he concludes, without a blush:
The £1m project is directed by explorer Pen Hadow and sponsored by the Catlin insurance group.
That will be the same Catlin group that a minute’s research confirms is among the world cheerleaders for climate change alarmism. In my book, they are using their so-called sponsorship of Mr Hadow to further their apparent goals of fannning warming fears so that they might attract more business. How does that square with the BBC’s Charter, Mr Black?
“Global Warming” is good business for insurance companies. Catlin are not going to spend £1m if they don’t think it will generate sales.
And if their “research” shows that a warming world will increase the likelyhood of severe weather events then Catlin can increase its insurance premiums to cover the “expected” increase in claims.
So its a revolving circle really. You start with a premise and then create the facts around it to support your desired outcome.
Honestly, what could go wrong? 🙂
Mailman
A carpet bagger company eager to exploit the CAGW fraud and a BBC willing and eager to promote them, I wonder what Blacks cut will be?
Theres money in them thar hills…Kerching!
Exploitation for fiscal gain, money grubbing corporates and the BBC working in harmony. Money grubbing capitalists are OK if they are singing from the same hymn sheet, we are all going to drown and burn in hell fire UNLESS we hand over all our money to a few people, makes sense to me, I give up all my money and freedom and live a cheerless grey life in return for a promise that the planet will be saved…where do I sign up?
We are all going to freeze..no..burn…no..er.. drown…no..er..roast and die of thirst then freeze then drown possibly scientists say and thats what the science is telling us.
The manner of our doooooom changes constantly, CAGW isnt science its a mad hatters tea party of mental defectives each issued with petrol bombs.
But as the beeboid at Davos claims “we cant all carry on flying and driving can we? Er why not mad beeboid? Ooooh I see now, only the commissar class should be able to have any freedom while the rest of the proles should just be good little insects and stay in their hovels listening to the BBC. Makes perfect sense if you happen to be one of the commissar class, who wants ordinary dirty smelly proles messing up tourist destinations, why even the best resorts are now infested with the great unwashed prole masses uurgh! Why cant they realise that they should stay at home or take the yearly train to some smelly UK seaside town like in the olden days and leave the exotic travel to those who can appreciate it like beeboids and commissars for example?
No doubt Black will be “chair” of a few Global Warming “conferences” sponsored by Catlin and will pocket a not inconsiderable amount of dosh. What a scam !
Good post as usual Cass! love the line
“we cant all carry on flying and driving can we”
had the same rubbish of some twerp from the EV car world Tesla I think and he still won’t answer the very straight forward question of what happens to the vast majority of us who can barely afford £250 Ebay specials let alone the £23.000 for a bloody leaf ? [stupid name ] or £88.000 for a Tesla and then thousands more for the inverter charger !he just keep repeating “the price will come down”?? hehe yes cause car makers are well know for dropping their prices as we know look at how the price of a Quatroporta has fallen !
Sorry OT rant there !!!
Thanks for the kind words Matthew, the reality that is so assidously hidden from us is that the poor/masses/little people/drones are not supposed to have the freedom to drive. Having a car is the essence of freedom and independence, its why the USSR tried so hard to ration private cars.
The NWO fascists mean to take away any notion and means of freedom from the masses and its only the start not the end, taking away cars is just the start of it, cars are symbol and the independence it gives the ordinary person is beyond calculation.
The aim is to make the masses/drones utterly dependent on the state, notions and symbols of personal freedom must be taken away in preparation for the NWO hive to come.
I don’t think the USSR tried to ration private cars anymore than it tried to ration clothes or cabbages or any other consumer product. Its socialist economic system simply wasn’t productive enough to produce enough consumer products to satisfy demand. If it had, perhaps it would still exist.
Pure poetry, Cassandra
Thanks very much John, you have made my day 😀
“Money grubbing capitalists are OK if they are singing from the same hymn sheet”
The Telegraph is adept in publishing these hymnsheets disguised as special supplements financed by either the taxpayer direct or the taxpayer indirectly via some bloated capitalist whose profits are, essentially, redirected tax. This morning, for instance, the Telegraph has a green energy supplement (sorry no link) financed by Siemens who, by coincidence, are making a fortune from their taxpayer-subsidised wind etc energy ventures.
Yet more proof of the scam, will it be reported and investigated by the BBC, I think not.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8284223/Himalayan-glaciers-not-melting-because-of-climate-change-report-finds.html
Even the Guardian carried this story yesterday:-
http://www.thegwpf.org/science-news/2314-greenland-ice-sheet-safer-than-previously-thought.html
Apart from anything else, we talking about report on what some guys plan to do in the future to investigate something that may, or may not, be happening, but if it is, then it makes things really, really bad. Huh?
What definition of ‘news’ are we using here?
Each Catlin Expedition is dafter than the last and attracts almost universal derision. Long may they continue!
Richard Black states
Warmer and fresher water does not sink so readily; and this could could turn off the “ocean conveyor”, a picture painted in heightened Hollywood colour in the movie The Day After Tomorrow.
I have a question for you, Richard. Given that warmist theory has the Arctic waters both warmer and fresher, how is it that NASA found that rather than slowing down, the Gulf Stream speeded up in the face of the onslaught from AGW.
And using the longer set of satellite altimeter data, NASA found that the circulation had actually increased in speed by about 20 percent between 1993 and 2009.
You are allowed to consult with Pen Hadow and/or Catlin.
What part of the “man-made climate change” do we not understand?
Black and co, and the BBC suggest that we know nothing, and so they’ll continue to bash out the mantra unabated, for ever.
They won’t cease their endeavours, that’s abundantly clear, even in the face of ridicule. The message MUST go on, and on, and on, regardless of what we plebs may think.
I think we’re merely banging our better-informed heads against the wall arguing the toss with them.
The BBC won’t change, ever, unless some external influence or interference occurs – and we all know the simple answer to that one, don’t we?
I’m beginning to wonder if, like trolls, they should just be ignored…
“In early March, four explorers will set off on foot from the geographic North Pole, trekking across the ice and ending up 10 weeks later in Greenland.”
Now, I never claimed to be a climate scientist or oceanographer, etc. But isn’t 10 weeks a long time for a simultaneous survey? Does that not mean that readings at one end of the survey have a potential to be radically different from other end?
— Richard
Richard Black has form on asking “How high?” when a Warmmonger tells him to jump.
There are plenty of reasons why anything coming from Catlin and this glorified eco-tourist should not be taken seriously.
The sheer amount of publicity surrounding Hadow’s caper for a start and all this guff about it being “too important to fail”. When science is tied in too closely with the media and any [groan] insurance company you just now the outcome is pre-destined. It’s unlikely Hadow and Co at the end of it will come out with something like “F**k. We were wrong all along.”
In his CV he states “Twenty years ago, you could walk to the North Pole – now you have to swim part of the way there.”. Er, not quite. When he actually went on his trip, conditions where much much worse -42C all the way in fact. None of his equipment to measure ice thicknesses worked, and he didn’t tell anyone until well into the expedition. What a surprise.
Ice thicknesses can be measured much more reliably and in a more eco-friendly manner using NASA’s ICEsat. And what do you know, Arctic ice is thicker than expected!
Just like the tree rings, “hockey stick” curves, polar bears, sea levels, acid rain, oestrogen in the water supply, GM crops, “green” cars, eco detergents and buying local or anything else charlatans like Hadow get on their soapbox about, take it all with a pinch of salt!
Hadow’s last Arctic expedition was a farce from start to finish. All his electronic instrumentionation, including ice measuring equipment, stopped working because of the intense cold, and he finished up measuring the thickness of the ice with an old fashioned tape measure!
Even the abandoning of the expedition was due to the intense cold. I can remember the Beeboid AGW propagandist, David Shukman reporting on the expedition’s abandonment but failed to give the reason why.
Whenever I see Shukman appear on T.V. now I just press the mute button on the remote. He basically reads out alarmist press releases without any journalistic integrity.
“Pen Hadow “. Bloody stupid name, if you ask me.