Storm Desmond brought out the scaremongers and ‘storm chasers’ who want to blame it on man-made causes….the rainfall was said to be the heaviest ever recorded…and of course temperatures generally said to be record breaking. However things ain’t what they seem, it depends on which statistic you look at. The highest temperature in the UK was in 2003 and if you look at record temperatures by month they are … Continue reading →

    We’re going to look at the BBC Trust’s politically driven decision to censure, silence, Quentin Letts and his programme about the Met. Office.  In light of that here’s a warm up with some questions about the Met. Office’s conclusions drawn from the ‘science’…… This is the key paragraph in a Met. Office report on climate change…. In UKCIP02 we showed results from experiments (Stott et al., 2000) which … Continue reading →

    Curious that no one mentions the obvious thought when during ‘Storm Desmond’ a waterfall burst into life….the first time in maybe 200 years or longer…….the obvious thought being there must have been ‘unprecedented’ rainfall back then….how is such an ‘extreme’ explained away 200 years ago?  What trick do they use to hide the decline in credibility of claims of unprecedented rainfall? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WCiLzOWBy4     It is odd how … Continue reading →

David Dimbleby presents this week’s debacle from Slough. On the panel are Mark Reckless of Ukip, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, journalist Piers Morgan and Labour’s Emily Thornberry MP. Yes she really still is an MP, her electorate voted her back in even after WhiteVanManEnglandFlagTwittergate. This week’s manadatory SNP representative is Hannah Bardell MP. Thank BBC Scotland for that. Kick off tomorrow (Thursday) at 22.35 Chat here Register here if necessary.

Joyful reporting from the BBC as my part of the world gets its first dosage of Syrian refugees. It does not appear to have crossed the BBC’s mind that since these “refugees” have been hoisted upon us not everyone shares the emulation! It also ensures voices of dissent are well and truly muted.  

Here you go, on-time and for your completion. Detail the bias here!

  Bishop Hill mentions this book: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction He tells us… Specialists are considerably worse at making predictions than generalists – is now quite well known, although less so among the general public and media than it should be. The generalist forecasters were better than the experts because…’ It was more about independence of mind, the ability to constantly recalibrate and to question assumptions, the … Continue reading →

Firstly, my thanks to Alan for putting up the Start the Week thread, I’ve had wifi problems this past few days so wasn’t able to post until now. I had the misfortune to listen to the Today programme this morning. It was a leftist fest, as ever. The BBC were ecstatic that the Front National had been ‘crushed” in the 2nd round of the French elections. (Little time spent considering the … Continue reading →

  Guess David is still a bit Daeshed and confused after his Xmas bash so I’ll do the honours….a new open thread….

    A teacher in France has been stabbed but survived the attack….the BBC’s report is for once open about the culprit…though the BBC is still being ‘PC’ in the title……. Teacher in France stabbed by man ‘shouting Islamic State’ A teacher has been attacked in a preschool class in Aubervilliers, a suburb of the French capital, Paris, by a man citing so-called Islamic State. The attacker shouted: “This is … Continue reading →