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 →

  No expert on statistics but looking at this I would say the 97% claimed stat for scientific consensus on global warming is a crock…. Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature We analyze the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, examining 11 944 climate abstracts from 1991–2011 matching the topics ‘global climate change’ or ‘global warming’. We … Continue reading →

  We have already had a look at Roger Harrabin’s latest exercise in climate change promotion via the Open University and the below just confirms absolutely what the intention of that promotion is in a report from the same event in 2014… Report on TippingPoint Oxford 2014: Stories of Change Sustainability has a reasonable foothold in UK discourse. It features as part of Government policy with, for example, Government Departments … Continue reading →

    Amused by the venomous BBC knifing of right-wing Tony Abbott… Ex-Australia PM Tony Abbott says Islam must reform Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has sparked criticism by saying Islam has a “massive problem” and needs to reform. Writing in Australian media, Mr Abbott said “not all cultures are equal” and the West should stop apologising for defending its values. The BBC gives Abbott a couple of lines … Continue reading →