Balance in Climate Change coverage

Shocking though it may seem to a sceptical hack like myself but that well-respected bastion of impartiality (I jest) the BBC has decided that they will, in future, be more balanced in their climate change stories. Now I am not entirely sure what they mean by that. Surely even the public school educated arts graduates who control matters at the beeb can see through the self-centred disruptive bile that we sceptics insist on spouting. According to that, let's face it, we all think it, objectionable young fool Mr Delingpole the BBC failed to make a big deal of Glaciergate..

can you blame them? Even we'd had enough by then!

'But the BBC’s new editorial guidelines, published yesterday after an extensive consultation that considered over 1,600 submissions by members of the public, say expressly for the first time that scientific issues fall within the corporation’s obligation to be impartial.'

Fantastic!! Impartial on climate change..why not? It's like being impartial on ghosts, or whether gold is valuable or if tents should be made out of canvas or concrete....who the hell comes up with this ludicrous stuff?

“The BBC must be inclusive, consider the broad perspective, and ensure that the existence of a range of views is appropriately reflected,” said BBC trustee Alison Hastings.

At this point the Archbishop needs to add that although there might be a range of views the use of the word 'range' here is a bit generous...to quote and old statistician's joke '..perhaps an interquartile range would be more appropriate'

Badgers as proxy data

Here's the latest from our good friends at the Climatic 'Research' Unit. In the aftermath of the recent Climategate scandal we are being treated to further 'honest' revelations about the source of the proxy data that were used to create the famous graph. A signifiant proportion of the reconstruction in the early 1300s is based on historical documents. This is no great surprise in itself as sources such as paintings, literature, church records and agricultural calendars have long been used in climate reconstruction. For this we refer you to the work of the late H.H. Lamb, ironically the founder of the Climatic 'Revisionist' Unit.

Further examination of original source material (now admitted by the shamefaced rogues) is from a diary kept by the naturalist and nobleman John Kebbsley. In a wonderfully crafted document discovered in the local museum collection in Kibworth he does less recording of climatic variability and more recording of badger movements in and around the Leicestershire village of Croxley. Badger movements are presumably therefore the original proxy data - and this faithful technique of reconstructing palaeoclimates was originally devised in 1312!!

A far cry from modern rigorous statistical calibration and verification I would say.