Bring Me Sunlight – 3

Back in October I checked out the particularly eccentric stance of backbench (and, apparently, determined to stay there) MP Douglas Carswell, who sits for the constituency of Harwich and Clacton. The Guardian, being a broad church despite those – on the same part of the political spectrum as Carswell – who like to pretend otherwise, has featured an interview with him in its Environment Blog. Carswell, as I’ve previously mentioned, doesn’t believe in such things as man-made global warming.

And Carswell is refreshingly candid about his recent conversion to climate change scepticism. This, he tells, follows his investigation into the writings of one Ian Plimer, particularly the book Heaven and Earth: Global Warming – The Missing Science. In the Guardian interview, this is the only author and volume he quotes in his defence. But there is a problem with this approach: Plimer and his book have been savaged by the scientific community.

This, however, has not stopped several on the libertarian right from taking Plimer, and those of similar persuasion, as their particular gospel. Meanwhile, this article tells you all you need to know about the critics.