Delingpole Runs Out Of Bullets

Now that the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) has been presented, read and duly digested, and no serious errors in calculations or other aspects of presentation have been found, there is precious little for those pretending that this is all some kind of World Government Conspiracy and Gravy Train Scam to do except resort to abuse.

Definitely not even slightly fair and balanced

And there is no finer practitioner of climate change related abuse than James “saviour of Western civilisation” Delingpole, who has returned, like yet another dog to its vomit, to his well-worn (maybe, Del, a little too well-worn) path of claiming that it’s all over for the IPCC, anyone taking any notice of it, and of course those who do not accord with the wishes of Himself Personally Now.

Del Boy kicks off (you want to start a scrap in an empty room? He’s yer man) by deploying a favourite strawman: Climate Alarmists. The IPCC is only thus described by Del and his pals, so they can assert that there have been far more serious warnings of climate change, which have had to be rowed back on, because they’re, well, alarmist. But there haven’t been. So he’s just making it up.

Then comes a list of citations to prove that lots of people agree with the Delingpole Weltanschauung. This also includes some sleight of hand, with Nigel Lawson and the Global Warming Policy Foundation counted as two sources of unquestioned wisdom. There is also Stephen McIntyre, whose partner in criticism Ross McKitrick is a signatory to the Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming.

Del’s other sources include Donna Laframboise, who claims there is no scientific consensus on global warming, Christopher Booker, who claimed the Europol building in den Haag had been used by the Gestapo (difficult, as it only opened two years ago), and dear Dick Lindzen, whose contrarian stance is very useful to climate scientists – his authority makes sure they get the story right first.

Sadly, Lindzen has in the past blotted his copybook by taking money from fossil fuel interests, and more recently calling the link between smoking and lung cancer “weak”. Sometimes one can be too contrarian. But this does not deter Delingpole, who then claims his opponents “are going to respond to these criticisms with a barrage of lies, ad homs, cover-ups, rank-closings, blustering threats, straw men”.

He then does exactly that himself, before lapsing into World War 2 land and concluding “We have to take a stand on this issue. One side is right; one side is quite simply wrong and deserves to be humiliated and crushingly defeated. And the sooner – for all those of us who believe in truth, decency and liberty – the better”. Fine, Del, you’re clever enough to drive the road roller over yerself.

Still, pays the bills and gives us some unintentional humour. No change there, then.