One of my favourite programmes on TV at the moment is Only Connect; and it isn’t just because I have the hots for Victoria Coren Mitchell. Nor can it be said that it’s because I love to show off in front of all of my imaginary friends, since:

a) on average I can only answer one question a week, and

b) they are not taking my calls anymore.

Indeed, my lack of prowess at the game is a source of some personal embarrassment. Nevertheless, I think I have come up with a solution to my disconnect. To illustrate the solution, I have compiled the following Only Connect question. What have the following got in common?

Tequila ; Shakespeare ; Black Holes ; Teddy Bear

If you were to follow the links the answer should become immediately apparent. But if your life is too busy for you to be bothered, I’ll tell you the answer anyway: They have all been linked with climate change. In fact, if you were to do the googling yourself, you would see that the connections for each are both many and varied.

Okay, so let’s try another one:

Earwax ; Carpet ; Menstruation ; Teeth

Different question, same answer: They have all been linked to climate change. Just follow the links to see how.

How about one more?

Drainpipe ; Hair ; Cheese ; Football

You should already know the answer by now, but following the links will help you confirm the connection.

By this stage you may be suspecting that I must have spent hours coming up with these obscure connections – but you would be wrong. It is actually rather easy to find them, so much so that I have begun to suspect that there may not be a single word in the English language that hasn’t been used to fuel climate change alarm. To put that theory to the test, I picked out a genuine Only Connect Wall  to see if it provided a complete connection to climate change. These are the results:

Row 1:

Mensa ; Neville ; Badger ; Kitten

Row 2:

Turnip ; Hound ; Anthony ; Draco

Row 3:

Ghost ; Norma ; Harry ; Margaret

Row 4:

Ramsey ; Luna ; Lynx ; Bug

I don’t know what the real solution to the above wall is, but had you said, “Are they all connected to climate change, Victoria?”, the answer would have to be:

“Congratulations! You have solved the wall.”

Now that I know this trick, Only Connect will never be the same for me. As for Willard’s Climateball Bingo, I can’t see how much fun it could possibly be to play when even #ButEarWax and #ButMensturation are both a thing.

129 Comments

  3. John

    It isn’t that I didn’t believe you – after all, we’re all used to seeing climate change being shoe-horned into every subject imaginable there days – but those lists were so bizarre that I felt I had to check, and so I dutifully followed your links (for which, thank you).

    This is all now reaching such quite extraordinary proportions that it has gone beyond ridiculous. Is money the connection (mention climate change in research and you’re so much more likely to obtain funding; suggest your product helps fight climate change and people are more likely to buy it) or has the decades-long brainwashing been so successful that climate change now simply slips effortlessly into every piece of writing by every journalist, advertiser, politician etc?

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I have found it so much more difficult to volunteer a correct answer during this year’s Only Connect, and the walls are impossible. Is it me, or is it them?

    I don’t think shouting out “climate change” at every opportunity will go down well with “she who must be listened to”.

    On the other hand beating those snotty-nosed students in the University Challenge that follows always cheers me up. Surprisingly the BBC has not infused its climate change into that contest.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Joe,

    I think that anyone seeking to compile an exhaustive list is doomed to fail. The pit has no bottom.

    Mark,

    The thing is that I didn’t cherry-pick in order to present a particularly bizarre set of examples. The first four example words were quite literally the first four I thought of. I was even trying hard to come up with examples that couldn’t possibly be connected. I failed. It was then that I thought to try out a real Only Connect Wall. Finding connections for the full wall was ridiculously easy. You should try it for yourself. The hilarious connections will just fall into your lap.

    Alan,

    I, for one, will be shouting out ‘climate change’ for every single answer from now on. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  7. You can add glow-worms to the list.

    Last night I listened to a Radio 4 adaptation* of a whodunit called _Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam_. The fairies were little spots of light that lurked in bushes in a troubled Cornish village. Eventually, the fairies were identified as Lampyris noctiluca, which, we were told, shouldn’t have been that far north, or indeed glowing that late in the year. Global warming was the only explanation offered. (L. noctiluca has been a native of Cornwall – and of Norfolk* – since long before Fryfam was invented. Nothing to do with global warming.)

    ===
    *SPOILER ALERT! The book on which it was based was about a village in Norfolk, not Cornwall; it didn’t mention glow-worms (or global warming); its murder was an obviously murderous stabbing in a cottage, not a possibly suicidal shooting in a lighthouse; and its murderer wasn’t the victim’s wife. The radio version was quite entertaining but I can’t think of any sensible reasons for making such fundamental changes to the plot. (But at least the adapter didn’t change the sex of leading characters, as sometimes happens in R4 adaptations.)

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Bill,

    Perhaps the North Korea article is very near the bottom of the bottomless pit – it is difficult to say when googling “belly button climate change” gives you this:

    https://grist.org/living/for-cleaner-air-plant-a-tree-in-your-belly-button/

    I’m telling you, it is actually very difficult to think of a word or phrase that doesn’t throw something up when combined with “climate change”. I offer this game to the world as my contribution to light entertainment. The game is to guess what the connection might be, not to guess whether a connection has been made or not.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Surely if earthquakes in Haiti can be linked to climate change, then anything can.

    Like

  10. Alan,

    Incidentally, if you are wondering why my link on the Only Connect Wall for ‘Anthony’ took you to such an obscure paper, it is only because the paper was an attempt to point to the many impacts that climate change is having. Even so, Anthony failed to mention earthquakes, the hair loss and the depressed dogs.

    Like

  11. John, you wrote “ Now that I know this trick, Only Connect will never be the same for me.” It seems to me that, because your trick works every time and your response will ever be the same, that you should rewrite – “Now that I know this trick, Only Connect will ALWAYS be the same for me.” Why bother?

    Like

  12. Alan,

    >”Why bother?”

    Because I’m the kind of guy who could never tire of being right? 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Tried answering something connected to climate change in the missing vowels section, but failed miserably. How did you get on?

    Like

  15. Alan,

    Recorded the last episode. Haven’t watched it yet. I know the answers will be ‘climate change’ but I don’t know the questions yet, so no spoilers please.

    Like

  16. John, I’ve spotted another one – siestas:

    “National Trust to give staff siestas in summer
    Staff and volunteers in south of England will get more Mediterranean hours because of climate change”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/25/national-trust-to-give-staff-siestas-in-summer

    “The National Trust is giving its workers siestas in summer due to increasingly hot weather because of climate change.

    Staff and volunteers in the south of England will be given more Mediterranean working hours, with a long lunch break and the day starting earlier and finishing later. This will allow them to avoid the hottest part of the day, as people already do in countries such as Italy and Spain.

    A spokesperson for the charity said: “It’s fair to say that as we experience more extreme temperatures, we will be looking to offer Mediterranean working hours, especially in the east which is likely to experience more frequent higher temperatures to ensure the health and safety of our staff and volunteers.”

    This has already begun at Ham House in Richmond, south London, which was forced to close for the first time in August 2019 as temperatures reached more than 40C. Staff are offered the new working hours when it is hot – and it is expected this will be rolled out across more trust properties in coming years.”

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Mark,

    I would be surprised if you had actually failed to spot another. As I said, the fun is in thinking of a word at random and then trying to guess what the link is going to be. Let’s give it a go:

    I’ve just thought of ‘flip flops’. How do you think someone has managed to link flip flops with climate change? Do you want to play this one or shall I? Okay, I’ll play it.

    Here we go. Found it straight away:

    “Why this climate change data is on flip-flops, leggings, and cars.”

    https://www.vox.com/2019/3/4/18246245/climate-change-warming-stripes

    Yes, it’s our old friend, the warming stripes.

    Now it’s your turn. Just think of a word – the more obscure the better.

    Like

  18. Antidisestablishmentarianism doesn’t buck the trend. Only 160,000 records for “antidisestablishmentarianism and climate change” in O.51 seconds on Google. But I repeat the missing vowel round doesn’t fit and because this round commonly produces the winner, I’m not sure your strategy will always ensure you a win. Remember in the MVR you can lose points you gained yelling climate change pointlessly at your television, even more so if you do it to a recording. Just think, on iPlayer there are years of past episodes for you to shout at. Grounds for separation I’d say.

    Like

  19. Alan,

    I should have made myself clearer. I only intend shouting out ‘climate change’ when the question is with regard to connections, i.e. all the rounds except for the missing vowels. I’m actually quite good at that round, but I guess that could be said by most people.

    Incidentally, the ‘Antidisestablishmentarianism climate change’ search finds the following:

    https://www.nhpr.org/nhpr-blogs/2011-02-09/can-thsrs-give-us-a-three-letter-word-for-antidisestablishmentarianism

    I would imagine that a thsrs would be quite useful for the missing vowels round.

    Like

  21. Alan,

    No, I haven’t chngd my mnd, I have just realised that I hadn’t prvsly md myslf clr.

    Like

  22. I hope some mod is keeping an eye on the Comment Spambox
    There look to be recent legitimate non-troll comments there
    Whereas the Pending box ..seems to be OK

    Like

  23. Stew,

    It’s just a judgement call, but I’ve taken a look and there is nothing there that I would feel comfortable approving. Thanks for the heads up though.

    Like

  24. John, yes I just looked again
    This evening ones are obvious spam and some damn weird
    Some ask questions, but are not real.
    The ones that was looking at at lunchtime were more subtle and kinda looked legit.
    Usually “I just found your blog, it’s great” etc.
    Yes of course I know the pattern I see the are spam

    I only opened it up cos thought I’d deleted something and found that Some of my own Open Mic comments ended up in Trash, maybe they were duplicates or something

    Like

  25. starring Penelope Keith
    It was adapted by David Semple from M.C. Beaton’s book of the same name and directed by Carol Smith.
    It first aired November 22, 2006 on BBC Radio4

    Like

  26. “The link between climate change, seaweed and ice cream”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-58582499

    “Seaweed – we’ve been using it for centuries in food and toiletries. It can help to keep toothpaste and ice cream soft.

    But in some parts of the world, supply has been affected by climate change.

    Now people in Zanzibar are learning new methods of farming through the help of outreach projects like Milele Zanzibar Foundation and the Panje Project.

    A video for People Fixing the World by Celestina Olulode, Esther Namuhisa, and Nicholaus Mtenga.”

    Like

  28. For me, never failed so far. Today’s half-hearted efforts:
    hairbrushes, mints, toothpicks, pajamas, liquorice, spectacles, olivine, grub-screws, holly (this was obviously going to work but given the season I put it in anyhow), Gilgamesh (the first king ever whose name was recorded), chasuble, kevlar, Agincourt, baubles (also seasonal).

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Yep, checked them out and they all seemed good except for grub-screws (I couldn’t find that connection). My favourite was Al Gore’s comparison of climate change to Dunkirk, Agincourt and 9-11:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/al-gore-climate-change-dunkirk-911-davos-wef-a9298621.html

    We should use the output of this game to create a taxonomy of alarmism. Hence: ‘But scrambled egg’, ‘But earwax’, ‘But Agincourt’, etc. I don’t know what we could call it though 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  32. “We should use the output of this game to create a taxonomy of alarmism. Hence: ‘But scrambled egg’, ‘But earwax’, ‘But Agincourt’, etc. I don’t know what we could call it though.”

    To save time, just using a dictionary should be pretty good approximation. So collectively, ‘But dictionary’.

    Like

  33. Oops! We have another metalanguage conundrum here.

    I presume by ‘But dictionary’ you mean ‘But the connection with everything in the dictionary’, as opposed to ‘But the connection with the word ‘dictionary’’:

    https://empower.agency/climate-change-glossary-definitions/?utm_term=&utm_campaign=Empower+DSA&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=8742646434&hsa_cam=11429706848&hsa_grp=111365181506&hsa_ad=474412920417&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=dsa-19959388920&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_qO2seSB9QIV4IBQBh1X2gBwEAAYASAAEgKew_D_BwE

    Liked by 1 person

  34. ‘I presume by ‘But dictionary’ you mean ‘But the connection with everything in the dictionary’, as opposed to ‘But the connection with the word ‘dictionary’’’

    Heh. Yes, but as the word ‘dictionary’ is one presumes, in the dictionary, it was always going to be both 😉

    Like

  36. Willard playing games, and the wrong ones at that. Heavens to Murgatroid, 2021 is going out with a right bang.

    Like

  37. In case anyone misinterprets my 2.20pm comment as a criticism of John’s excision of Willard’s apparent drive-by, they couldn’t have been more wrong. John’s article is light hearted and I have never known Willard reciprocate in kind. I suspect John’s action was an attempt to cut short a potential flare-up, something with which I heartily approve, now and in the upcoming year.

    Like

  38. Alan,

    I can confirm that keeping it light was high on my list of priorities, although keeping it relevant had also been a concern. I don’t expect Willard to see it that way, since he has already made it clear that he finds me “clueless”, “hypocritical”, and ‘disingenuous”. I can live with that.

    Anyway, in the spirit of Christmas, I invite you all to try connecting your favourite tipple with climate change. I have tried it with whisky, brandy, vodka, rum, gin, martini and tequila so far and in each case I was able to find an article that claimed that drinking the spirit concerned will help tackle climate change.

    If only.

    Liked by 1 person

  39. Hard climate times ahead for ice-wine, apparently. But I may have a winning non-connection, or at least a candidate. Couldn’t find a climate-change and (explicit, not just liquor / spirits etc) schnapps connection 0:

    Like

  41. ‘Sorry, Andy. You lose:’

    Dammit! I invested a good ten minutes or more on that one. Limoncello I drank many years ago in Italy is a non-starter, not even worth looking up. Ginger beer my partner sometimes drinks, took 5 seconds to verify. On the Rovos Rail train running from Cape Town to Pretoria I drank amaretto until 4am two days in a row, with a friend and the barman. Sadly, eating Vegan Amaretto Sesame Seed Cookies is going to help us save the planet. I drank sake in Japan, but apparently they are dismally contemplating the lack of prolonged dismal wet weather needed to make it. On the upside they are producing it in the dismal UK on the assumption it will stay dismal, but this doesn’t help my search. I may fail to beat the system 0:

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Dammit, we all lose (or win). Since John’s discovery that all components of Only Connect can have a climate change connection, every part of the grids in round three of the game (= the walls) have this self same climate change link. Thus they don’t need to be sorted into four groups of connected items. So ten points every time.

    Liked by 1 person

  43. Fear not everyone. You can still play along with the lovely Victoria. If it isn’t the answer on her cards, then you lose. Just ignore me shouting out ‘climate change’ every time.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. “Climate Change, Albinism and Me”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-61150865

    “Climate change is having a devastating impact across Africa, affecting communities in different ways.

    For people living with albinism on the Continent increasing temperatures and longer dry seasons pose a particular challenge.

    Coco, who lives in Nigeria, shared her experience with us.”

    I didn’t expect to see albinism and climate change in the same sentence.

    Like

  45. Mark – “I didn’t expect to see albinism and climate change in the same sentence”

    me neither – from the short vid she talks about exposure to the Sun as the problem for her.
    so how “Climate change” fits into the narrative BBC are pushing seems like exploitation to me.

    Like

  46. Just recovering from a rigorous and extensive taste testing of a variety of alcoholic climate changes (see above exchange between Andy and John). Problem is I cannot remember what I started with, but Peppermint Schnapps with floating (but melting) bergie bits was memorable and appropriate.

    Like

  47. One of the easiest ways to find a connection with climate change is to pick on a species of animal. By doing so, you will invariably find that climate change either threatens it with extinction or is causing it to crop up in unfamiliar climes. Take, for example, the tale of the red-billed leiothrix:

    “’The next parakeet’: Britain’s dawn chorus at risk from Asian songbird”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/06/red-billed-leiothrix-native-birds-britain-aoe

    It is a tale of an invasive species that is supposedly cropping up more and more in certain parts of the UK. And just in case you were wondering whether the Guardian sees a connection with climate change, we have this:

    “As the climate crisis escalates, the climate of southern Britain is increasingly favourable to them.”

    So presumably these are birds that have been enticed to these shores after reading the Guardian? No, not a bit of it:

    “Also known as pekin robins in the caged bird trade, it is likely these populations have escaped from captivity.”

    So it turns out they came here in cardboard boxes in the hold of a Boeing 767. Having subsequently escaped captivity, they decided to stay put rather than immediately set off home because it is too darn cold here. But wait, did they not just say that the leiothrix is the ‘new parakeet’? Doesn’t that mean the parakeet is an earlier example of an invasive species that escaped captivity but then stayed around to enjoy the UK’s climate crisis? Apparently not:

    “A popular pet, the rose-ringed parakeet has been released in a wide range of cities around the world…Its adaptations to cold winters in the Himalayan foothills allow it to easily withstand European winter conditions.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose-ringed_parakeet

    Conclusion: There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the appearance of a small number of red-billed leiothrix in the UK countryside is due to climate change rather than an increase in its popularity amongst caged-bird owners. But try telling the Guardian that.

    Liked by 3 people

  49. I recently had a problem locking my front door and, understandably, I was keen to get it fixed so that I could leave the house. Fortunately, there was plenty of advice on the internet as to what the problem might be. For example:

    https://mtslocksmiths.co.uk/5-door-lock-problems-that-should-not-be-ignored/

    “Misaligned deadbolts and latches are common door lock problems. They are often the result of door locks that were not properly installed, or doors and door frames that are warping due to climate change.”

    I’ve had it fixed now, and the good thing is that I didn’t have to resort to net zero after all.

    Liked by 3 people

  50. When I read this headline I just knew what to expect:

    “Whale stranding: 230 whales stranded on Tasmanian beach”

    The whole point is that the scientists have no idea what is going on. A perfect opportunity, however, to hammer home the climate message:

    “Climate change could have an impact too – changes in the environment, water temperature, or prey habitats could throw the whales off.”

    I dream of a return to the days when something natural can happen without being linked to climate change.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-62976749

    Liked by 1 person

  51. The GuardIan has developed its own version of Climate Change Only Connect. I noticed it this morning in my copy delivered today. I believe the aim is to link stories with apparently zero connection with climate change (translation climate crisis, emergency or whatever). This morning, for example, a front page headline “Mark Rylance on Hilary Mantel and the climate emergency”. Inside I found an article on Climate Crisis inspires designs at Paris fashion week. The game is not explained by The Guardian but I guess it is to account for the link before reading the article and revealing all.

    Damn it, now I have to read this dross in case some cliseper asks.

    Liked by 1 person

  53. “Climate change: Are potatoes being put at risk by warmer weather?”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-63299964

    The humble potato may struggle to grow in the UK in years to come due to climate change, researchers have warned.

    Scotland’s fields grow a quarter of Britain’s potato crop.

    However household favourites such as Ayrshire and Maris Piper are said to be at risk as temperatures rise.

    The James Hutton Institute (JHI) at Invergowrie, just outside Dundee, is now trying to find varieties that will grow in warmer conditions.

    The annual retail value of potato products across the UK is put at more than £2bn.

    Prof Lesley Torrance, the JHI research organisation’s executive director of science, warned that climate change posed an “existential threat” to the potato industry….

    Like

  54. I must admit, I didn’t expect to see murder so directly connected with climate change:

    “Almost 8,000 US shootings attributed to unseasonable heat – study
    Research suggests climate crisis may contribute to increased gun violence by pushing temperatures beyond normal ranges”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/16/almost-8000-us-shootings-attributed-to-unseasonable-heat-study

    Almost 8,000 shootings in US cities in recent years were attributable to unseasonably warm temperatures, according to a new study. The researchers said the work suggested the climate crisis could be contributing to increased gun violence by pushing temperatures beyond the normal ranges.

    Shootings were already known to peak in summer, when people are outside more and when heat can increase aggression. But the new research took account of the season and showed that above average temperatures at any time of year increased the risk of shootings.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Guardian doesn’t offer a link to the study, but there’s a couple of other “Only Connect” moments within the article:

    A study in 2020 reported that rising temperatures caused by global heating are likely to increase deaths from road crashes, violence, suicides and drowning, affecting young people most. Another study, published in 2018, found higher temperatures are linked to increasing rates of suicide.

    Like

  56. Mark – from your link
    “We isolate human-caused warming with climate models, finding that >500 home runs since 2010 are attributable to historical warming. Several hundred additional home runs per season are projected due to future warming. Adaptations such as building domes on stadiums or shifting day games to night games
    reduce temperature’s effects on America’s pastime. Our results highlight the myriad ways that a
    warmer planet will restructure our lives, livelihoods, and recreation, some quantifiable and easily
    adapted to, as shown here, many others, not.
    Capsule
    We show that global warming has increased home runs in baseball by reducing gametime
    air density. Without gameplay adaptations, future warming will intensify this effect alongside
    other climate impacts.”

    has to be a late April Fool.

    Liked by 1 person

  57. I have to admit, I didn’t expect to be putting piracy in here:

    “Impact of warmer seas on fish stocks leads to rise in pirate attacks
    Study of piracy hotspots in east Africa and South China Sea found that piracy increases when fish populations decline and vice versa”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/11/impact-of-warmer-seas-on-fish-stocks-leads-to-rise-in-pirate-attacks

    Dwindling fish stocks caused by the climate crisis are leading to an increase in pirate attacks, according to a new study looking at two piracy hotspots over the past two decades.

    Warmer seas have negatively affected fisheries in east Africa, one of the world’s worst areas for piracy; while in the South China Sea, another hotspot for attacks, it has had the opposite effect: fish populations have risen.

    This phenomenon created a “rare natural experiment” in which to test the links between climate breakdown and piracy risk, according to Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland, and one of the co-authors of the paper, published in the American Meteorological Society journal, Weather, Climate, and Society (WCAS).

    “We wanted to test the hypothesis: does piracy increase when fish production declines and decrease when fish production increases?” said LaFree. The answer, they found, was yes. “We did a multi-varied analysis to see whether the underlying theory was statistically significant and it is.”

    The study, which looked at more than 2,000 attacks in east Africa and the South China Sea over the past 20 years, found the trends in piracy were linked to the impact of warmer seas on fish stocks.

    In east Africa, where fish populations are declining due to warmer seas, piracy rates have increased. But rising sea temperature had the opposite effect in the South China Sea. There, fish populations have increased and piracy rates have declined….

    It appears that this is yet another cost of the “climate crisis”:

    …The link between warming seas, fisheries and pirate attacks was significant, even after controlling for other influences such as economic stress, private security guards on board, and local political corruption, the authors said. It also raised questions over how to help fishers.

    “For the governments of Somalia and Kenya and coastal states in east Africa, this is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed,” Jiang said.

    “If our arguments are correct, and sea temperatures continue to rise into the foreseeable future, the struggle against piracy in east Africa will become increasingly difficult,” the paper said.

    Piracy cost the shipping industry $9bn a year and poses a major security threat. About 90% of the world’s traded goods are transported by sea.

    If anyone wants to dig deeper, you can find the paper here:

    https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wcas/15/2/WCAS-D-21-0147.1.xml

    Like

  58. “Sydney’s drinking water quality under threat from climate crisis, report finds
    Exclusive: Audit says substantial effort to reduce emissions and limit climate change impacts needed to ensure catchment health”

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/09/sydneys-drinking-water-quality-under-threat-from-climate-crisis-report-finds

    …The audit also made recommendations about sewage in the catchment, urging the government to upgrade treatment plants in the Wingecarribee area to avoid “significant environmental harm as the population grows”. “Delays to sewage treatment plant upgrades risks increasing poor water quality outcomes and breaches of environment protection licences,” the report read.

    The increasing density and land use changes in parts of Sydney’s fringe and the Southern Highlands and Goulburn areas were also affecting the catchment’s health.

    “Poorly planned, designed or managed construction of urban development has the potential to cause impacts on water quality from accelerated water erosion,” the report read….

    But it’s climate change (sorry, the climate crisis) that’s to blame, apparently.

    Liked by 1 person

  59. The BBC has picked up on something strange happening in South Korea:

    “’Don’t Ask Why’: South Korea grapples with back-to-back ‘Mudjima’ stabbings”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-66438202

    The stabbings are apparently motiveless, hence the term ‘Mudjima’, which literally means ‘don’t ask why’.

    However, we all know why really, don’t we? According to Wikipedia:

    “There are people who are more sensitive to the effects of climate change. In other words, children, chronically ill, the elderly, people with cognitive deficits, pregnant women, and people with psychopathological disorders are sensitive to climate change…When a person becomes uncomfortable hot, the possibility of temper tantrums, hypersensitivity, physical aggression and violence increases.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_South_Korea

    Come on BBC, wake up! It’s not like you to waste a good climate change link.

    Oh, I forgot. Mudjima.

    Liked by 2 people

  60. John, please may I collect my prize? I’ve found the tory that isn’t linked to climate change:

    “Bedbug panic sweeps Paris as infestations soar before 2024 Olympics”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66995977

    There are several factors, of which globalisation – container trade, tourism and immigration – is the most important. Climate change can be ruled out….

    It’s official – the BBC says climate change can be ruled out (possibly the first and last time you’ll read that there).

    Like

  61. This is a story about the havoc wreaked by tin mining in Indonesia, the damage caused thereby t the local environment, and associated issues with crocodile attacks. At least, that’s what it ought to be about, judging by most of the narrative in the article@

    “Why Indonesia can’t stop crocodile attacks”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67004770

    But of course, it can’t be that simple – at least not when the BBC is involved;

    …Last year’s prolonged dry season, driven by climate change, dried up the well in front of Sariah’s house. Her water supply was cut after she fell behind on payments for three months. So, the abandoned pits were the only source of water for her family and many others.

    Five days after the attack on Sariah, a miner in the island was almost killed by a crocodile when he was washing tin ore in another pit. He suffered injuries in his head, shoulder and an arm….

    Of course – it’s climate change wot dun it.

    Like

  63. “‘Red gold’: Why saffron production is dwindling in India”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67143765

    No mention of climate change in the heading, so I was curious, and thought I’d take a look. Needless to say, it’s climate change wot dun it:

    …Mr Mir says his fields have become less productive over the years. He can remember a time when the crocus would flower three to five times in a growing season, now that’s down to two or three.

    He blames more erratic patterns of rainfall and higher temperatures, which leaves the soil too dry for the sensitive crocus plant.

    Scientist who have studied saffron cultivation agree that conditions have become more difficult.

    “Climate change is a reality, creating havoc for saffron fields,” says Dr Bashir Allie, who heads the Saffron Research Station, at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

    “Rains and the snowfall have become erratic and uncertain. Fields which were very productive just 10 years back don’t produce much saffron now.”…

    That’s one version of events. Yet we are also told:

    …”It is a highly labour-intensive industry where each process, from planting the corms, plucking the flowers, gently removing the red stigmas from the flowers, to the final grading, is meticulously carried out by skilled workers with decades of experience in the trade,” he explains….

    What if there’s a shortage of highly-skilled labours prepared to carry out back-breaking work for a pittance? Or reducing amounts of land being used? Or less funding and investment?

    …The amount of land devoted to saffron production has dwindled in Indian-administered Kashmir. Around 5,700 hectares was given over to the crop in 1996, by 2020 that had fallen to 1,120.

    As well as the changing weather patterns, Mr Mir blames the expansion of towns and villages onto saffron fields, and lack of investment in irrigation and training for farmers…

    No matter – the answer is always climate change.

    Like

  64. “Sir Robin Millar: the vinyl revival is exposing artists’ climate ‘hypocrisy’”

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/05/sir-robin-millar-the-vinyl-revival-is-exposing-artists-climate-hypocrisy

    Robin Millar has made a career from records; now he wants them to be eradicated. The newly knighted music producer and co-founder of artist management company Blue Raincoat Music believes the resurgence of vinyl is exposing hypocrisy among labels and artists.

    “I am baffled that no large record company has had the backing of a big-selling artist to stop making physical records,” he says, angrily explaining how CDs and vinyl are manufactured around the world, packaged with “chopped-down trees and plastic” and shipped to customers. “How can anybody stand up and say ‘save the planet’? Artists are awful for hypocritical bandwagonery.”

    Millar says he is no “militant climate warrior”, but argues the quality of digital songs now matches vinyl, while artists’ global tours also contribute to harming the planet and could be screened online.

    His green stance has caused tensions with shareholders in his various ventures, which still make healthy money from physical music sales, but it is among the causes he is championing to enact change in his industry and beyond. …

    LPs responsible for climate change. Whatever next?

    Like

  65. “Cookies and candy are latest victims of climate crisis as sugar prices surge”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/05/climate-crisis-drought-sugar-cost-impact

    “Extreme weather is affecting food – a year ago it was avocados, now it’s sugar,” Wagner said. “Climate-flation is a thing and it’s getting worse. It’s convenient for the owner of Oreos to point to climate change for a price increase but it’s also understandable.”

    There you go.

    Like

  66. “Countryside shoots ‘save NHS millions’”

    This comes about by doddery old guys accidentally gunning one another down in a mist of scotch. No, of course it doesn’t. Instead,

    The personal benefits of exercise plus the public health gains to pollution being removed from the atmosphere by wooded areas are two of the principal ways in which the sport benefits society, according to The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).

    Why, you wonder, has Jit posted this here? Well, there is a rather far-fetched climate angle.

    Ian Danby, BASC head of biodiversity, said: “The carbon impact of shooting in woodlands has never been assessed before and reveals the huge role shooting plays in capturing and storing carbon, moving us all towards our net zero carbon targets…

    Quoth the Telegraph, helpfully:

    The NHS has not said if it would consider prescribing shooting to boost wellbeing.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/08/shooting-saves-nhs-millions-year-report/

    [Edit: quote tags not working.]

    Like

  67. “The carbon impact of shooting in woodlands has never been assessed before and reveals the huge role shooting plays in capturing and storing carbon, moving us all towards our net zero carbon targets…”

    Eh?

    Like

  68. It’s bananas!

    “Banana prices to go up as temperatures rise, says expert”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68534309

    It’s typical Matt McGrath fare. It’s all the fault of climate change. But read on, and you find this:

    “…Producers are also facing pressures from rising costs of fertilisers, energy and transport as well as problems in finding enough workers….”

    There is no attempt to discover which are the most important factors. Then we are told:

    “…Taken together with the impacts of climate change on supply, prices in the UK and elsewhere are likely to go up – and stay up….”.

    So, a load of problems, but lump in climate change and Bob’s your uncle. In a world with ever-growing populations, it also seems that the old basic issue of supply and demand might well be behind rising prices:

    …”There will be some price increases, indeed,” said Mr Liu. “If there’s not a major increase in supply, I project that banana prices will remain relatively high in the coming years.”…

    Of course, that might be about more supply needing to compensate for declines due to disease due to climate change – the line the article goes with – or it might not. An intelligent analysis would have been nicer than the usual “let’s blame climate change” trope and headline.

    At the very end we also learn of a real reason for rising banana prices – and we find that they are caused by the eco-zealots and their ever-tightening red tape:

    “…Consumers are increasingly looking to buy bananas and other commodities that are produced in a sustainable way.

    For banana growers this means not only making their means of production greener, but also paying independent examiners to certify that their fruit are sustainable.

    “These regulations are a good thing in a way because they help producers seize the opportunity of making their production systems more sustainable,” said Mr Liu.

    “But of course, they also come with costs for producers because they require more control and monitoring systems on the part of the producers and the traders. And these costs have to trickle down to the final consumers.”

    Like

  70. Oh yeah! Yesterday the BBC told me about a Scottish island shopkeeper who ordered 80 cases of Easter Eggs instead of 80 Eggs as he had intended. That’s more eggs than people on his island. Now there’s speculation (?) of a price rise because of chocolate scarcity. Do you think that shopkeeper was aware of this and so, when he saw the price per Easter Egg case he mistook this for a price per egg after inflation?

    Like

  72. “Are growing rates of anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD, Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease related to rising temperatures and other extreme environmental changes?”

    In a word, no.

    The reasons for the growing rates of these various disorders will be many in number, with perhaps the least significant being rising temperatures and extreme weather. Add on to that the limited extent to which any extreme event can be attributed to climate change and you are left with a very thin gruel indeed. This is just the Guardian up to its nudgey tricks again. The research in question is just bog standard investigation into the well-known physiological impacts of our environment — research that has no doubt been financially boosted by researchers playing Climate Only Connect.

    Like

  73. “Climate change could affect timekeeping, study says”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68684244

    “Climate change is affecting the speed of the Earth’s rotation and could impact how we keep time, a study says.

    Accelerating melt from Greenland and Antarctica is adding extra water to the world’s seas, redistributing mass.That is very slightly slowing the Earth’s rotation. But the planet is still spinning faster than it used to.

    The effect is that global timekeepers may need to subtract a second from our clocks later than would otherwise have been the case…”

    Liked by 1 person

  74. Partial quotes from that BBC article –

    “But the Earth’s rotation rate is not constant and can therefore have an effect on how long our days and nights are. Changes to the planet’s liquid core have meant the Earth has been spinning slightly quicker.”

    Take it they mean the liquid Iron core!!!, wonder how they know that?

    Then you get the usual statement – “Things are happening that are unprecedented.”

    Not from when the polar regions were ice free I guess?

    Liked by 1 person

  75. OK – had a quick read of the paper quoted, seems not to be that dire (within my limited experience).

    Only thing that caught my eye was this –

    “Computer timekeeping and networking, nonexistent in 1972, is now ubiquitous, and is based on counting seconds; there is no way to insert (or remove) a ‘leap integer’43. The unpredictability of leap seconds makes it challenging to synchronize a vast global infrastructure. Different web services currently handle leap seconds differently. Many systems now have software that can accept an additional second, but few if any allow for removing a second, so that a negative leap second is expected to create many difficulties.”

    Seem to recall Avionics Computer systems failing for this very problem!!!

    1st search – It’s time-out for leap seconds: an expert explains why the tiny clock adjustments will be paused from 2035 (theconversation.com)

    @Richard – any input/comments?

    Like

  77. Wonky vegetables and climate change? You bet!

    “‘It’s not beautiful, but you can still eat it’: climate crisis leads to more wonky vegetables in Netherlands

    Crowdfunding scheme salvages ‘imperfect’ fruit and veg following the country’s wettest autumn, winter and spring on record”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/29/its-not-beautiful-but-you-can-still-eat-it-climate-change-leads-to-more-wonky-vegetables-in-netherlands

    Blok is one of a number of farmers in Europe’s largest agricultural exporter linking the climate crisis to ever more “imperfect” fruit and vegetables, rejected by a food system based on standardisation and cosmetic appearance.

    Like

  78. “Climate crisis is making days longer, study finds

    Melting of ice is slowing planet’s rotation and could disrupt internet traffic, financial transactions and GPS”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/15/climate-crisis-making-days-longer-study

    The climate crisis is causing the length of each day to get longer, analysis shows, as the mass melting of polar ice reshapes the planet.

    The phenomenon is a striking demonstration of how humanity’s actions are transforming the Earth, scientists said, rivalling natural processes that have existed for billions of years.

    The change in the length of the day is on the scale of milliseconds but this is enough to potentially disrupt internet traffic, financial transactions and GPS navigation, all of which rely on precise timekeeping…

    Like

  79. “Climate crisis to blame for delay to triathlon, say Paris Olympic organisers”

    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/30/climate-crisis-to-blame-for-delay-to-triathlon-say-paris-olympic-organisers

    Olympic organisers have blamed the climate crisis for the postponement of the men’s triathlon on Tuesday, saying: “We can’t control the weather.”

    Paris 2024 said that the equivalent of the annual rainfall for July had fallen on the city on Friday and Saturday, leading to higher than permitted faecal bacteria known as E. coli entering the Seine and forcing it to delay the race for safety reasons.

    Amazing. In the UK when our rivers are full of faecal pollution, it’s because of the privatisation of the water companies (I suspect it is) but in France it’s because of the ‘climate crisis’ [sic].

    Liked by 2 people

  80. “Lyme disease increase risk due to climate change”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74llex44d3o

    This article basically says higher temperatures = more ticks = more Lyme’s Disease. That may be so, for all I know, but I observe that this year Cumbria has been much cooler than your average summer, yet ticks have thrived this year and been much more of a nuisance than usual. Strange.

    Like

  82. Mark,

    Regarding ticks, Jit has observed more than once that all the creatures we cherish are threatened but all we loathe will thrive. Ain’t that strange?

    And the Guardian article is just Only Climate Connect at its finest. Why do they never tire of writing this stuff?

    Like

  83. Regarding the ticks, and not having read the article, I think they have it backwards. The key stage is the times at which the tick is away from the host. It has to wait patiently for the next host to pass and then try to latch onto it. In hot and dry weather, it will not survive this fallow period as long as in the cold and damp.

    Liked by 1 person

  85. I know nothing about building ships. But I do know that if I was a billionaire, I wouldn’t have plumped for a boat that, no matter how you squint at it, doesn’t look right.

    Liked by 1 person

  86. They were talking about it on the BBC Radio news earlier today, and of course the Guardian has this:

    “Climate crisis fuelled storm that sank yacht in Sicily, say experts

    Record sea temperatures in the Mediterranean contributed to waterspout that hit Bayesian”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/20/climate-crisis-fuelled-storm-that-sank-yacht-in-sicily-say-experts

    …The powerful waterspout lasted just minutes, hitting a restricted area. A boat moored nearby was unscathed….

    It’s distasteful to play the “climate crisis, yes it is, no it isn’t”, game when people have died. I would, however, say that I saw a picture of the boat before it capsized, and I shared Jit’s view. Also, I listened to an interview on the radio with the captain of a nearby boat, who said (I paraphrase, because I don’t recall his exact words) something to the effect that he recognised that the weather was turning nasty and took steps to prepare for it. If he was the captain of the unscathed boat (and I don’t know if he is), then perhaps that’s why it was unscathed.

    Liked by 2 people

  88. The irony is this: Mike Lynch made his fortune developing systems that used Bayesian networks to optimise search algorithms — hence the name of the boat. The same networks can form the basis of causal models which can be used to determine the relative strength of causations, e.g. between climate change and oversized masts in the sinking of a boat. If the right data were to be fed into the right model, my money would be on that mast all day long.

    Liked by 2 people

  89. I visited Autonomy in Cambridge to assess their technology in the 1990s. I thought they were overrated ie overpriced. The death of two of the principals in quite separate incidents two days from each other … well, Mike Lynch is only ‘missing’ right now. It’s a very curious tale.

    Like

  90. John/Jit – as Jit says that aluminium mast just seems extreme, with sails up in good wind weather maybe ok, but in stormy weather?

    The sails were down at the time, but some reports that stabilizing fin under the boat was not deployed. To early to determine what caused this tragedy & lose of life.

    Sad but predictable “may be” comment – “Global warming may be factor in deadly Italian shipwreck, climatologist says”

    Wait for more facts.

    Liked by 1 person

  91. Dfhunter,

    Wait for more facts.

    Indeed. For example, I’m sure the investigators will be very interested to find out if the keel had been retracted — unnecessary, given the depth of anchorage, but you never know. Also, a mast that size would present quite a substantial windage even without sails deployed. And if the waterspout made a direct hit, there would be strong torsional forces to consider. Maybe no boat would have survived the experience; maybe they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. However, with a mast that size laid flat to one side in the water (as was reported by the closest eye witness) it is difficult to see how the boat could remain afloat, particularly if portholes had been open. The one thing I do know is that causation is a tricky subject and vague statements such as saying that climate change was a contributory factor may be strictly true whilst seriously missing the point. Which is this: To reduce the chances of a recurrence, would ensuring that boats remain afloat after catastrophic mast failure be a more useful and germane thing to do than Net Zero?

    Liked by 1 person

  93. dfhunter,

    I should have added that we don’t even know for sure that the mast snapped. An eye witness said so but he may have been mistaken.

    Liked by 1 person

  94. John – latest BBC news says the mast is intact/not snapped on the sea floor, but again “Wait for more facts”.

    Like

  95. PS – should have gave you a link- by Thomas Mackintosh & Alex Boyd BBC News, Esme Stallard, Climate and Science Reporter- Bayesian yacht sinking: What factors might have caused boat to sink – BBC News

    Partial quote –

    “Karsten Borner, the captain of another yacht anchored nearby at the time of the storm, said there was a “very strong hurricane gust” and he had to battle to keep his vessel steady.

    He saw the Bayesian’s mast “bend and then snap”, according to Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily newspaper.

    But, providing an update on the rescue mission, Marco Tilotta, from the Palermo fire service divers’ unit, told AFP the ship was lying on its side in one piece.”

    Like

  96. Until all the facts of the Bayesian yacht sinking have been established we are all reduced to engaging in dumb speculation. However, of all the speculations I have read, this has to be the dumbest:

    ‘Black swan theory’ could have sunk tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s superyacht, says expert

    https://www.indy100.com/news/black-swan-theory-mike-lynch-superyacht

    Just so that the reader doesn’t think that an actual black swan was responsible, the writer is keen to explain:

    A “black swan” event refers to weather that is extremely rare and can have a devastating impact, one example of this is Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

    Despairingly, I refer my readers to my earlier article explaining why rarity is not the defining characteristic of a black swan:

    https://cliscep.com/2023/06/14/is-climate-change-a-black-swan/

    For an event to qualify as a black swan, there has to be nothing in the past that could have hinted at the possibility of it happening. This certainly does not apply to waterspouts. But even more bizarrely, the Indy article goes on to contradict itself by pointing out how common waterspouts are and how predictable this particular waterspout was:

    In the time leading up to the disaster, weather conditions had all the makings to form the powerful waterspout, meteorologists say. On the day of the sinking (August 19), there were 18 confirmed waterspouts off the coast of Italy, as per the International Center for Waterspout Research.

    Certainly, there is a black swan lurking in this story, but it isn’t in the weather. The yacht’s designer has said that the sinking was impossible because the Bayesian was ‘unsinkable’. There’s your black swan.

    Liked by 2 people

  97. I see that now the BBC has picked up on this black swan nonsense:

    Bayesian sinking: The key questions for investigators

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg343vjwklo

    But experts have told the BBC that this was likely a “black swan” occurrence of freak weather – and that no-one is necessarily at fault.

    This is the problem with journalists. Some bullshitters (who haven’t the first clue what a black swan actually is) use the term incorrectly and the BBC laps it up. Why? Because they were ‘experts’ and the ignorant journalists had no idea themselves.

    That said, the point is taken that the tragedy may have been down to pure bad luck.

    Like

  98. P.S. Another quote from the same article:

    Bad weather is one thing, but a waterspout is something else entirely. And not something that the crew could have predicted.

    Yep, that would make it a black swan — were it remotely true!

    Liked by 1 person

  99. Oh dear. The MSM papers are the first ones to blather on about the perils of online misinformation, and yet every single one now seems to have bought into the mistaken notion that a black swan is just a rare event. For example:

    Mystery behind Bayesian yacht tragedy as black swan waterspout is ‘only half the story’

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mystery-behind-bayesian-yacht-tragedy-33515745

    Everyone is quoting Matthew Schanck, chairman of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, when he said:

    Looking at the extreme weather, if it was a waterspout, which it appears to be, it’s what I would class as like a black swan event.

    As I have already said, it isn’t as if waterspouts are even rare, let alone inconceivable based upon previous experience, so there is no way that anyone should be calling them a black swan event. And there is no way that a clued in journalist would not be saying ‘hold on a minute, that’s not what a black swan is’.

    We get closer to the truth when we define the black swan event as a waterspout battering a boat. Even so, such events are far from unprecedented, and so the best that can be said is that the Bayesian’s sinking was a grey swan.

    For a good history of waterspouts causing maritime disasters, you can read this:

    http://www.phenomena.org.uk/tornadoes/page6/page6.html

    Liked by 1 person

  100. John, I’m still very hazy about a correct definition of black swan events. Could it be that such an event is recorded by one person but denied by another with better knowledge.

    I had already considered the special case of waterspouts affecting yachts being a black swan event because I surmised that a yacht sinking would be a most unlikely event, almost to the point of being a previously unknown event, I.e. a black swan. You on the other hand, perhaps with better knowledge than I may have other instances of similar events to hand, thus to you it cannot be a black swan. So to me it would be a black swan, but for you not so. Furthermore if you were able to detail such an event, my black swan would instantly disappear.

    So could you ever be sure that what you might consider to be a black swan actually was one in that there is always the possibility of a previous occurrence that you become aware of. Thus all black swans are potentially grey.

    Like

  101. Alan,

    You are quite right that the basis for calling an event a black swan is epistemic, and so there has to be a subjective element. For example, only ornithologists from the Northern hemisphere could have experienced a black swan event when they first encountered a swan from the Southern hemisphere. Southern ornithologists, having a totally different knowledge base could not have such a black swan experience. So the relevant question to me is this: Are there any meteorologists or seafarers who have not heard of waterspouts or have not heard of a waterspout sinking a boat? The question is not whether the personal experience of a particular meteorologist or seafarer might lead them to believe they are themselves unlikely to encounter one. Their rarity may mean that encountering one would be unexpected (a grey swan) but only an ignorance of the existence of the phenomenon could lead to a conceptual surprise (a black swan). Besides which, the press are all saying that tornadic waterspouts themselves are rare, when this is patently not the case.

    The other point to consider regarding the nature of black swan events is that, human nature being what it is, we concoct explanations after the fact that render them explainable and predictable. In that sense they are self-erasing.

    Like

  102. Energy price cap: Typical household to pay £149 more a year – BBC News

    Partial quote – “The rise in the price cap is the result of higher prices on the international energy market, Ofgem said, owing to increasing geopolitical tensions and extreme weather driving competition and demand for gas, which determines the price of wholesale electricity.”

    Welcome to Ofgem | Ofgem – can find no “extreme weather driving competition” comment on the website? but no doubt BBC has a hotline for this kind of quote.

    You have to chuckle at – “driving competition and demand for gas, which determines the price of wholesale electricity.”

    Then read Labour and Conservatives blame each other for rise in energy bills – BBC News – Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has blamed energy price hikes this autumn on what he said was the Conservatives’ failure to invest in renewables.

    Liked by 1 person

  103. Miliband is like doctors hundreds of years ago who professed great medical knowledge but in reality didn’t have a clue. They would bleed weak and ill patients, and as the patient deteriorated, would announce that further bleeding was required, until eventually the patient died. That is Miliband’s prescription for the UK.

    Liked by 1 person

  104. The medical profession of the past is commonly mocked for its ignorance and strange practices. Yet the bleeding of patients as a cure for multiple ills had, at that time, a strong theoretical basis and little dissent. I suspect that in some cases patients reported some relief. Why else would the practice be prolonged for many, many decades?
    I’m also sure that many more recent medical practices have been or will be abandoned and perhaps mocked. As an asthmatic boy I was shipped off to successive coastal towns to breathe the sea air (where I duly contracted pneumonia). I don’t believe this happens today.

    Liked by 1 person

  105. The Black Swan has just metamorphosed:

    “Sicily yacht sinking most likely caused by ‘downburst'”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87g413d2n5o

    Italian authorities say a downburst was the most likely cause of the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht which led to the deaths of seven people.

    Initially it was thought that a waterspout – essentially a tornado over the sea – was responsible for the incident.

    But at a news conference on Saturday, officials said it was more likely that it was caused by a downburst – a localised gusty wind associated with thunderstorms.

    Liked by 1 person

  106. Mark,

    Yes I saw that. It remains to be seen whether the misnomer is transferred to the new suspect. It matters little, however, since the damage is already done. Thanks to the MSM papers, the term ‘black swan’ has now gone viral, together with the misconception.

    For my part, I am done with speculating. First there was the sighting of a breaking mast that didn’t actually break. Now there is the multiple sightings of a waterspout that wasn’t there. So I’ll wait for the outcome of the enquiry, which I still presume will happen.

    Liked by 2 people

  107. Whilst I am sticking to my promise not to speculate further, I have, however, now found the following informative (though out-of-date) podcast. It furthers my suspicion that if there are any black swans to be found, they will not be in the weather but will be in the yacht’s design, combined with complacency regarding unsinkability, particularly on the part of the crew that fateful morning:

    Like

  108. John – Thanks for that interesting link, which leads to other links by the same guy from superyachts news. Like you, I am done with speculating, to many variables with not enough facts at present.

    Like

  110. Mark,

    Mmm. Quite a few inaccuracies in that, but interesting nonetheless.

    Like

  111. There’s another strange coincidence about the Bayesian. Apparently, Mike Lynch was due to meet up with David Davis in a few days to discuss the Lucy Letby trial:

    PLOT TWIST “He planned to establish a UK equivalent to the Innocence Project, a US non-profit organisation that works to exonerate those who have suffered miscarriages of justice. He raised the case of the Lucy Letby trial as one that had already caught his attention. Mike was a world-class expert on probability theory, and saw straight through the statistical weaknesses that underpinned the Letby prosecution. One of our first projects was going to be investigating that trial properly. We were due to meet on Thursday, August 22, to discuss the plans.” David Davis

    Image

    Like

  112. Jaime,

    Yes, the Lucy Letby trial has drawn the attention of a number of statistics experts who are concerned regarding the safety of the conviction. For example:

    The worrying thing is that such speculations are being treated by the authorities as conspiracy theories and misinformation. I challenge anyone to view the above video and then say they would be comfortable in seeing it taken down.

    Like

  113. “‘Worst grouse season for 30 years’ hits businesses”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgm74l1vdj1o

    ...According to the RSPB, many species of upland birds have had a poor breeding season this year, largely “because of the cold and wet conditions experienced over the spring and summer”.

    The organisation said that, as the climate changes, “producing grouse to shoot will become increasingly challenging”.…

    But hang on a minute. Aren’t we always being told that climate change implies hot dry springs and summers? And what does the RSPB think it’s doing telling us it’s been cold and wet this spring and summer? Haven’t the BBC, Guardian and Met Office debunked that?

    Liked by 1 person

  114. Regarding Letby ,there is this rejoinder from Christopher Snowdon. The attempt to blame the plumbing in the interview above does seem to a mighty stretch, unless the dodgy plumbing is capable of poisoning babies with insulin. [Two instances, both babies survived.]

    The most compelling point is that some cases were not investigated – i.e. that the list of 22 where Letby was always present was a cherry pick. Without knowing the details, it is easy for a bystander to assume that these were judged as natural events, while the remaining 22 were foul play. Were they? I don’t know. I would like to know why the other events were excluded. None of us were on the jury, so cannot assess the evidence in toto. Nevertheless, from where I’m sitting, she’s guilty.

    Snowdon does, however, overstate his case slightly in some paragraphs. E.g. this

    for Letby to be innocent there can have been no murders or attacks on babies

    does not seem to follow.

    Like

  115. Jit,

    Like many who are interested in the Letby case, I make no judgement regarding her likely guilt. But I make the following three observations:

    Firstly, I don’t think anyone is trying to suggest that all deaths attributed to Letby were caused by pathogens related to the faulty plumbing.

    Secondly, I believe the person who drew up the list of suspicious deaths is claiming he did so without prior knowledge of the duty roster. Therefore, any suggestion of cherry-picking is denied.

    Finally, with cases such as these, one has to think Bayesian. Just as a diagnostic test has to have very high specificity when dealing with rare diseases, a much higher burden of proof should apply with crimes that carry a very low a priori probability of guilt. I suspect it is this last point that has kindled the interest of the likes of Prof. Fenton.

    Like

  116. “New study reveals link between heatwaves and dementia”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86lz7831nxo

    …Experts found “frequent and lasting weather extremes, such as with heatwaves and flooding, exacerbate mental health problems and the spread of infectious diseases“.

    The study observed also states that long-term heat exposure can disrupt sleep, which is associated with cognitive decline and conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

    Cold weather may also result in more injuries from falls, or poor mental health through isolation, joint pain, and sedentary behaviours such as sitting and lying down.

    Mr Mitchell, professor of climate science at UoB, said: “Chiefly this report shows the potentially very serious mortality and morbidity tolls from long-term exposures to changed weather patterns, not currently captured in our climate risk assessments.”…

    Like

  118. I was going to write an entire snark post about this story, but I just could not gather enough enthusiasm. This was served up to me by Firefox Pocket. I might have mentioned that I went through a long process of trying to find out how stories find their way into Firefox Pocket, but despite several communications with an enthusiastic volunteer, I ended up none the wiser. [Firefox Pocket is recommended, somehow curated, stories under your frequently-visited sites on the new tab page, with a presumed liberal slant.]

    “Climate Change Is Killing Buildings in Slow Motion“

    It’s not just storms and floods: Wild temperature swings, severe heat and drought are exacting an invisible toll on the built environment.

    And now at least I can close that tab.

    Liked by 2 people

  119. From Harry Passfield commenting at Notalot:

    I lie here in bed, gently listening to a bit of Vivaldi on BBC R3 when the program, coming to a pause in the music, announces what’s coming: a program about how global warming is influencing our thoughts on classical music.

    Is there NOTHING(!) that the BBC will not use to proseletise their need to scare us on such an unproven piece of sh…sorry, science? All day today they have tried to link everyday normal experiences to AGW. They really are bringing to life Orwell’s nightmare.

    Liked by 3 people

  121. John, it seems there are no depths they will plumb in their climate derangement syndrome. It’s worth quoting the paragraph, I think:

    Nationwide bird strike incidents have been steadily increasing, from 108 in 2019 to 152 last year. Some suggest this rise could be linked to climate change, with migratory birds becoming permanent residents and shifts occurring in both the timing and species of birds appearing at airports.

    Or as BBC Verify might say, when analysing something Trump said: “Some suggest, without supporting evidence, that…“.

    Before making such claims about increasing number of birds, might it not be worth asking whether flights have increased in number? (An increasing number of flights, after all, increases the chances of bird strikes). Had anyone at the Guardian bothered to ask the question, instead of lapsing into climate alarmism mode, this is what they would have found:

    Meanwhile, Vietnam-South Korea routes have demonstrated healthy growth, with passenger traffic increasing by 15%, supported by an 11% rise in seat capacity between January and August 2024, compared to 2019.

    https://www.cirium.com/thoughtcloud/apac-air-travel-2024-bright-spots-and-challenges/

    Liked by 2 people

  124. According to the BBC:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgzprprlyeo

    …He said that the bird strike and bad weather may have caused the crash – but that the exact cause is still being investigated.…

    …Officials, however, have not confirmed whether the plane did actually collide with any birds.…

    ...But some aviation experts are sceptical about whether a bird strike could have caused the crash at Muan Airport.

    “Typically they [bird strike] don’t cause the loss of an airplane by themselves,” Mr Thomas told Reuters.

    Australian airline safety expert Geoffrey Dell also told the news agency: “I’ve never seen a bird strike prevent the landing gear from being extended.”

    But not knowing doesn’t stop the Guardian from blaming the bird strike and from there leaping – without evidence – to blaming climate change; or at least to deeming it appropriate to suggest that climate change might be relevant. It’s disgusting really. The families haven’t even yet buried their dead.

    Liked by 2 people

  126. Well, not wanting to prejudge, and I deliberately did not watch the footage. But the still for the footage appeared to show a distinct absence of undercarriage.

    Liked by 1 person

  127. I don’t listen to Radio 2 but Lembit Opik recently posted this on X:

    A chap on BBC Radio 2 implied climate change was a factor in the fatal South Korea air crash, and the BBC presenter added she’d heard increased air turbulence is caused by climate change. It’s very good these two aren’t responsible for the air crash investigation.

    My reply:

    Hmm, yes, clear air turbulence at 100 feet caused by climate change is the obvious answer! Why didn’t we all think of that? Thank God for the experts at the BBC.

    Image

    I’m not really sure how bird strikes or clear air turbulence (at 40k feet or 100 feet) causes the landing gear to fail on an aircraft but I’m sure more experts at the Beeb will tell us soon.

    Liked by 3 people

  128. “Climate change will ‘lead to noisier take offs'”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8645jxyee2o

    Scientists have discovered that warmer air from climate change will create more noise pollution from departing airplanes around European airports.

    Researcher’s [sic] from the University of Reading have been studying how rising air temperatures change the way aircrafts take off.

    On average, departing aircraft climb angles will decrease by 1-3%, but individual hot days could reduce climb angles by up to 7.5%.

    Dr Jonny Williams, lead author at the University of Reading, said: “Over the next three decades, thousands of extra people in London could be blighted by noise pollution caused by climate change.”…

    Is there anything that won’t be made worse by climate change?

    By the way, I notice the BBC’s favourite game of blaming climate change for something that can have other causes, acknowledging the other cause(s), but failing completely to investigate the extent to which climate change is the major or minor factor. In this case, population growth/increasing population density might account for most of the statistic cited, but the BBC doesn’t seek to enlighten us as to whether this is so:

    …Changes in climate and population density could mean around 2,500 additional people are brought into this boundary.…

    Like

  129. “South Korea’s fishermen keep dying. Is climate change to blame?”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg924nrgd3o

    …This year, the head of the taskforce pinpointed climate change as one of the major causes, as well as highlighting other problems — the country’s aging fishing workforce, a growing reliance on migrant workers, and poor safety training.…

    …Professor Kim Baek-min, a climate scientist at South Korea’s Pukyong National University, said that although climate change was creating the conditions to make strong, sudden wind gusts more likely, a clear trend had not yet been established – for that, more research and long-term data is needed.…

    …Increasingly, elderly captains must rely on help from migrant workers from Vietnam and Indonesia. Often these workers do not receive sufficient safety training, and language barriers mean they cannot communicate with the captains – further compounding the dangers.…

    ….Ean thinks it has become too easy for boat owners to blame climate change for accidents. Even in cases where bad weather plays a role, she believes it is still the owners’ responsibility to assess the risks and keep their crew safe. “Ultimately it is their call when to go out,” she said.…

    …The government’s taskforce is recommending that boats be fitted with safety ladders, fisherman be required to wear life jackets, and that safety training be mandatory for all foreign crew. It also wants to improve search and rescue operations, and for fisherman to have access to more localised and real-time weather updates.…

    The elephant in the room is over-fishing, which is very real, but of course the BBC doesn’t mention it. It says, instead, that the reduced amount of stock in the seas is because of climate change. Korean fishermen are having to go further afield, fishing in more dangerous waters, with less chance of making a dash for safety if the weather turns adverse. A serious article would have talked about over-fishing, but that would have undermined the opportunity for yet another headline proclaiming it’s climate change wot dun it.

    https://globalfishingwatch.org/success-story/illuminating-dark-fishing-in-north-korea/

    Squid provides a vital source of income for fishers in Japan and South Korea—but since 2003, squid populations in the two countries had plummeted by around 80 percent. Both countries introduced measures to reduce fishing pressure, but the trend remained the same. It was then that we realized an important question had gone unanswered: what was taking place throughout the waters of neighboring North Korea?

    At first glance, there were signs that something was awry. Large numbers of industrial vessels were seen heading towards North Korea from China, despite U.N. sanctions banning foreign fleets from fishing in the waters of the rogue state. 

    And there was another tragic trend: hundreds of small fishing boats from North Korea were washing up along the coast of Russia—their crews missing, starving or dead.

    …We found more than 900 large vessels of Chinese origin fishing in North Korean waters, in violation of U.N. sanctions. Estimates suggest they caught nearly half a billion dollar’s worth of Pacific flying squid from 2017-2018, measuring more than 160,000 metric tons, or as much as Japan and South Korea’s catch combined.…

    …“The scale of the fleet involved in this illegal fishing is about one-third the size of China’s entire distant water fishing fleet. It is the largest known case of illegal fishing perpetrated by vessels originating from one country operating in another nation’s waters. By synthesizing data from multiple satellite sensors, we created an unprecedented, robust picture of fishing activity in a notoriously opaque region.”…

    But what the hell? Let’s just blame climate change.

    Liked by 1 person

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