(This was going to be a comment on Richard’s excellent Culture War post, but it was getting a bit long, so I’ve turned it into a sort of follow-on post to Richard’s.) On 12 January 2020 the BBC aired Episode 3 of their latest season of Doctor Who, starring Jodie Whittaker as the eponymous Doctor. … Continue reading
Author Archives: Alex Cull
Parliament of Fools
From the Hansard records, first a discussion in Parliament yesterday at 3:24 pm, some excerpts: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-06-24/debates/966D70D4-A8F6-457D-8812-34C6EF20089C/EuropeanCouncil? * * * The Prime Minister: Earlier this month the UK became the first major economy in the world to commit to ending its contribution to global warming by 2050, and I am pleased that the regulations to amend … Continue reading
Insectageddon – More or Less
The BBC radio programme More or Less often provides, in my view, a reasonably thoughtful counterpoint or qualifier to some of the BBC’s more uncritical and alarming science coverage. At the end of last month, one topic was the much-vaunted “Insect Armageddon” and the scary claim that insects are facing global extinction in 100 years’ … Continue reading
Fossil-Foolish at the BBC
Overheard on the BBC News Channel’s “Beyond 100 Days” programme yesterday (h/t Pablo at Paul Homewood’s blog): * * * Christian Fraser: You know, yesterday I was on the south coast in Brighton, Katty, and I was looking out to sea at the wind turbines which were turning at quite a rate of knots yesterday … Continue reading
XR and the Deep Adaptation Agenda
When Dr. Gail Bradbrook, one of the co-founders of Extinction Rebellion, appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme earlier this month, she said something I found interesting: “… I don’t want to wind people up, and I do apologise for the inconvenience caused, but you can hear the emotion in my voice – I’ve two … Continue reading
The Year 2000 – “It isn’t going to be pleasant”
[A short work of enviro-fiction (partly), written to mark Earth Day]. In the run-up to Earth Day 2019, I was once again reorganising my belongings and trying to create a little more living room for myself. Not that I have much in the way of worldly goods, you understand, but there are three families sharing … Continue reading
“You’re Committing a Crime”
Late in the evening, after a long day at work, I settled down in front of the computer and went on the internet to see if I could find the source of a quote by Christiana Figueres, the ex-head of the UNFCCC. Bjørn Lomborg had written that she said she wanted to see people who … Continue reading
“I’ve just been made a baroness”
Ten years ago tomorrow (26 November, 2008) the Climate Change Bill gained royal assent and passed into law in the UK. Much has been written about the damage this ill-conceived piece of legislation has done and will do – Rupert Darwall pretty much covers it here. After sober consideration of the dire economic and societal … Continue reading
“You Don’t Know Anything About It”
Unlike economic recession and wars, which pass, climate change does not, and there are deadlines if we want to avoid a point of no return. In fact, scientists calculate that Obama has four years in which to save the world. That was BBC Newsnight’s Science Editor Susan Watts reporting in January 2009. It was the … Continue reading
Frackity-frack, don’t talk back!
Life’s so unfair. You’re just a guy, right, out to save the world and do good by the planet, and people really ought to sit down, shut up and listen while you lecture them on the subject. Least they could do, right? And you’d expect BBC journalists, of all people, to stay with the script … Continue reading
