EU Referendum

Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts

We have had heavy global warming here, in deepest West Yorkshire, starting about an hour before midnight and lying on the ground. It continueth, even unto the darkest hour ...

I just thought you would like to know that.

COMMENT THREAD - CLIMATE CHANGE

snow+morning[i-snow+morning]
He read Dr Viner's words of wisdom and decided to send a leetle message. We had global warming all night and it's still global warming, with a sky like slate. It's thin stuff, a bit like drizzle ... snizzle? But it's persistent ... adding overnight maybe 2-3 inches to the existing layers.

And the forecast? Via The Daily Telegraph this morning (timed 8.01am GMT): "Although temperatures have eased slightly, many parts of the country were expected to see further snow flurries today."

Meanwhile, those unmitigated fools, aka Members of Parliament, on the environmental audit committee have urged the UK Government to cut emissions more quickly at home – to prove to other countries Britain was serious about backing up its attempts to get an international agreement [on global warming] with action.

I rather fancy that many people would like to cut their emissions - permanently.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

link[i-link]
Been at it all day ... meanwhile, forecasters are warning that the snow and arctic conditions are set to continue into the weekend, while southern England is braced to be the “crucible” of the severe weather later today. The renewed wave of bitter weather comes as experts predicted that Britain is facing the coldest winter in 100 years.

The prolonged cold snap has also led to fears that Britain could be confronted with a shortage of gas after the National Grid warned supplies to reduce use of the fuel. It was the second time ever that the move has been taken and came after a 30 percent rise on normal seasonal demand.

This is not surprising, after the hammering that the electricity generators have been giving the gas supply. However, you can see from the latest update that they have eased back on gas and coal is taking a greater load (see below).

electricty+gen[i-electricty+gen]
Thus, from a near 50-30 percent split yesterday, coal consumption has upped, giving an approximate 40-40 split, with coal currently the predominant fuel source. The greenies will perhaps be a little disconcerted that this global warming is er ... very bad for global warming, as they toast their little toes to the output of coal-fired power stations.

Wind output has crept up to a staggering 0.9 percent of production (0.7 percent on the 24 hours), increasing the load-factor to about seven percent. One thing for sure, the wind farmers will not be getting rich out of this cold snap. Wait for the weeping and gnashing of teeth as they demand more subsidies.

Needless to say though, The Independent is also trying to hold the line.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

link[i-link]
The scene this morning as one toddles off to get the papers. Had a quick exchange with a plumber who was getting out of his van. He told me he'd just had a call from a "client": "We're completely snowed-in, which means I'm in all day ... could you call round while I'm in so I don't have to take any more time off work?" Expletives deleted.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

India+snow[i-India+snow]
Let The Times do the talking for once. "Arctic freeze and snow wreak havoc across the planet," it reports.

"Arctic air and record snow falls gripped the northern hemisphere yesterday, inflicting hardship and havoc from China, across Russia to Western Europe and over the US plains," it tells us.

"There were few precedents for the global sweep of extreme cold and ice that killed dozens in India, paralysed life in Beijing and threatened the Florida orange crop. Chicagoans sheltered from a potentially killer freeze, Paris endured sunny Siberian cold, Italy dug itself out of snowdrifts and Poland counted at least 13 deaths in record low temperatures of about minus 25C (-13F)."

And so on it goes, but what is particularly amusing is all the warmists in the comments section, rushing in to claim that this is merely "weather" - don't mean nuffink!

The Guardian is trying its hardest as well. Many parts of the northern hemisphere are considerably warmer than usual at the moment. Alaska and much of northern Canada is unseasonably warm for instance, it says, with temperatures 5°C to 10°C warmer than expected.

However, that still leaves the air a biting –30°C (–22°F) or so though. My guess is that will be enough for Met Office to declare that this is indeed the warmest winter since instrumental records began. You know it makes sense.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

Moscow+1[i-Moscow+1]Moscow is covered in deep snow (picture left) and the snowfall in St Petersburg has broken a 130-year record.

Much further east, from the New York Times we learn that five days of blizzards and avalanches have paralysed the Russian island of Sakhalin, cutting off air and sea links to the mainland, stranding dozens of motorists on highways, and burying a train, along with three railway workers, under snow drifts 10 feet deep.

The island is frequently buffeted by storms that sweep in from the Pacific but the weather that began assailing it a few days ago has taken a remarkable toll. Blizzards began New Year's Eve, when an avalanche forced a diesel locomotive and snowplough off their tracks, and continued Friday, when three workers sent to repair the damage were swept up.

One was found alive, and rescue teams retrieved the body of a second Sunday morning. Though 140 soldiers were ordered to help dig the train out (pictured below), emergency workers said they had little hope of saving the third man since the tracks are still covered by about 350,000 cubic feet of snow.

Sakhalin+2[i-Sakhalin+2]
Last week, with the storm bearing down on the island, officials told people not to drive their cars outside the city limits, and they banned ice fishing until the storm had passed. Nevertheless, dozens of cars were buried in snow — in one village, rescuers dug out 56 cars, freeing 74 passengers. Cars that remain stuck are being provided with water, bread and fuel via snowmobile.

Hundreds of passengers have been trapped at the island's airport because of delays, and still more spent the New Year's holiday waiting for train service to resume. Four villages, with a total population of about 2,000, lost power as a result of the storm.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials are saying that freak snowstorms and record low temperatures sweeping northern China are linked to global warming. Right!

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

South_Korea_Snow.sff[i-South_Korea_Snow.sff]
After China, we now get a report from NPR that Seoul residents are battling the heaviest snowfall in modern Korean history after a winter storm dumped more than 10 inches on them today, forcing airports to cancel flights and paralysing traffic in South Korea's bustling capital.

The snowfall, which began about 1 am (1600 GMT Sunday) and continued through the afternoon today (their time), was the worst since Korea began conducting meteorological surveys in 1937, the state weather agency said.

Note ... "the worst since ... 1937". If this is global warming, then God help us if we actually get a cooling cycle.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

Snow+Beijin+1[i-Snow+Beijin+1]It isn't only the UK, Europe in general and the USA which has been hit by accumulations of global warming. Having been hit just before Christmas - the earliest snow in 13 years - the white stuff is back again with a vengeance. this year

China Daily reports that motorways have been closed off, flights delayed and bus services disrupted. An army of 960 workers with 193 snow-clearing vehicles had been working for more than 12 hours to ensure traffic in the city's main roads and 2,175 tons of "snow-thawing agents" had been used on roads.

It is, we are told, the second snowfall in the three-day New Year holiday, and the temperature is set to plummet by 7 to 8 degrees to minus 16°C in the next three days. This will be the lowest since 1980s. And such is the extent of the snow that even the BBC was moved to remark that "Beijing has suffered heavier snowfalls than usual this winter."

Meanwhile, The Times of India is telling its readers: "Climate change far worse than thought before", despite cold weather and dense fog having caused more than 30 deaths in northern India over past 24 hours. Even Delhi is suffering from unusual cold, with dense fog conditions playing havoc, bringing rail and air traffic to a standstill.

One assumes, though, that the multi-million dollar residence at 160 Golf Links has central heating so, once the servants have turned it on, Dr R K Pachauri will not be unduly discomforted.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

British+Council[i-British+Council]John Page over on Purple Scorpion puts the "TERI affair" superbly into context - with WFW picking up the theme as well - noting the sort of crass waste of money recorded here is part of our foreign aid budget, which David Cameron wants to protect.

One should note from this scandalous announcement the insidious role of the British Council. It seems to have become the international cheer-leader for the global warming religion – at the taxpayers' expense – so much so that it dedicates a specific website to the worship of its new gods.

Just how much this institution has deteriorated is illustrated by its choice of personnel. Readers will recall the infamous Dr Viner of the Climatic Research Unit who in 2001 was telling The Independent that within a few years winter snowfall would become "a very rare and exciting event".

Still being eulogised by the BBC a couple of years ago, he has now found a new niche as head of the British Council's climate change programme, with the Orwellian task of indoctrinating "younger generations" in 60 countries with the mantras of the warmist creed.

The amount of money that is being frittered away on these fatuous – if dangerous – programmes is quite staggering. And it is not the first time that TERI has been the beneficiary.

In May last, DFID officials in India were were subjected to a two-day "exposure programme on climate change" organised by TERI, which "sensitized the participants with latest developments on various issues related to climate change with a focus on science, mitigation, adaptation and policy aspects."

Then there has been the long-standing Indian Climate Champions programme, sponsored by the British Council, which started in December 2008. It is jointly managed and implemented by TERI, the British Council and the British High Commission across India and Sri Lanka.

Climate+champions[i-Climate+champions]
This is part of an international effort which has the taxpayer funding German teenagers (pictured top left) to wave "climate justice" banners outside the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, with more teenage activists inside (above) - the British Council all while keeping up its flow of propaganda on its blog, offering us such delights as: "Dr Pachauri has been phenomenal in his role at IPCC and the fourth assessment report of IPCC is the basis for all scientific information on climate change."

Is this really what we pay our taxes for?

Now, with £10 million more of hard-pressed British taxpayers' money about to flow into the coffers of an organisation owned by a multi-millionaire businessman by the name of Dr R K Pachauri, it would be highly germane to question whether David Cameron has all his marbles in place, wanting to protect this funding stream.

PACHAURI THREAD

link[i-link]
Temperatures are expected to plunge to minus 3°C in most of England and Wales on Thursday night, New Year's Eve, and minus 8°C in Scotland, with widespread snow showers also predicted. New Year's Day will also be chilly, with the northern half of Britain struggling to get above freezing during the day.

But don't worry boys and girls. The Met Office is on the case (above). It is "... more likely than not that 2010 will be the warmest year in the instrumental record, beating the previous record year which was 1998." So, turn off that central heating, get out there and enjoy yourselves. This cold is all in your imagination.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

"Global warming to hit Pyrenees resorts," screamed the headline on 18 April 2008. This was a study from Spain's CSIC scientific research agency, which breathlessly declared that ski resorts in the Pyrenees between Spain and France could be badly affected by climate change this century as the warmer weather melts the snows.

Temperatures in the mountain range will increase by between 2.8 and 4.0°C between 2070 and 2100, said one of the "experts" behind the study, Juan Ignacio Lopez Moreno. "Because of global warming, the ski season will begin later and the spring thaw will come up to a month earlier," he said. "What is snow today will be rain tomorrow."

Incredible+snow+1[i-Incredible+snow+1]
By late November, however, a slightly different headline had replaced the doomsaying. "Incredible Snowfall Continues In The Pyrenees," it proclaimed, reporting that top snow depths had now reached two metres (nearly seven feet) on upper slopes at Panticosa with "most resorts now reaching 150cm (five feet) on upper slopes at least."

"There has been two days of continuous snowfall bringing from 30 to 80 cm (12 - 32 inches) of fresh powder in the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian mountains of Northern Spain," said Skiinf's regional manager for the area, Prof Dr Raúl Revuelta Carbajo.

For the Spanish Environment Ministry, though, such inconvenient facts troubled it not. By 25 February 2009 it was happily reporting: "Glaciers in the Spanish Pyrenees Melting Fast" and "Further loss of ice could be catastrophic."

The Pyrenees had lost more than 90 percent of their ice during the 20th Century, and if the current global warming trend continued, the remaining 10 percent of ice could disappear within a couple of decades, said Miguel Frances, coordinator of a new study.

Yes, "last year there was a lot of snow," admitted Frances. "This stabilized the glaciers but they did not grow." He then confidently asserted: "We need 20 winters like this one, which is a one-off."

Incredible+snow+3[i-Incredible+snow+3]
But so much for the "one-off". By 15 December, the headline read: "Spain Hit By 'Siberian Effect'." Spain was in the grip of extreme weather conditions with temperatures of -10°C, snowstorms, and dangerously icy roads in what was being called the "Siberian Effect". Wind, snow and ice had arrived in Spain on the Sunday night and by Monday temperatures had dropped below freezing. Monday 14 December was officially the coldest night of the year.

Ski resorts were amongst those to experience the coldest temperatures. Snow fell at just 400 metres. The roads surrounding the areas had been closed.

And how many more "one-offs" do you think we need before the warmists are a laughing stock?

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

White+Christmas[i-White+Christmas]
From The Independent on 20 March 2000 we got the headline: "Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past". According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

Icy+start[i-Icy+start]
Then, from the Telegraph online today we get: "Snow and ice to hit Britain at New Year."

The mercury is set to drop to 28°F (-3°C) in most of England and Wales on Thursday night, New Year's Eve, and 17°F (-8°C) in Scotland, with widespread snow showers also predicted. New Year's Day will also be chilly, with the northern half of Britain's struggling to get above freezing during the day, while London will do well to reach 39°F (4°C)

The forecast follows a spell of snow, sleet and ice which has gripped Britain for more than a week but relented in most parts over recent days.

It is so good to see in The Independent that the CRU is living up to its justly acquired reputation for accuracy.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

Cold+snap+2[i-Cold+snap+2]
... for the residents of China's Xinjiang province. After blizzards that started on Tuesday, a cold snap brought freezing temperatures and snow to the northwest, spreading to north and central regions, with temperatures plunging to as low as minus 40°C. Today, the average is -30°C.

More than 20,000 people have suffered damage to their homes or economic losses estimated at $1.5 million dollars) in Altay Prefecture in northern Xinjiang. More than 1,300 livestock died and almost 2,000 homes have been damaged while 34 collapsed under the snow. More than 100 vegetable greenhouses and livestock sheds also collapsed. The local government has deployed 57 disaster relief teams.

The international airport in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi was closed earlier this week due to snow, leaving nearly 4,000 passengers stranded. The snow also cut off power and heat supplies in Yining, a city of 430,000 people, overnight from Tuesday.

Meanwhile, we are told, the cold snap - a result of extremely cold air temperatures in western Siberia - is moving south, bringing wind and snow, and would drop temperatures by an average 10°C in the northwestern provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The cold is even expected to hit Peking, with winds of 25 mph adding a severe wind chill.

As far apart as the USA, in Europe and in China, we have extreme cold conditions plus record or near record snowfalls. In the US, for instance, we have reports of a "massive winter" storm moving eastward in a swath from Canada down into Texas. "This is a life-threatening system and any travel from tonight through Saturday will be treacherous, if not nearly impossible in many areas," says the National Weather Service.

And they reckon there's global warming? They are out of their tiny frigging minds.

(Pic: Plant deployed to clear away the heavy snow on the main highway of Fuyun County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.)

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

weather+forecast[i-weather+forecast]
The Met Office has really excelled itself today - see forecast above. Heavy snow overnight and now snowing heavily again - the heaviest I recall since the 60s and unprecedented for Christmas eve. Traffic at a standstill, and side streets socked in. Bitterly cold, no wind and low, overcast sky.

Pretty grim for many travellers, with a distinct North-South split.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

Wibsey+002[i-Wibsey+002]
I should have saved the local Met Office forecast because, as I recall, the weather was going to turn yesterday and we were going to have rain clearing away the snow. As it is, after a cold, crisp day, we had the longest period of sustained snowfall we have so far had in this cycle (pics above and below). Unless the weather does turn, in Yorkshire we are set to have the first white Christmas in living memory.

And, apart from the travel chaos, which has caused untold misery and disruption, we saw yesterday a possible sign of things to come when The Daily Telegraph reported on how the snow and freezing temperatures have meant that the Brussels sprout harvest has had to abandoned in parts of Norfolk, Lincolnshire and much of the south east of England.

Wibsey+001[i-Wibsey+001]
This is also picked up by the Farmers Guardian which has Phillip Effingham, chairman of the British Brassica Growers' Association, telling us: "The last time we had snow like this in the week running up to Christmas was in the mid-1980s "

"We've ground to a halt in Lincolnshire," he says. "It's been impossible to get any mechanical picking done. I think there over the next few days shoppers will notice a real shortage of loose sprouts."

Without mechanical pickers, however, TJ Clements, one of the country’s biggest sprout growers, has had to draft in hundreds of extras workers to pick the harvest. The grower said 10 percent of the crop may have to be destroyed.

This is small beer compared with what more severe weather could do, but it is a timely reminder of the vulnerability of agriculture to cold weather.

Wibsey+003[i-Wibsey+003]
Needless to say, there are no strident calls from the warmists, telling us to prepare for the coming cooling, but as we noted only recently, with just a few severe winters we could be in serious trouble. Nothing less than the security of the global food supply is at stake.

According to those self-same warmists, of course, this is not supposed to happen. Food shortages they will predict – but only arising from warming. But the cold is a much more deadly enemy, and it looks as if nature could be about to remind us of that fact.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

snow-closes[i-snow-closes]
How much of this lack of preparedness, one wonders, is due to the false signals given by the Met Office to the airport authorities about global warming – thus lulling them into a false sense of security about the need to equip properly and develop appropriate systems? With the Met Office only recently forecasting a mild winter, is it surprising that the airlines and airports have been caught out?

If you look at the picture, the plant you see is a standard bucket loader - the sort of kit you will see on many construction sites. It is not dedicated snow clearance equipment. The bucket loader is slow, inefficient and can cause considerable damage to runway and taxi-way fittings. Pressing this sort of kit into service shrieks that the snow-clearance operation is being run on a shoe-string - as you would if you were only expecting mild weather.

And the Met Office is not getting any better at it. Forecasters, we are told, fear that their original prediction of one or two inches of snow on Monday may have been an underestimate, and gave warning that much of the South East may see more than four inches. Temperatures were expected to drop to as low as 21F (-6C) in some parts of the country overnight, the Met Office said.

And they want us to believe they can forecast ahead to 2020 and beyond?

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

snow+wash[i-snow+wash]
A blizzard-like storm rocked the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern US states yesterday, crippling travel across the region and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, reports The Times.

Five deaths appeared to have been caused by the storm system, which stretched from the Carolinas north to New England and also spread into some Midwestern states. The 16 inches (40cm) of snow that fell at Reagan National Airport outside Washington was the most ever recorded for a single December day, and 16 inches (40cm) had also fallen in Philadelphia.

The National Guard used Humvees to rescue stranded motorists in Virginia and some 500 people sought warmth and refuge in emergency shelters. Nearly two feet (60cm) of snow fell in some areas, and the US capital was under a blizzard warning.

CLIMATE CHANGE – NEW THREAD

winterstorm1[i-winterstorm1]
A major winter storm was moving up the Atlantic Coast on Friday night, with forecasters expecting accumulations of one to two feet of snow in some areas by Saturday night, reports the New York Times.

Winter storm warnings were in effect from Tennessee and North Carolina to the southern New England states, and the storm was expected to affect Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities. A blizzard warning was in effect for Long Island. The National Weather Service said travel conditions in those areas would be "extremely treacherous" by Saturday morning.

White+house[i-White+house]
In Washington, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty declared a snow emergency, effective at 7 am. Saturday. "All indications are this will be a major storm — perhaps the biggest we've seen in several years," he said in a news release, "and we are going to throw everything we have at it to keep the District open for business on this busy preholiday weekend."

The pictures above show president Obama's personal jet after his return from the global warming summit in Copenhagen, and the scene at his detached house in Washington DC. Kinda appropriate.

CLIMATEGATE THREAD

Pier+reviewed[i-Pier+reviewed]
The scene at Brighton, on the south coast ... with much more Mann-made global warming snow forecast.  But this is not any ordinary snowman ... it's a pier reviewed snowman.  Gotta be good!

Meanwhile, the slugfest goes on. Obama has been strutting his stuff at Copenhagen airport, with a carbon footprint the size of an er ... Boeing 747. Interestingly, the current press photos are all close shots, so you can barely see the snow in the background. National Review is calling the whole thing a "tree-ring circus". Why didn't I think of that?

CLIMATEGATE THREAD

Russian+dolls[i-Russian+dolls]
Listening to the Zambian environment minister at the Copenhagen slugfest talking to John Snow on Channel 4 News yesterday evening brought it home just how great the divide has become.

The lady could scarce bring herself to answer any questions, launching into a tirade at every opportunity about "climate justice" and about how the "rich countries" must be made to pay for the damage caused by their "overconsumption". It comes as no surprise, therefore, to see in the South African Times Live these sentiments:

Though there is a solid scientific consensus that human induced (anthropogenic) climate change is a real threat, there remains an inordinately influential and powerful lobby group that has thrown massive resources into undermining this consensus.

The "Climategate" nonsense is a sideshow that has used out-of-context and selective quotes from hacked e-mails to create the illusion of a conspiracy. Climategate proves only one thing: that those opposed to a deal are well funded and dogmatically unscientific.

More important, Climategate clearly highlights what author and analyst Naomi Klein has called a class war. In an interview during the summit, she said: "This conversation that has started here [is] about the real face of environmentalism, as a class war that is being waged by the rich against the poor."

That is the beast naked in tooth and claw. "Global warming" has become the totemic issue, the cause over which the "white man" can be brought to "justice" and atone for his sins. That these representatives of the developing countries believe in global warming is because they want to believe it – not for what it is, but for what it represents.

This is very much what I was alluding to in my earlier piece about former colonial nations seeking to exploit (not that they would use that word) the "white guilt" – a guilt that many lefties would acknowledge and fight to expiate.

This psychological driver is an important dynamic in the whole climate change "debate" as it transcends the science, which becomes wholly irrelevant. That the planet is warming up and "whitey" did it is an article of faith, thus explaining the easy dismissal of the Climategate "nonsense". Nothing, but nothing, is going to change that mindset.

Nevertheless, the cold blast of reality – along with the snow – is forcing its way into the Bella Centre. The negotiations have stalled and there is serious talk of delaying a decision for six months, rather than agree to a hasty fudge that will please no one.

The plan then is to bring forward the Mexico City summit to the summer, several months ahead of schedule, in the hope then that a deal could be reached. This is certainly the preferred option for Achim Steiner, head of UNEP, who says that, "A meaningless deal in Copenhagen cannot be in anyone's interests because it locks us into another decade of inadequate action and co-operation."

If time runs out there is always the option of stopping the clock and reconvening to get it right, he says, but adds that: " ... the risk is that that the momentum that is so characteristic of these 10 days in Copenhagen might be lost and then the world will struggle to take this further in the next six to 12 months."

That, however, is indeed the hope, one which may well come to pass as the implications of Climategate bed in and further details are revealed, as we have seen yesterday with the report on the use of the Russian data.

In truth, the leaked e-mails and documents came too late to influence Copenhagen – especially with the media so determined to bury its head in the sand – but the genie is truly out of the bottle and it is now going to be very difficult to ignore.

Now we might be in with a chance, with another six months to expose the obvious fraud behind what passes for science, and turn sentiment against a new treaty, in the knowledge that there are clear signs that the tide is already turning.

Not least, the likelihood is that we will have a hard winter behind us, with more of the population less inclined to believe the doomsayers when they have spent many of the preceding months digging themselves out of layers of that white stuff which was supposed to have become a folk memory.

But that brings as back to the Zambian environment minister and the South African sentiment, reflected in developing (i.e, former colonial) countries all over the world. Global warming is not about science – it is an article of faith and it does represent the political fault-line between developing nations and the West. No amount of debunking of the flawed science is going to change that.

It could well be, therefore, that views are too entrenched, easily to turn round the juggernaut. Even without the iconic global warming, the perception of the "class war that is being waged by the rich against the poor" will remain. The "class warriors" are not going to give up that fight just because the "white man" says the planet is no longer warming.

This presents an intriguing if not alarming conundrum. Global warming advocates have released their own, rather more powerful genie and that too is going to be hard to put back in its bottle. We might win the scientific argument – at least in the Western media. But that means nothing if the real fight is the "class war" – or economic war, as I would have it.

Add to that the central fact that there is so much money at stake in carbon trading and allied enterprises, and it is obvious that the financial beneficiaries are not going to give up without a fight. And then from a UK perspective, in six month's time we could have a new prime minister, who could prove as dogmatic and closed-minded as his predecessor.

Nevertheless, if a week is a long time in politics, six months is an eternity and who would have thought in early October that things could have changed as much as they have. As we pull apart the Russian dolls to find the last one empty, we might at least be able to redefine the battle and recognise it for what it is.

That would be a start – its own form of justice.

CLIMATEGATE THREAD