James Delingpole keeps needling me about climate change. Can’t I see that it’s the biggest swindle of our era? Aren’t I bothered about being ruled by a global eco-technocracy? Haven’t the leaked emails put the issue beyond all doubt?
James has certainly had a spectacular couple of weeks. I’ve argued many times before that the Internet pulverises media monopolies, and James’s blog neatly proves the thesis. A story that was ignored by most environment correspondents blew up online until, grudgingly, the MSM were forced to limp along behind.
Oddly enough, though, I don’t believe that “warmergate” has altered things very much. I always assumed that some of the research on both sides was likely to be results-driven. It could hardly be otherwise, human nature being what it is. We all tend, unconsciously, to press new data into our existing Weltanschauung. There’s a fancy phrase for it (fancier even than Weltanschauung): “cognitive dissonance”. Scientists don’t stop being human beings when they enter their research centres. You would expect those whose grants depend on the Kyoto apparatus to have a different take on climate change from those who are funded by energy companies. Not always; but sometimes.