Inspired by the true story that captured the hearts of people across the world, the rescue adventure Big Miracle tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and an animal-loving volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic. … With time running out, Rachel and Adam must rally an unlikely coalition of Inuit natives, oil companies and Russian and American military to set aside their differences and free the whales. As the world’s attention turns to the top of the globe, saving these endangered animals becomes a shared cause for nations entrenched against one another and leads to a momentary thaw in the Cold War.
(Circle.http://www.everybodyloveswhales.com/story.php)

As the American Spectator put it:

I saw a preview for this on Saturday.  My first thought at the image of three whales hopelessly trapped in the ice pack was that global warming must is now be passé in Hollywood.

(http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/01/the_unofficial_end_of_global_warming.html#ixzz1kMrUsFGU

Continue reading →

In the real sense, Scotland has never been a nation. It was always a country of several parts: Gaelic Speaking Highlands and Western Isles, Norse Orkney, Shetland and much of the NE, English/Northumbrian speaking SE.
So, I’m not one of these romantics who think that the “Scots” (the name of an Irish group who took over Pictland in much the same way the Normans took over England) have a inalienable right to “Pictland”.
But, having lived in Scotland most of my life … but also having lived in England and particularly around London, I can see how much of the wealth of the UK has been stolen by the SE. It comes down to something very simple: a minister in London, asks a civil servant to do something. That civil servant then ask their (London) contacts which firm could help and that civil servant then goes to the firm best suited to them in London. Continue reading →

It really should be “Happy NewYear”, but no! As I’m still recovering from a bad cough which left me in bed after Xmas I come back to read the comments and someone is complaining that someone else is calling them something that someone would rather that someone else would not call them.
And eventually searching for “lying murdering piece of filth scottish sceptic”, I find something that might be the offending comments. At which point I begin to wonder whether the comments are accurate. Which leads me to think of all the reasons one could justify such comments … which I quickly realise is a ridiculous line of argument as grown men really shouldn’t need to resort to such STUPID name calling.
It really does seem to be common on the internet to find such “flaming”. The lack of personal interaction may be the reason: we can’t see the other side getting more and more irate …. or perhaps it is that we know they are getting irate, but we also feel “safe” behind the protective anonymity of the internet and physical separation.
Unfortunately … or perhaps fortunately for the pair involved, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way on wordpress to penalise/premoderate individuals … except put everyone on pre-moderation.
… And just now on the radio I hear the headline about the man who was stabbed in Perth, which just makes me glad that I’m not trying to arbitrate this dispute in the real world where the outcome of escalating abusive comments could be far worse.
So, all I can say is Happy New Year to one and all!

Champagne is entering a third great phase of sales success according to Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger.
Pierre-Emmanuel also spoke of the positive benefits from climate change on Champagne production when addressing those at the masterclass, which was held in London’s Vintner’s Hall, and organised by the Institute of Masters of Wine.
“The last 10 years have been excellent due to the global warming,” he said, referring to the Champagne harvests.
In fact, such has been the quality of the grapes, he added that Champagne’s non-vintage category should be classed as multi-vintage.
Read the entire article here

I would like to float an idea. It is only an idea, as I have not thought out the full ramifications – just looking for comments.
We are constantly seeing government paid alarmists denying their obligation under FOI law to disclose relevant information. Given the limited budget of sceptics, there is only so much action under the law we can do – and what action has been taken has been costly and very very slow, without any results as yet. But when people bravely attempts to force compliance with the law by releasing those FOI emails as is required, we see this being ruthlessly & I think illegally squashed by the police.
Sceptics need to find a way to highlight the illegal actions of government employees. We also need a way to stop people believing we are oil funded groups … or if some are, to show that that funding is very limited compared to the massive funding of the alarmists.
So, I have been considering whether it might be possible to set up a system for voluntary compliance to the FOI act for voluntary groups like us sceptics. Continue reading →

Following some comments on WUWT about the “+1” scheme to boost ratings, I first joined the scheme, then decided to do it the old fashioned way and click on the WUWT link when searching for “global warming”.
So, imagine my surprise when I found WUWT on …

PAGE 35 Continue reading →

The government have announced a review of feed in tariffs for solar PV. According to their website the review will consider all aspects of the scheme including:

• tariff levels
• degression rates and methods
• eligible technologies
• arrangements for exports
• administrative and regulatory arrangements
• interaction with other policies
• accreditation and certification issues 

We have decided to separate the review into two phases. Phase 1 will consider:

• small-scale solar PV (with a total installed capacity of 250 kilowatts or less) Continue reading →

For those who did not know Roger Helmer, he was an MEP whose efforts confronting the exaggerated claims of CO2 were an inspiration to people like me.
So, I was literally shocked to hear he was leaving the European Parliament. My first thought was that something terrible might of happened, so I hope all is well.
Through his regular emailings, he has been inspiration to those who seek common sense on the climate and a lantern in the dark days when we were being likened to holocaust deniers. He not only inspired, he also responded to numerous of my emails, I only wish I had had the chance to meet him.
I hope he appreciate that not only the sceptic community but everyone has much to thank him (even if they don’t know it yet) and we very much appreciate his hard work in this area. The consolation, is that he does go out on a high, because as Hansen admitted in the independent, we sceptics are winning; a considerable part of that success comes down to people like him who stood their ground and refused to toe the line in those dark days.
Well done and thanks for all the hard work!