tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63288228677488900692024-02-19T05:55:26.516+00:00Heretics CornerThe unfinished thoughts of Hengist McStonehengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-40134232715376058182016-06-04T20:54:00.000+01:002016-06-04T21:22:19.516+01:00The Death of Harambe Doesn't Add Up'It was the right decision' says zoo director Thane Maynard when talking about why Harambe the gorilla was shot.<br />
<br />
That moves the conversation way past 'were gonna have a full enquiry into how this child got into the enclosure in the first place', or 'did zookeepers enter the enclosure in the ten minutes the child was in there with the gorilla?' Neither of which are questions being asked.<br />
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But watch the video of the press conference and at 22:45 Maynard admits the child was unhurt.<br />
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He was in there for ten minutes, with a silverback gorilla, he had fallen 15 foot and he was unhurt. So the framing of concerns as misanthropy or animal rights blathering is nonsense. Maynard also tells us 'gorillas are dangerous animals' and 'it was not a gentle thing' and 'this was a life threatening situation' . Yes yes but there is a difference between play and being mauled by a gorilla. If that gorilla had intended to maul the boy he wouldn't have lasted ten minutes , and he certainly wouldn't be unhurt.<br />
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I don't know if it was right to shoot the gorilla, but I certainly don't think it's a conclusion that can be instantly jumped to. The zoo is at least partly to blame here. Zoos are supposed to be childproof. Lessons need to be learned, I dont hear that coming from this particular zoo director.hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-55103914551655499262016-06-04T20:31:00.001+01:002016-06-04T20:31:46.081+01:00Nomination for Pseuds Corner<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/27/glasses-gallery-art-nguyen-khayatan">This by Jonathan Jones in the Grauniad </a>has to be nominated for Pseuds Corner in Private Eye
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can barely read it myself through the tears when I think of the enormity of this artistic masterpiece.
For this is the ultimate work of art. By that I mean the terminal one. It is the necessary end of an artistic evolution that started 30,000 years ago when ice-age artists painted animals in Chauvet cave. They had no spectacles, of course. That is why the horses they painted in Chauvet are all blurred together.</span></blockquote>
hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-91372496796671257222015-06-22T10:03:00.000+01:002015-06-22T10:05:00.735+01:00Stonehenge Festival 2015 . It Happened .Buried in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-33215047">this BBC report</a> about the Summer Solstice are the words "The festival, which dates back thousands of years, celebrates the longest day of the year when the sun is at its maximum elevation and usually has a real party atmosphere."
It's really significant because the BBC is the mouthpiece of the British Government and during Prohibition of Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge that line varied considerably. Read <a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2015/06/21/stonehenge-and-the-summer-solstice-30-years-after-the-battle-of-the-beanfield/">Andy Worthington</a> to see what I mean.
'Festival' was a kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics">dog whistle</a> for the Chief Constable of Wiltshire, a coded message if you will. The Druid's chief negotiator Rollo Maughflynn sometimes called it the F word. Police contacts said that so long as the word 'festival' appeared in any countercultural literature in reference to any forthcoming solstice - emergency powers would be applied. Those emergency powers were a breach of human rights.
How that deadlock was broken, and my very small part in it is a story for another day. But to seasoned stonehenge watchers the fact that the BBC now issues a positive retrospective can only be good.
hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-60766768851172723672014-07-08T22:02:00.001+01:002014-07-08T22:02:24.478+01:00The drip feed of cycnicism in the Westminster child abuse scandal.I had a JFK moment this morning. Like when Ruby shot Oswald kind of way - a realization that even when everything changes everything stays the same.<br />
<br />
But first : The jailing of Rolf Harris represents a cultural watershed. Most people alive in Britain today were entertained by him as kids, and as adults too. He was hip well into his seventies playing Glasters and painting the Queen, now he is a guest at Her Majesty's Pleasure. Coming to terms that Rolf was a kiddie fiddler all along is tough, like a
catholic learning that the Pope wears women's underwear or that Paddington Bear is a mule for a Peruvian drugs gang. But over the past few days this has been overshadowed by the development that not just slebs but Westminster grandees allegedly were paedophiles too.<br />
<br />
So this JFK moment was when I heard an MP say on the radio that the Westminster Child Abuse Inquiry will amount to nothing because Dickens was never taken seriously by other MPs so whatever is in the lost Dickens dossier "wont stand up in court". End of story. I realised then that 'lower your expectations' will be a strong part of the narrative drip feed in this.<br />
<br />
Even if they do find it whatever is in the Dickens dossier doesn't rest on Dickens character since he is dead. But this was a Member of Parliament deriding Dickens, a legislator underming the courts. And because it is his house that suspicion falls upon surely any comment at all from an MP at this time would be inappropriate. It is all so indicative of sinister manouverings behind the scenes.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I should leave it there. But noone reads this blog so here with more cynicism than sense I wonder how this might play out. The Inquiry will find no evidence, because it 's all been destroyed. Then one friday morning Danczuk will be found swinging from Blackfriars Bridge. The coroner's verdict will be suicide. Most people will either accept that and move on, a minority will not care why that is even relevant and move on. And a small number of people will remain deeply suspicious. But they will be the same sort of people who never believed Oswald shot JFK on his own .hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-35866653032912736462013-04-29T23:56:00.001+01:002013-04-29T23:56:49.052+01:00Why can't we have climate truthers and 911 skeptics?What idiot coined the moniker '911 truth movement'? The name suggests truth is a known thing to communicate to the wider world. That seems to go a little too far to me. The key message of the so-called 911 truth movement ought to be that we don't know the truth, and never will, that the truth has been suppressed. And that what we think is the truth, the findings of the 911 Commission, is far from the unchallengeable certainty touted by the MSM. The common thread of so-called 911 truth is skepticism of The Official Story.<br />
<br />
On the other hand running through the heart of climate skepticism is the belief that truth about climate science has been suppressed, that the wider disinterested public is being misled. I know they don't like to be called deniers so how would our climate skeptic friends feel with the label Climate Truthers?<br />
<br />
It's a point I've been meaning to make for some time, and was spurred on by watching this excellent documentary about the scientist Steven E. Jones who has published peer reviewed work strongly suggesting the twin towers were brought down by explosions. Now theres a hell of a crossover between science and politics in his field. Science. It's like a candle in the dark. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0ULJ70LzTNc" width="560"></iframe>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-4079651807153512772013-03-01T19:58:00.001+00:002013-03-01T19:58:31.745+00:00Blogosphere Latest - They had weather in the 1970s<br />
To you and me the 1970s were all about bell bottomed pants and platform shoes. But to our climate skeptic friends the 70s meant something else altogether: climate predictions of an ice-age. To illustrate the point <a href="http://www.populartechnology.net/2013/02/the-1970s-global-cooling-alarmism.html" rel="nofollow">Popular Technology.net</a> uses a 1977 cover of Time Magazine headlined "The Big Freeze" whilst listing an impressive 60 climate ice-age predictions. The post is <a href="http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2013/3/1/1970s-global-cooling-alarmism.html" rel="nofollow">echoing</a> round the skeptic blog-o-sphere already .<br />
<br />
Whooops<a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601770131,00.html"> that particular</a> 1970s cover was about the winter weather not the climate.<br />
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<br />hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-17996184780269752142013-01-28T21:48:00.001+00:002013-01-28T22:20:25.134+00:00On CorruptionHere's a strange boast. As I write this I am the informant in a police corruption investigation. It's not a comfortable position I can assure you, every time I have brought the corruption to the attention of the police I have made a note of who I have spoken to. On a couple of occasions the cops who I made the allegations to turned out to be corrupt themselves - playing a dual role, it is only to be expected of course. Once the police switchboard operator asked "can we phone you back? " Instinctively I answered no absolutely not. I have raised the matter a total of six times since November when I first answered bail.<br />
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It's very unlikely to go anywhere. Only the police can investigate a thing like this, and they have a habit of closing ranks. When I first raised the issue with the police (see <a href="http://muchachoverde.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-cop-with-very-poor-memory.html">previous blogpost</a>) I forgot to mention the sergeant who was handling me bounded out of the door a second time with all the bumf for escalating the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, I figure I have played my hand well by not taking that poisoned chalice. Police corruption is not the only plank in my defence, it addresses the motivations of the police force's interest in me. I am able to blog about this now because I learned last week that their investigation into me has concluded with No Further Action.<br />
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You might wonder why being the informant in a police corruption investigation is so uncomfortable. Well, let's just say one doesn't know how deep it goes, and it's impossible to manouver into this position without learning things you really don't want to know and if it all goes pear shaped they could harass me for wasting police time, I suppose.<br />
<br />
What has all this got to do with anything? We live in a corrupt paranoid society, we mostly collude with it all too. It's everywhere goddammit. Here's two examples brought to my attention just now. One is<a href="http://www.thelawyer.com/accused-silk-points-finger-at-39-essex-street-over-vat-fraud-charge/1016679.article"> about a corrupt lawyer</a>, and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/us/selling-a-new-generation-on-guns.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&smid=tw-share">other from the New York Times</a> is about the corruption of youth, in the context of the second amendment, no less. <br />
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I can offer no tips on how to fire your lawyer or how to tell the police they are corrupt. But the New York Times article may yet inspire me to write a blogpost entitled 'How to make a very comfortable living through astroturfing without really trying'.hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-52057385493190356512013-01-24T17:37:00.000+00:002013-01-26T17:58:35.519+00:00A cop with a very poor memoryFrom my forthcoming memoirs: The Peculiar Mid-Life Crisis of Hengist McStone<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
<br />
My<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> grand</span>mother always told me first impressions
count . So here I record my first impressions of Malcolm Wheeler.<br />
<br />
MW : I'm Detective Sergeant Malcolm Wheeler.<br />
<br />
I was familiar with the name. A month earlier I had made a Data Protection Act
enquiry to the County Council and a Detective Sergeant Malcolm Wheeler (Thames
Valley Police) appeared inexplicably to take part in a meeting as far back as
January, why this man was pursuing me was a mystery. I was answering bail, it was November 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> 2012 and Malcolm
Wheeler had chosen to come out of the shadows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Me : Could you tell me how long you've been involved in your
investigation?<br />
<br />
Malcolm Wheeler couldn't. I
pressed the point and this is the answer I got.<br />
<br />
MW : Since instigation <br />
<br />
Me : And when was that?<br />
<br />
MW : Can't remember.<br />
<br />
Me : You don’t have a very good memory for a policeman do you.<br />
<br />
MW: I deal with a lot of cases. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
Malcolm Wheeler got up and left the room to consult the file, he returned with
his assistant Rebecca Spall, whom it should be noted is not a police officer
she is a “Designated Investigator” basically a private detective employed by
the Police.* I had asked to see her warrant moments before and she did not
carry one. Malcolm Wheeler leafed through a thick file which he didn’t show me,
he pointed to something on a page.<br />
<br />
MW : “There 14th June . Referral from Social Services”<br />
<br />
Me : You're lying <br />
<br />
'This is a corrupt police operation and you are a corrupt policeman' I
told him. Malcolm Wheeler didn't ask why I could be so sure and made no attempt
to clear up any misunderstanding. Malcolm Wheeler smirked and
pointed out that because he is a sergeant I would have to complain to the
Divisional Inspector who isn't in the building, he is in High Wycombe today. Or
to his boss. Offering his bosses card with her mobile phone number on it he
asked me which would I prefer. You ask too many questions Mr Wheeler, I replied.
<br />
<br />
Back in reception I made it clear I wanted to lodge the information before I
left the building. Out of a door on the other side of the room came Thames
Valley's finest. Now whatever your views on the
police you have to have respect for a black woman police sergeant. She was very
helpful and played it straight. I told her I had a long list of complaints,
including one against the custody sergeant at 9 am on the day they arrested me
so I could be complaining against her 'I'm not a custody sergeant' she said. I
told her what Detective Sergeant Malcolm Wheeler was saying and faltered 'Im
saying he's lying, now is that worth writing down ?' Immediately she said yes, It
was a moment to leave all other complaints to one side and I followed her
instruction to use the phone in reception and I would be given the URN number. <br />
<br />
So it's been recorded by Thames Valley police that Detective Sergeant Malcolm
Wheeler is lying. I wonder how they will respond.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* A quick google suggests “Designated Investigators” may be peculiar to Thames
Valley Police. Be particularly alert to cops employing private detectives in
Thames Valley.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-43460006001005017832013-01-19T20:26:00.000+00:002013-01-26T17:59:04.212+00:00Aylesbury Justice Part IFrom my forthcoming memoir, "The Peculiar Mid-Life Crisis of Hengist McStone"<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the churchyard of Saint Mary’s Denham, behind the vestry
is a recumbent gravestone for the Marshall family. Buried beneath it are Emanuel
Marshall and six others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Passage of time has weathered the slab but a helpful plaque
is maintained by somebody, it reproduces the odd words on the grave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">BENEATH THIS STONE LAY THE REMAINS OF EMANUEL MARSHALL, AND
CHARLOTTE, HIS WIFE, ALSO MARY ANNE, HIS SISTER, AND MARY, THIRZA AND GERTRUDE,
HIS CHILDREN. WHO TOGETHER WITH HIS MOTHER MARY MARSHALL, WERE ALL BARBAROUSLY
MURDERED ON SUNDAY MORNING MAY22nd 1870 BY JOHN OWENS, A TRAVELLING BLACKSMITH,
WHO WAS EXECUTED IN THE COUNTY GAOL AT AYLESBURY AUGUST 8<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> 1870<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We learn more about the murderer than about the poor
souls interred there. In my mind it raises doubts. With all those heavy tools I’d
have thought a blacksmith wouldn’t travel to find work. They were barbarously murdered, but is there
any other kind? Anyhow John Owens was hanged , seventy-eight days later, not
much time for a judicial decision on a capital crime back in those days. </span></div>
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hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-20205532237939216882013-01-12T19:44:00.002+00:002013-01-12T19:44:33.051+00:00The never ending War on Science at The AustralianWhen the mood takes me I like to add links to Skeptical Science's Global Warming Links Directory. I only ever add skeptic links, that's because I'm not sure that I'm scientifically literate enough to spot a bias in pro-AGW material. So I read a lot of skeptic material, which I have to say I'm largely sceptical of myself. Now here's some words from the<a href="http://www.thegwpf.org/climate-revisions-validate-sceptics/" rel="nofollow"> GWPF website</a> that just caught my eye "Even with the impact of climate change on extreme weather, the best
advice is it will be several decades before science is able to unpack
the impact of climate change from natural variability."<br />
<br />
I filed that under 'It's natural variability', but perhaps I should have added a new skeptic argument to reflect the way natural variability has been couched in an uncertainty argument over time. I'd like to ask the author Graham Lloyd of The Australian why his is the best advice.<br />
<br />
Lloyd isn't denying AGW but I wonder whether never ending nuanced scepticism from journalists is worse.hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-66147186576828722712012-11-04T10:40:00.001+00:002012-11-04T11:19:54.894+00:00Another made up fact from anti-windfarm activists<br />
UKIP climate advisor Ben Pile (<a href="http://muchachoverde.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ben-pile-qualified-pundit-or-bullshit.html">science qualifications nil</a>) tries his hand at propaganda filmmaking* to loud applause from the climate *skeptic* blogosphere. But skepticism was put on hold when this howler made it through editing:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We could see a change in surfing here as a result of this proposed development it just fills me with horror. There are some people who are going to be affected directly by the construction of these turbines out there which will lead to a reduction in the amount of energy so there'll be certain beaches mostly on the South Wales side that will actually start to notice a change in the impact in the size of waves that they're getting I believe."(14:30)</blockquote>
<br />
I've <a href="https://twitter.com/hengistmcstone/status/264120319541911552">tweeted </a>Ben a couple <a href="https://twitter.com/hengistmcstone/status/264381404132044801">of times</a> asking to see the science to back that claim up, but no answer. So let's see what surfing activist group (yup there are active surfers) <a href="http://www.sas.org.uk/campaigns/protect-our-waves/the-atlantic-array/">Surfers Against Sewage</a> say "To date, there is no evidence that offshore wind farms interfere with the size or shape of waves used for surfing."<br />
<br />
My comment pointing this out on the film's website hasn't made it through Ben's moderation. So much for debate and supporting assertions with facts. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Lost Horizons it's <a href="http://www.losthorizons.org/watch-the-film/" rel="nofollow">here</a> it's 30 mins long and it's rubbish.</span><br />
<br />hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-89300027629616114102012-09-25T21:19:00.002+01:002012-09-25T21:23:33.899+01:00Is Anthony Watts airbrushing his past ? <br />
Watching Anthony Watts on PBS Newshour I was struck by how reasonable Anthony appeared. He stressed at least three times how he agreed Global Warming exists, and his account of his past was shall we say surprising. Anthony mentions James Hansen's testimony to Congress in '88 and claims that he was motivated by it. So the viewer could be forgiven for thinking that Anthony has taken a measured path from AGW proponent to skeptic over the years.<br />
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But surely theres something missing. What about Anthony's denial of global warming? He seems to be airbrushing that out of the record. I tried to post a message on the <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/22/open-thread-weekend-13/" rel="nofollow">open thread</a> on his blog asking how he got from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Leipzig_Declaration_on_Global_Climate_Change">Leipzig Declaration </a>signatory to his current oh-so-reasonable stance. It hasn't made it through moderation.<br />
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Ironic how climate denial blogs claim their view is being suppressed yet are quick to censor any dissent or probing questions. <br />
<br />
IMHO it's a worthwhile question. Conceding the world is warming but taking the stance that warming is insignificant is much more nuanced than his flat denial of the consensus back in 1995. We need to know whose judgment to trust and it seems Anthony can't account for his earlier stance. How can we take Anthony Watts seriously now ?hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-54185641023241453392012-09-06T23:48:00.000+01:002012-09-25T20:16:34.626+01:00Lewandowsky's Conspiracy Paper : Im the Outlier I'm normally a big fan of Prof Stephan Lewandowsky's work, but this time I'm not so sure. Lewandowsky's conclusion is roughly that people who don't accept the scientific consensus on climate change are more likely to accept modern day conspiracy theories like the moon landing was a hoax.<br />
<br />
The argument goes climate deniers also support conspiracy theories which are all obviously wingnut fodder and so their climate denial can be dismissed too. But it relies on these conspiracy theories to
actually be wingnut fodder. And in my head there's still room for my cherished skeptical view of the Warren Commission report and support of the scientific consensus on climate change. <br />
<br />
So for the record here's my thoughts on three conspiracy theories. <br />
<br />
If the Apollo moon landing were a hoax, why didn't the Russians who were tracking Apollo by radar and at the height of the cold war call it out?<br />
<br />
But I simply don't buy the lone gunman theory, did you know Richard Nixon
was in Dallas November 22nd 1963 ? That has to be suspicious.<br />
<br />
I've got an interesting angle on Roswell too. There was no UFO crash , but the authorities conspired to make it look like a UFO crash to mitigate loss of business from the closure of the military base. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> An Alien at Roswell. Good for Business</span></span> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Ok Ive not bothered to search for evidence for that one, and perhaps for
'authorities' you could read 'conspiracy theorists' themselves . But
it's no bad thing that conspiracy theorists challenge everybody else's
view, and for that they really don't deserve the bad press . Perhaps
today's conspiracy theorist is tomorrow's Revisionist Historian. So let's stop comparing climate deniers to conspiracy theorists , it's not fair on conspiracy theorists.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Update: </h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Apparently this is what the McDonalds in Roswell looks like. I rest my case. (h/t <a href="http://blogs.gonomad.com/wake-and-wander/2011/12/15/road-trip-texas-preview-and-a-glimpse-of-roswell/">Wake and Wander</a> )<br />
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hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-75279358010156129502012-08-12T18:51:00.001+01:002012-08-13T14:03:59.059+01:00Climate *skeptics* don't doubt CO2 is a greenhouse gas, except when they doI'm not welcome at Bishop Hill so when Andrew Montford posts some nonsense (which is pretty frequent) I have to note my corrections here.<br />
<br />
Today Monty<a href="http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2012/8/11/moore-realist.html" rel="nofollow"> posts a bit of a cosy chat </a>with Canadian industry frontman and faux environmentalist <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Patrick_Moore">Patrick Moore</a>. Moore begins thus : "What most people don't realize, partly because the media never explains it, is that there is no dispute over whether CO2 is a greenhouse gas, and all else being equal would result in a warming of the climate."<br />
<br />
Really? I'm always a tad suspicious of anyone beginning their argument with 'this is what it's not about'.<br />
<br />
Over on the right hand side of Monty's blog are the links to what Monty optimistically calls 'Science Blogs' . They include <a href="http://www.greenworldtrust.org.uk/Science/Curious.htm#CO2" rel="nofollow">Lucy Skywalker</a> author of an essay called "The lynching of innocent CO2" and peddles the old CO2 lags warming line. Or there's a link to the unfortunately titled No Tricks Zone which<a href="http://notrickszone.com/category/co2-and-ghg/" rel="nofollow"> lists all these posts</a> on CO2 and GHG so they don't miss a trick. Or there's<a href="http://climaterealists.com/index.php/www.icecap.us/images/uploads/forum/forum/?action=report&uid=2476&id=5932" rel="nofollow"> a link to the absurdly self important Climate Realists</a>
hosting John O'Sullivans claptrap such as "Solar Ovens Prove Greenhouse
Gas Theory is cooked " Oh puuuhleeeeeeez, is any further explanation necessary? No.<br />
<br />
<br />
Odd how skepticism of CO2 being a greenhouse gas is so easy to find amongst *skeptics* also telling us that's not in dispute. File it under the inconsistency of climate change denial.<br />
<br />
<br />
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Anthony Watts <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/29/press-release-2/" rel="nofollow">has more to say</a> about the siting of weather stations.<br />
I think a graphic comment is in order .<br />
<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-11148120731511451802012-07-23T23:33:00.000+01:002012-07-24T10:01:20.889+01:00Climate *Skeptics* Shift Their GroundThe term climate skeptic leaves a hell of a lot of room for manouver. It could mean you're skeptical of the policies or the science, or that global warming is bad or of the anthropogenic bit.<br />
<br />
Or it could mean that you're just skeptical of one little bit of the conventional wisdom that is climate change science. In which case I can claim to be a climate skeptic too.<br />
<br />
Last week<a href="http://muchachoverde.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/why-climate-skepticism-works.html"> I blogged </a>about these words by Geoff Chambers "We don’t deny that global temperatures have been rising irregularly for centuries, and that anthropogenic CO2 may be responsible for some of the recent rise. Where we disagree with the consensus is on the higher estimates of climate sensitivity endorsed by the IPCC and the catastrophic effects which are supposed inevitably to follow." Skeptics are moving the goalposts here. How is global cooling or Svensmark's cosmic ray theories, say, reflected in that statement ? <br />
<br />
But it's a statement that makes the goalposts much much narrower, in fact it's basically unfalsifiable. <br />
<br />
Perhaps that's why it's a meme being explored more and more by the skeptical blog-o-sphere. Witness Jo Nova's<a href="http://joannenova.com.au/2012/07/denialists-will-soon-run-the-show-not-at-all-those-in-denial-are-losing-to-the-realists/" rel="nofollow"> bad tempered blogpost</a> in which she states "the debate (which you evidently aren’t aware of) is not about whether CO2 absorbs infra red, but whether that warming effect is significant."<br />
<br />
So who's right, the majority of the world's top scientists or Jo Nova and co? Hell I don't know. But I'd venture the majority of the the world's top scientists trumps it because the question of the net importance of the greenhouse effect means weighing up a whole bunch of pluses and minuses to form a collective opinion. Climate skeptics cant and aren't matching that, they are merely picking holes - perhaps it should really be called Climate Pedantry. <br />
<br />
Jo Nova is author of The Skeptics Handbook which states
(amongst other things): "Proof of Global Warming is not proof that
greenhouse gases caused that warming" I'm looking forward to reading
how Jo Nova has disowned that work.<br />
<br />
<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-13907515300379717962012-07-15T10:37:00.002+01:002012-07-15T10:41:05.958+01:00Donna's Magnificent ContradictionTouring the Lucky Country giving speeches about how wrong climate scientists are must be nice work if you can get it, but Donna Laframboise has been getting her knickers in a twist about a consensus statement on coral reefs and climate change.<br />
<br />
Donna's beef is that not only do the scientists agree, but they display no doubt about their findings. "The statement doesn’t sound scientific, however. For one thing, the language isn’t circumspect" moans Donna.<br />
<br />
She's written <a href="http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/07/11/delusions-down-under/" rel="nofollow">an entire blog post entitled Delusions Down Under</a> which argues that the <a href="http://www.centerforoceansolutions.org/content/support-consensus-statement-climate-change-and-coral-reefs">statement from the Center for Ocean Solutions</a> is invalid because it is worded with certainty. Leading to a conclusion of her own that a "magnificent self-delusion" has taken hold of the coral reef scientists.<br />
<br />
This is the same Donna Laframboise who wrote a book dissing the IPCC consensus. In which , musing on a favourite climate *skeptic* meme Donna wrote "it isn't terribly plausible that scientists [...] can know for certain that current temperature fluctuations aren't part of a [...] natural cycle."<br />
<br />
So for Donna only certainty from scientists is good enough, except when scientists are certain and then it's not good at all.<br />
<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-60681230496160435362012-07-07T18:07:00.000+01:002012-07-07T18:27:27.291+01:00Whoops Climate Denier Blog Caught Out Rewriting the Record BooksAnother clanger from the unfortunately titled<a href="http://notrickszone.com/2012/07/04/chris-horner-warmists-are-agenda-driven-people-seizing-on-anything-ignoring-rewriting-history/" rel="nofollow"> No Tricks Zone blog which claims</a> "...not a hurricane seen in years". Cue <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Atlantic_hurricane_season">Wikipedia for rebuttal of that one</a> : 'When Tropical Storm Debby formed on June 23, it was the first time ever that four storms formed before July, since reliable record keeping began in 1851.'<br />
<br />
Perhaps not a hurricane seen in over a week would be more accurate.<br />
<br />
Particularly egregious though is the No Tricks Zone headline which claims Warmists are 'Rewriting History'.<br />
<br />
Facts, who needs 'em in the climate deny-o-sphere ? <br />
<br />
<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-11982348583045385992012-07-02T14:08:00.000+01:002012-07-02T14:19:08.379+01:00Why climate skepticism worksI think the reasons why climate *skepticism* is doing well are much more varied than reported elsewhere.<br />
<br />
<br />
It's objectives are (whilst not easy to define from without) much lower than proponents objectives.<br />
To the disinterested the mere existence of climate skepticism is reason enough to ally oneself with it.<br />
It's a constantly changing narrative, a cat of many colours. That keeps the interest of adherents. Science is carrying a millstone by comparison, science's narrative is the unchanging laws of physics, so not only are climate scientists wrong they are boring. The scientific debate is highly nuanced, this can easily be misinterpreted to mean scientists are divided on facts.<br />
<br />
Contrarians are always looking for a sign of "bias" in AGW but don't apply that standard to themselves. The language is loaded, and indeed has been hijacked by contrarians insisting on being called "skeptics" and not deniers.<br />
<br />
That's just the more active climate contrarians, those you come across on the net. For every climate contrarian/skeptic that's posted something on the net there must surely be a thousand more that have never bothered to learn anything about the climate. You know who I mean, your relative whom you only meet at weddings and funerals but is adept at parroting Fox News. How does science reach them? They are safely cocooned in the knowledge that climate change is nonsense because Someone Else Says So. <br />
<br />
Above all, climate skepticism is more commentary than case. Contrarian Geoff Chambers<a href="http://talkingclimate.org/understanding-climate-scepticism-a-sceptic-responds/"> defines skepticism thus</a> "We don’t deny that global temperatures have been rising irregularly for centuries, and that anthropogenic CO2 may be responsible for some of the recent rise. Where we disagree with the consensus is on the higher estimates of climate sensitivity endorsed by the IPCC and the catastrophic effects which are supposed inevitably to follow."<br />
<br />
That may come as a surprise to many of the more casual climate contrarians/skeptics who think global warming is all a hoax or that it's all been disproved 'cos University of East Anglia scientists were caught sending and receiving emails , or that the world is in fact cooling. <br />
<br />
<i>Someone Else Says So </i>may be a rational way of forming an opinion on what shoes to wear this autumn, but not on an issue as important as climate. It seems to me that the <i>Someone Else Says So</i> meme should really be populating the don't know camp but is in fact supporting an ill-informed brand of climate skepticism.<br />
<br />
<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-68255503188133357172012-06-06T13:06:00.000+01:002012-06-06T21:07:34.633+01:00Ben Pile. Qualified pundit or bullshit artist?<br />
If so-called climate skeptics want to project one falsehood above all others it's that their quest is a dispassionate search for truth in the spirit of openness. Ben Pile obligingly demolishes that sacred cow by refusing to answer a simple question :<br />
<br />
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<br />
Ben's answer is a question of his own :<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
This is all in the context of a <a href="http://www.climate-resistance.org/2012/06/reinventing-precaution.html" rel="nofollow">2650 word rant</a> in which Ben dismisses prominent academic Professor Stephan Lewandowsky as “nothing more than a bullshit artist". It is those words (which are also an ad-hominem attack) that make his own qualifications germane. I could add that Ben frequently writes for Spiked on the subject of climate change and environmentalism and he is also environment advisor to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Godfrey_Bloom">Godfrey Bloom</a> MEP. That's right, a legislator in the European Parliament who frequently lambasts climate science chooses to get his scientific advice from a man who is embarrassed to reveal his own scientific qualifications. <br />
<br />
Of course Ben's entitled to his opinions, but are those opinions informed by any relevant educational qualifications or not? Sadly that's a question no so called climate skeptics are asking. <br />
<br />
Bizarrely Ben describes my contribution as a "a mealy-mouthed attack on <b>my qualification</b> to speak about Lewandowsky’s bullshit." Emphasis added. So Ben is clearly alluding to a qualification that he isn't prepared to reveal, and he considers probing in that quarter to be off-limits. Ben, if you're reading this, what is <b>your qualification</b>? That is all I'm asking . <br />
<br />
Indeed Ben has now deleted our entire exchange from his blog. I wonder if he would claim that deletion is in the spirit of openness and a dispassionate search for truth. <br />
<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-2788651363985932522012-05-30T20:25:00.000+01:002012-05-30T20:25:01.068+01:00Where’s the beef?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Just a comment I wrote originally in response to an article in The Ecologist, which now seems to have been pulled. But never mind <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/13945-the-inside-story-on-the-gm-wheat-trial-debate">it can still be found on the GM Watch website</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Personally I'm very suspicious of GM . I certainly wouldn't choose to eat
it given a choice , which I have since I'm fortunate enought to live in a
country where nobody is starving . </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Rothamsted gives us a burning question. Is Non-Violent Direct Action
justified ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From reading the above my
inchoate though firm belief is that it is not. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Yes, the LM mob make uncomfortable bedfellows , but I don’t see how their
place in all this tells us anything about the safety or otherwise of the trial,
which is the key issue . <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same with
Moloney and his past links with Monsanto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bringing up Monsanto is misleading because Monsanto have nothing to do
with this trial . And I don't doubt that under current conditions it would be
hard to sell the wheat, but consumer demand isn’t an indicator of safety
either. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">There's an awful lot of froth in Jonathan Matthews argument with no killer
point to justify<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>activist's claims to be
'decontaminating' the site. Farmer Smith gets closest to the mark but his main
question is economic .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question of
whether the trial would contaminate the UK's wheat suppply is also apt ,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and it's been addressed by reference to an
incident involving the US rice supply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I'm not qualified to consider the merits and demerits of that argument
but the conclusion "triggering a massive market loss, as a result of GM
rice trials" strongly suggests those concerns amount to loss of consumer
confidence rather than some feared viral strain of wheat taking hold of
England's green and pleasant land.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">If there was a scientific debate about the safety of this GM trial I'd
support the Direct Action in principle. But a debate on Newsnight between
activists and academics doesn't meet that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>criteria.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">These are interesting times. I'm not sure I get <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jonathan Matthews point that 'the Rothamsted
scientists seem content to gamble our food security...' but I do wonder how
Green concerns that scientists have got it wrong in GM are compatible with the
very real alliance between science and Greens in climate. </span></div>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-10936566935543265642012-05-24T15:33:00.001+01:002012-06-18T09:34:13.865+01:00Telegraph Windfarm Factfail<br />
A <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9234661/Wind-farms-in-the-wrong-places-are-turning-the-public-against-fighting-climate-change-says-Bill-Bryson.html">recent Telegraph intereview </a>of laugh out loud funny anglophile American Bill Bryson focuses on windfarms. A dog-whistle to Telegraph readers and one which facts are routinely sacrificed to satisfy the Telegraph's fulminations.<br />
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"Mr Bryson, President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the [wind] turbines will destroy the countryside" an aesthetic judgment blurring the distinction between fact and opinion, but let's move on. <br />
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"A CPRE report shows most of the turbines are being built in areas of outstanding natural beauty " writes Louise Gray<br />
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This surprised me so I took a<a href="http://www.cpre.org.uk/magazine/opinion/item/2842-taking-the-right-approach-to-onshore-wind-energy"> look at the report</a>. Lo and behold paragraph 23: "National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty have, on the whole, been protected from wind turbines within their borders..."<br />
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Having mangled that simple fact, I'm averse to sharing the Telegraph's view on the aesthetics of wind turbines.<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-42602183262030932072012-05-19T15:16:00.002+01:002012-05-20T09:09:48.902+01:00Nato Summit Epic Fail<br />
Here's what I know about Military Grand Strategy. It's mostly about putting your pieces where they are to the best advantage. Try not to place your cavalry in more than a couple of feet of water. Keep the Catering Corps to the rear or it'll end badly. Submarines never work well on high ground. That sort of thing.<br />
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Now I'm no Clausewitz, what I've written above is pretty elementary stuff , there is more to it than that . But basically think carefully where you put your pieces is a good start.<br />
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This weekend, the good people of Chicago are being frisked by airport style security before they ride on their underground railway . Why ? Because some fuckwit generals decided to hold their NATO Summit 2012 in a venue above the Metra underground railway. <br />
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If I was a general I'd put the summit somewhere not above an underground railway. Rather than put it there and then get the local cops to hand out flyers like this, impinging on everyone's civil rights, and giving us good cause to want to blow up your world leaders. Sheeesh. Let's hope the NATO general that thought this one up doesn't get to do the next big invasion.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMplUy93WXdbWeDk2pnRSOshgtId4NaahjdbqPSYjJqaPi5tBgeij6orVPW5wfjZdjoa_jz2Jn3TyJe4jfUOL5zbiD7humQ3wVH2QAzxLdKfNykyfx5hK71fq4YdG5mAYYcSY-lZXZMNkP/s1600/metraservicealert.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMplUy93WXdbWeDk2pnRSOshgtId4NaahjdbqPSYjJqaPi5tBgeij6orVPW5wfjZdjoa_jz2Jn3TyJe4jfUOL5zbiD7humQ3wVH2QAzxLdKfNykyfx5hK71fq4YdG5mAYYcSY-lZXZMNkP/s1600/metraservicealert.png" /></a></div>
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H/t @PWeiskel08<br />
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-33725605887464867182012-05-19T14:38:00.001+01:002012-05-19T14:38:27.535+01:00Heartland. The Inevitable Downfall ParodyExclusive footage as the last of Heartland's donors reconsider their position<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ERgpLjiZpP8" width="480"></iframe>
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Enough of Nazis already ? Time to watch Lee Camp's new Moment of Clarity on the way the world really is . It is Cool.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QGgcKQ8XlpY" width="480"></iframe>
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</script>hengist mcstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02305004072053789291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328822867748890069.post-90046483411841023002012-05-10T23:12:00.000+01:002012-06-06T12:48:15.057+01:00MEPs with Nothing to DeclareIt's that time of year again - Members of the European Parliaments have to declare their financial interests. And new rules mean MEPs now have to disclose their occupations for the three
years before boarding the gravy train, I mean Parliament.<br />
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The<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20111201IPR32927/html/New-code-of-conduct-for-MEPs-approved"> European Parliament say</a>
the new code's 'guiding principle is transparency' and 'MEPs will have
to state, publicly and on line, any professional activity performed
during the three years before their election, as well as any membership
of any board of companies, NGOs and/or associations held during that
period or currently.'<br />
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Some of our MEPs have found a novel way round the code of conduct, submit the form but with nothing written on it. Tory <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/4538/Malcolm_HARBOUR.html">Malcolm Harbour</a> has written nothing at all on his <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-dif/4538_20-03-2012.pdf">declaration of interests.</a> UKIP boss <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/4525/Nigel_FARAGE.html">Nigel Farage</a> writes NOT APPLICABLE in answer to the European Parliament's impertinent questions. And climate denier Godfrey Bloom writes nothing at all on his declaration and hasn't even signed it.<br />
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It's a matter of public record that Bloom was employed and on the Board of his company TBO Investments before becoming an MEP . Records from Companies House prove that. TBO investments was fined £28000 by the Financial Services Authority for improper risk evaluation. <a href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/communication/pr/2008/113.shtml">The press release from the FSA</a> cites that TBO's offences date from December 2001. So Bloom's failure to declare his link to TBO is not merely happenstance, he became an MEP in May 2004 three years after TBO's failings began. That's Bloom, lying whilst staying schtum. <br />
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<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-dif/4538_20-03-2012.pdf">Link to declaration of interests for Harbour</a> .<br />
<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-dif/4525_28-03-2012.PDF">Link to declaration of interests for Farage</a> .<br />
<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-dif/28513_23-03-2012.pdf">Link to declaration of interests for Bloom </a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-dif/4538_20-03-2012.pdf"><br /></a>
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