NASA has announced that this year is the hottest year so far, just as climate scientists predicted it would be. This has been accompanied by the fastest decline in Arctic sea ice in satellite records, and other extreme weather events around the world, many of which were also predicted by climate scientists. It is against this backdrop that one of Britain’s most prominent climate change ‘sceptics’ has admitted he’s driven by “ideological war”.
NASA has announced that this year is the hottest year so far, just as climate scientists predicted it would be. This has been accompanied by the fastest decline in Arctic sea ice in satellite records, and other extreme weather events around the world, many of which were also predicted by climate scientists.
It is against this backdrop that one of Britain’s most prominent climate change ‘sceptics’ has admitted he’s driven by “ideological war”. Many of you will be familiar with James Delingpole, seen here with our prime minister in a former life. He now writes regularly for The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator.
Last week he was on the BBC advocating for the establishment of a British Tea Party Movement, but perhaps you’re more likely to remember him from his appearance in Channel 4’s “When Boris Met Dave” when he recalled his disappointment at not making it into “the Buller” (that’s the Bullingdon Club to you and me) like his old uni chums Boris and Dave.
Anyhow, this week Delingpole was given an award for his Telegraph blog posts about climate change by the Exxon-funded International Policy Network, a ‘free market think tank’ that is run by former Big Tobacco lobbyists. As the Telegraph’s comment editor described in a piece applauding him for winning, Delingpole’s blogs have:
“… made a huge international impact on the debate over global warming.”
They certainly have. But what’s interesting about Delingpole is that in a recent must-read blog post titled ‘Only the Tea Party can save us now’, he admits to his real motivation for homing in on the climate issue:
“As you all know, since Climategate I’ve been dedicating far more of my time than is healthy to exposing the great Global Warming scam. This is not because I’ve suddenly realised I’m a scientist manque who wants to spend the rest of his life obsessing about forcings, feedbacks and solar radiation.
“It’s because I understand that “Environmentalism” is but one strategically significant theatre in a much greater ideological war being waged across the world.
“It’s the same one Toby Young is fighting over education; the same one the likes of Rod Liddle, Andrew Gilligan, Nick Cohen and Mark Steyn are fighting over political Islam; the same one Melanie Phillips is fighting over Israel; the same one Douglas Murray is fighting on pretty much everything.
“And its ultimate outcome is at least as important as those of the ones we fought in 1914-1918 and 1939-1945.”
This is just the latest illustration of how the ‘climate change denial’ netroots is being motivated not by any real scientific questions but by right wing political ideology. Earlier this year Left Foot Forward exposed how the man who is perhaps the world’s most influential climate sceptic, Anthony Watts, was tweeting links to the neo-nazi British National Party.
77 Responses to “UK’s leading climate sceptic admits he’s driven by “ideological war””
Steve Sterley
RT @djspratt: Refreshing: Climate change denier Delingpole admits he's driven by "ideological war", not evidence http://bit.ly/9OWVG3 RT …
Anon E Mouse
Chris – Public forum. People watching. You telling lies and smearing people. Sound familiar?
Which bit about Joss Garman wasn’t true? He makes grandiose claims in public forums and should be open to scrutiny or shouldn’t make the claims. People died over the lies spread on GM by his cohorts – I don’t think that’s right. Why do you?
Are you now saying freedom of speech is only free if you agree with it in a typical New Labour Lickspittle style smear?
I’m ex armed forces and run a small electronics business with two director/employees (both middle aged ex-Labour voters) and work for WELL below the minimum wage. You?
Quoting Tory party web pages – especially when they are telling the truth about Labour’s terrible results in government – is not a crime.
Much as you’d like it to be Chris this is not North Korea…
Henry
I thought Anon was a fan of the LibDems who are pretty strong on environmental matters. Or maybe I’m out of date on this & Clegg has flip flopped on this too.
karlhungus
Delingpole’s quote doesn’t reveal his ideological fixation so much as his craving for celebrity.
He’s oclearly noted that, while the likes of Melanie Phillips, Rod Liddle, Douglas Murray have got other issues sewn up, there is still a gap in the market for someone who can churn out buffoon-ish, fact abasing articles about climate change with the versatility and subtlety of a pneumatic drill.
He’s obviously desperate for fame, witness the appearance on ‘when Boris met Dave’, drooling over all the more intelligent people he met at university. I suspect his failure to achieve the status of the wingnuts he laughably equates himself with above is at the root cause of his depression, another of his not particularly specialisms.
Henry
Delingpole has probably watched how right-wingers in the US have earned fame & fortune by promoting ridiculous & outrageous ideas: you get the articles, the radio & TV appearances, the books. There are plenty of corporations & conservative zillionaires who’ll pay good money for this tosh – as long as it promotes their agenda.