You, dear reader, may* have misunderstood me all these years. From my light-hearted scribblings you might* have taken me for a rather jovial, jolly, old cove full of almost Santa-like kindness and goodwill to my fellow men and women . . . sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said . . . do you need a glass of water . . .? Where was I? Oh yes, well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I must confess to possessing a mean, vindictive streak in my character. Far from kicking an enemy when he is down, I like to jump up and down on his face! And even as I write I am tying the laces on my 'bovver boots'. Not, mark you, that I am in a bad mood, just the opposite, I have not enjoyed a happier weekend in a long time, and the prospects for the immediate future are positively rich in good humour. Let me explain.
A few posts back I remarked that one of the few advantages of growing old is the possibility of finding out that you were right years ago and most of your friends (and enemies) were wrong. I wrote that in the context of the recent revelations concerning the Soviet infiltration of the Labour party, but whilst I was quietly enjoying my smug feeling of righteousness, somehow it lacked quite the zest I might* have expected because, like me, the story was so old. But, as you will have seen in the immediately preceding posts, some good - no, excellent - news has just broken which has proved me (and others more deserving) right and utterly dished my enemies. You may draw back in distaste at my use of the word 'enemies' because, of course, I do not know them, indeed, I have never met them, but in my (old testament?) book, 'enemies' is how I think of them and so that's what they are! I will explain why later.
The scandal - and somehow that word seems inadequate - which has been exposed at the Hadley Centre Climate Reseach Unit (CRU) is slowly but surely growing apace. For the first few days the MSM trod very carefully, unlike 'Blogdom' which always rushes in where angels (and lawyers) fear to tread. However, it now seems certain that the exposed documents are genuine. No one is sure whether the source was really a hacker or just a truth-exposing insider. My guess, for what it is worth, is that it may have been one of the disgruntled CRU programmers, those unknown Stackhanovites who labour away trying to turn 'scientific' data into code. Indeed, there are indications that some of the juicier examples of chicanery at the CRU are to be found in the exposed coding documents - see here and enjoy a quick read of the comments. Anyway, today I notice that the MSM, world-wide, are taking up the story and the momentum will grow.
I refer to this wretched cabal of unscientific scientists as my 'enemies'. Even the little 'Memsahib' bridled at that as I exhulted in my triumph (well, not mine exactly but you know what I mean). So I turned nasty and spelled out why they are enemies of us all. They have disgraced and denigrated science which at its very best can be a huge benefit to Mankind. They have allowed politicians to use and abuse them and their crap science to impoverish us all by higher taxes on energy which is as essential to modern Man as wild life was to primitive Man. We in the west are only mildly impoverished but those struggling for their very existence in the Third World will be eliminated by expensive energy. It is, and I have pondered on this before committing my words to publication, as big a crime as anything Hitler or Stalin executed, the only difference is that it is more diffused and therefore more difficult to discern. They have conspired and colluded in a massive fraud against the earth and its inhabitants which they pretended to care for. They did it for the usual grubby reasons of greed for money and fame. I want them all sacked and prosecuted for the litany of scientific frauds and malfeasance demonstrated in these documents. In particular I want Dr. Phil Jones and the official at the University of East Anglia responsible for compliance with the Freedom of Information Act hauled in front of a judge to explain exactly how they evaded FoI requests. Better still, let them be hauled round the streets in an open cart to be pelted with rotten veg.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230122/How-climate-change-scientists-dodged-sceptics.html
Of course, none of my wishes will be met but I am content to know that despite all his blusterings, Jones will henceforth be the subject of nudges and sniggers as goes about his business, his reputation in tatters behind him, an example to everyone of perfidious science. Likewise, his equally wretched cronies, Mann, Briffa 'et al'. Yes, all in all, a perfect weekend and I am happy, happy, happy ...
*My e-pal, Oliver Kamm, writes the 'Pedant' column in The Times and on his blog he recently corrected another writer on the proper use of 'may' and 'might'. There are times when Oliver is a total pain in the bum, particularly when he is in nit-picking mode. However, honesty insists that I come clean and admit, through grinding teeth, that actually I do think correct grammar is important even if my innate idleness and carelessness makes its use here somewhat haphazard. And whilst I'm on the subject, the pedants amongst you will already know that my understanding of the 'which' and 'that' rule is equally bereft.
ADDITIONAL: I was so taken with the particular post and thread I linked to on Anthony Watts's site that I missed the one before it which you do not have to read but can just sit back and listen to the very knowledgeable Dr. Tim Ball at your leisure.
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