Montaigne, Shakespeare, golf-ball potato crisps, Peter Allis commentating on primitive French golf, and climate change. Clive James’s A Point of View on Sunday was typically full of dry wit and wonderful turns of phrase. It was also a model of sanity, advocating a right scepticism in every day life, particularly in the face of increasingly shrill advocates of the view that global warming is man-made.
Against those who liken denying man-made global warming to denying the holocaust:
Really they should know better. The two events are not remotely comparable. The holocaust actually happened. The destruction of the earth by man-made global warming hasn’t happened yet.
On climate change models:
There are plenty of highly qualified scientists ready to say that the whole idea is a case of too many of their colleagues relying on models provided by computers that can’t even accurately predict the weather next week.
On his own ignorance, and that of others:
I know next to nothing about climate science. All I know is that many of the commentators in newspapers who are busy predicting catastrophe don’t know much about it either. Because they keep saying that the science is settled. But it isn’t…. Nobody can meaningfully say that the science is in.
It’s only ten minutes long. You can listen to it online, or download it as a podcast here.
