One News promoted climate crank

Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, November 5th, 2014 - 183 comments
Categories: climate change, global warming, tv - Tags: , ,

Yesterday One News featured a climate change denialist crank in a broadcast segment and on its news site. It prompted a strong reaction from many, including this from Hot topic:

TVNZ PUSHES LEYLAND’S CLIMATE LIES

In an appalling lapse of editorial judgement, TVNZ has given notorious Climate “Science” Coalition propagandist Bryan Leyland four minutes of airtime this morning [TVNZ page removed: but available here.] to rubbish the work of the IPCC. Yes, that’s right, the nation’s public broadcaster presented a man way out on the crank fringe who has made a late-life career out climate denial, against one of the largest scientific undertakings of all time — the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report. The IPCC, lest we forget, warned yesterday that world faces “severe, pervasive and irreversible” damage from climate change unless we cut emissions steeply.

TVNZ did respond to feedback. The post above was updated:

[Update 5pm: It appears TVNZ have pulled the video of Leyland’s interview and the accompanying news story from their site in response to the many formal and informal complaints they have received. However the full interview can be seen (for the time being, at least) on Youtube. And the TVNZ News Facebook post about Leyland’s interview is still there.]

Although it is to their credit that TVNZ took the nonsense down, it was appalling editorial judgement that it ever made it to air in the first place. A good point made by John Hart in response.

And just while we’re on good tweets on such topics, just this morning:

https://twitter.com/DavidSlack/status/529702004931571712

Indeed.

183 comments on “One News promoted climate crank ”

  1. higherstandard 1

    Meh

    TVNZ has also given airtime to anti fluoride campaigners and anti vaccination advocates.

    • wtl 1.1

      Great to see you acknowledging that climate change denial is as loony as anti-flouride and anti-vaccination campaigns.

      • higherstandard 1.1.1

        It was a not so subtle dig at anthony.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 1.1.1.1

          TVNZ constantly feature John Key a master of the Gish Gallop method of constant stream of falsehoods.

          The Gish Gallop is the debating technique of drowning the opponent in such a torrent of small arguments that their opponent cannot possibly answer or address each one in real time. More often than not, these myriad arguments are full of half-truths, lies, and straw-man arguments — the only condition is that there be many of them, not that they be particularly compelling on their own

          I havent seen it but Leyland mave have used this technique as well.

        • lprent 1.1.1.2

          It is all relative. However the real issue with this ignorant crank getting airtime wasn’t so much what he said. It was more that the dumbarse reporter appeared to have absolutely no idea what basic climate science 101 was like. If they couldn’t find someone competent and briefed them to interview him, then why did they bother?

          Leyland was one of the scientific morons who took a fantasy case against NIWA (hidden behind a trust), lost it completely and utterly and then haven’t paid the costs that they inflicted on taxpayers. As far as I am concerned, he should be bankrupted and the money personally extracted from him and the other rorters in that trust.

          Somehow the reporter didn’t bring up that rather monumental failure of this idiot’s ideas.

          • ropata:rorschach 1.1.1.2.1

            NDT on the need for basic scientific literacy … http://vimeo.com/88193574

          • ghostwhowalksnz 1.1.1.2.2

            They may have lost the court battle , which was a silly approach anyway but very recent research by Chris de Freitas adjusts down the long term temperature rise for NZ. This of course doesnt disprove global warming as it seems Australia has had a fair amount of warming

            NIWAs claim was of 0.9C per century, but de Freitas says his re analysis gives 0.28C per century, as published in Environmental Review and Assessment.

            http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10666-014-9429-z

            NIWA was supposed to publish a peer reviewed paper on the temperature series soon after 2010. I cant seem to find it.

            This the the statement by Dr Mapp in 2010
            “NIWA’s review of the “seven-station” series will be supervised by Principal Climate Scientist Dr Brett Mullan. It will be peer reviewed internally by NIWA Chief Climate Scientist Dr David Wratt and Principal Climate Scientist Dr James Renwick; and externally by two respected non-NIWA climate scientists, who have yet to be appointed. In addition NIWA’s intent, during the 2010/11 financial year, is to submit the work described above as a paper to a scientific journal, where it would be subject to the normal independent peer review process. “

            • Macro 1.1.1.2.2.1

              The “paper” you refer to is full of error – how it managed to pass peer review is worrying. The editor of the journal will be under extreme pressure to review his decision to publish such nonsense.

              A brief summary of the numerous errors has been enumerated here:
              http://hot-topic.co.nz/nz-cranks-finally-publish-an-nz-temperature-series-but-their-papers-stuffed-with-errors

              This is not the first time de Freitas has managed to get some rubbish published in a supposed reputable Journal. He does it by the back door and obviously uses his academic position. But it is worrying and serverely tarnishes the name of Auckland University

              • ghostwhowalksnz

                Where is NIWAs peer reviewed paper on the 7SS ? So we can compare oranges with oranges.
                That they are different results, is not too surprising as major temperature datasets use different methods to calculate an ‘average’ over a geographical area.
                Hadcrut and Gistemp use different methods but give a similar worldwide result so there doesnt seem to be a ‘right way’ to do these things.

                That de Freitas is so far out maybe he has something wrong. But until NIWA delivers the goods as promised in 2010 why should we give them any credence ?
                I may have missed something but a look at their website doesnt mention any published paper for 7SS which they have made minor changes.

                • Macro

                  Did you look at the link I provided? It’s all explained there.

                  To quote:

                  “Further proof that dFDB 2014’s authors should have known that the latest 7SS does not use “old” techniques comes from the “Technical Notes” behind each station report prepared by NIWA’s scientists. These are not secret, but they are very technical and NIWA has judged them not suitable for putting on its website — but they were all supplied to Barry Brill in July 2011.1. The Technical Notes are basically just tables of intermediate calculations with very little contextual explanation, but they show without any doubt that:

                  Shifts to maximum and minimum temperatures were calculated by NIWA for the 2010 Review;
                  The statistical significance of all shifts was calculated too. The significance tests were done relative to each comparison (reference) site, rather than evaluating an overall significance level after combining sites as RS93 did.
                  The Technical Notes were also supplied to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology climate team in 2010 as part of the peer review process and BOM’s scientists would have had no trouble understanding them. The same may not be true for the authors of dFDB 2014.”

                  de Freitas is used as the “lead author” but actually the paper was written by Bob Dedekind (of whom Justice Venning in the recent Court Case in his summing up said:

                  “Mr Dedekind’s general expertise in basic statistical techniques does not extend to any particular specialised experience or qualifications in the specific field of applying statistical techniques in the field of climate science. To that extent, where Mr Dedekind purports to comment or give opinions as to NIWA’s application of statistical techniques in those fields, his evidence is of little assistance to the Court.” and Barry Brill.

                  Enough said.

                • Tracey

                  ask dr mapp. he was here yesterday talking about the sis. i directed him to some questions i had over a law commission report that has never been published. dont hold your breath for an answer.

            • Murray Rawshark 1.1.1.2.2.2

              The journal that de Freitas has published in has an impact factor of 1.074, which basically indicates that nobody takes any notice of it. It’s the sort of journal that you send your student’s stuff to when it’s been rejected elsewhere, and they need a publication for their CV. I’m dubious about whether they actually send the submissions to referees.

              As well as that, de Freitas is an idiot. That’s my professional view.

              • Tracey

                in fairness outliers can find it difficult to get published if their peers,may look stupid… not saying that has happened here just observing that it is not a pure system. scientists are also not immune to ego.

              • RedLogixFormes

                @ Murray – most amusing. And I’m aware you’re far better qualified to make that statement than almost anyone else here.

                I dimly recall meeting de Freitas many years ago. It’s not a distinguished memory. I wonder how the hell he’s held onto his position all these years?

  2. Bill 2

    Fuck giving them credit for removing the clip from their website or whatever. They (and it must have been knowingly) broadcast absolute shit and poison to – how many viewers?

    Bringing it off the website doesn’t suddenly mean people didn’t see the item and didn’t have their views influenced by it.

    In any reasonable world, a head would roll in a very, very public fashion with extensive and concise explanations as for why that head was rolling.

    • “They (and it must have been knowingly) broadcast absolute shit and poison to – how many viewers?”

      You say it like that’s an unusual thing for TV ?

      • ghostwhowalksnz 2.1.1

        I thought the interviewer refuted his arguments.

        The strange part is Leylands real expertise is in small scale hydro developments, of which he has a financial interest in one in Golden Bay. Plus he is the author of a standard text on the subject .”Small Hydroelectric Engineering Practice.”

        He lives and breathes renewable energy but doesnt think climate change is a serious problem ?

  3. srylands 3

    BTW – The interview is still available on the TVNZ website.

    See this clip at 23 minutes+

    http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast/s2014-eptuesday-video-6122325

    Sure he is a crank, but he is not alone. Unless it breaches broadcasting standards, what TVNZ puts on its news is none of your business. Don’t like it don’t watch it. They broadcast crap non-stop. Which is why the Government should not own media (or “news”) outlets.

    • The conclusion does not follow from the premise.

      With decent funding and independence from vested interests, public broadcasting has the power to inform the public, using a quaint concept called ‘investigative journalism’.

    • Paul 3.2

      You would support anything.

    • Jan Rivers 3.3

      Good quality media is primarily a political and not an economic issue. If a government allows the quality of print, broadcast and web media to fall over many years and does nothing I think we can all draw our own conclusions about whether that government is a friend of an informed democracy or not. Properly funded independent public broadcasting is one of the primary ways this is achieved internationally and it is a good and effective model

      • Paul 3.3.1

        You’re wasting your breath on srylands.
        He doesn’t believe in society.

        • McFlock 3.3.1.1

          Sspylands is pissed that Somalia is turning back into shit, with government slowly re-constructing to destroy the zero-government utopia it once was.

  4. Aerobubble 4

    Its simple there is a finite amount of carbon cycling through the biosphere. So digging up hydrocarbons in a century and adding them was always going to effect the biosphere. Giving that mars has a co2 and methane, is it any wonder that the media can find people who would deny the existing of a Marsian atmosphere, and the proportional rise we are measuring in our own atmosphere. Yes they can. Its nothing less than propaganda, denialists are cretins.

  5. Colin 5

    “The IPCC, lest we forget, warned yesterday that world faces “severe, pervasive and irreversible” damage from climate change unless we cut emissions steeply”

    The same IPCC whose very existence (and first class air travel, 5 star hotels and comfortable salaries) depends upon climate change being an impending disaster, finds after ‘summarising” the data that – shocker – climate change is an impending disaster. Who saw that coming?

    NIWA’s own, archived raw data showed NZ’s temperature trend was 0.06C per century. After they’d ‘summarised’ it IPCC-style, it was 0.92C – making NZ one of the “fastest’ warming places on Earth. Even Mikey Mann would be embarrassed at the data torturing required to get that result! And hey, guess what – NIWA’s adjusted figures made it into the IPCC assessment, combined with other ‘summarised’ datasets to PROVE that climate change is so, so real.

    NIWA’s adjustments are a source of mirth for statisticians and climate scientists the world over, and are held up as a shining example of all that is wrong on the AGW side of the argument. If climate change is happening, and overheating the planet, why are these adjustments needed? Wouldn’t the raw data show rapid temperature rise beyond any shadow of a doubt? Why doesn’t it? Oh, better shut down any discussion on this, no dissenting views can be tolerated! Heresy!

    You lot make ISIS look balanced and rational when it comes to consideration and respect for opposing ‘beliefs’!

    • lprent 5.1

      Yeah that was the argument that those cranks put in front of the court and completely lost on. Needless to say the cranks failed to pay the costs awarded against them..

      Raw sensor figures are adjusted for really basic things like height, shadow, and everything else worldwide. The only people who ridicule them are cranks with weird beliefs.

      Useless fools are so deranged that they invent and use their own maths because it fitted their idiocies better.

    • Paul 5.2

      Not another denier!

    • tricle up 5.3

      Colin at the end of the day after you have synthesized all your information and put it back together in the same or a different order you might want to ask the the question did i create something or did i discover something today, facts speak louder than the subjective an open and free mind are fun go enjoy yourself..

  6. philj 6

    The broadcasting of this far out denialist, is what I expect from a low quality, silly, Nashunal State Bloatcaster. I dont watch it anymore. T:(snks for the warning.

  7. [reply to Colin @ 5 above]
    Raw data is useful but requires interpretation. Have you read the book of Genesis? It can be considered raw data, but perhaps not to be taken at face value.

    Raw data from a recent experiment at CERN indicated that neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light. This result would overturn all of modern physics!

    The researchers couldn’t pinpoint why. Do we throw out all of Einstein’s work now? Hell no. Independent observations of supernovae show light and neutrino radiation hitting Earth at the exact same time. It follows that measurement error or systematic bias had figured in the CERN result.

    So it is with climate data.

  8. Ray the Realist 8

    One News should be commended for having the courage to act in the public interest by interviewing Bryan Leyland, who quite rightly queries the hypothesis of dangerous man-made global warming that remains scientifically unsubstantiated to date. As Leyland rightly pointed out, the climate change models do not constitute empirical scientific evidence.

    As a visitor from Australia, where the biased ABC totally censors those holding similar views to Leyland, I was pleased to see One News attempt to present some balance on the climate change issue.

    Sadly, however, the One News editors have succumbed since to pressure from the propagandists who push the man-made climate change ideology, and taken down Leyland’s video.

    • MrSmith 8.1

      Ray you being a Realist will know that adding balance to an argument doesn’t make it even, in this case we have around 97% on one side and 3% on the other, so unless the 3% have something intelligent and groundbreaking to say they should not or ever be allowed to hold half the argument!

      Balance where this is none is a dangerous thing Ray, it causes us to fiddle while the planet burns.

      • Ray the Realist 8.1.1

        In response to Mr Smith:
        o “Ray you being a Realist will know that adding balance to an argument doesn’t make it even, in this case we have around 97% on one side and 3% on the other, so unless the 3% have something intelligent and groundbreaking to say they should not or ever be allowed to hold half the argument! ”

        If One News were impartial in reporting the climate science debate , it would present both sides of the argument, irrespective of the percentage who may be on one side. This is particularly the case when the alleged “97% on one side” rely solely on belief, as they are unable to refer to any empirical scientific evidence to substantiate their belief that climate change is man-produced.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1.1

          Nah, when tv1 interview gutless lying douchebags they just make themselves look like crap.

        • Tracey 8.1.1.2

          if that is what you want from our media, you are lucky to only be a visitor. our election campaign news coverage would have given you apoplexy.

        • Jan Rivers 8.1.1.3

          Also whether the moon is really made of cheese, why homeopathy works and whether atoms are real. Why not ask them. On recent evidence you might just be pushing at an open door.

          It took me about 15 minutes to discover that the relevant academic qualifications of the inaccurately named Climate Science Coalition added up to little more than fizz and wind and that the group has been funded , at least in the past, by overseas bodies who have a vested interest in climate change denial. It beggars belief that TVNZ researchers did not do the same although I understand their reference and library services are not what they were. In 2012 the group could only get coverage in the summer silly season. That Brian Leyland headlines the news following the IPCC clearest and most challenging report to date is a national embarrassment.

          • Ray the Realist 8.1.1.3.1

            Jan Rivers, why do people like you choose to believe in climate change ideology, rather than accept the fact that there is no empirical scientific evidence to substantiate the man-made climate change hypothesis?

            Probable reasons are: that you have a vested interest in pushing the ideology; you lack analytical ability; or you have an inadequate understanding of science.

            • RedLogixFormes 8.1.1.3.1.1

              no empirical scientific evidence to substantiate the man-made climate change hypothesis?

              No – none at all. That settles it then.

              Why did it take so long when the Great Realist Ray could have just come out and said this ages ago?

              • lprent

                no empirical scientific evidence to substantiate the man-made climate change hypothesis?

                No – none at all. That settles it then.

                You really do have to be cautious saying things like that around idiots. They often don’t understand irony (or even that such a concept exists). They will publish such a comment completely cut out of context and treat it at face value.

                I can think of that happening several times in the past, and not just in the climate ‘skeptics’ area. There is one ‘fact’ driven ‘political’ site that appears to specialise in it. Now if we could just persuade PG to write a post on climate change maybe these idiots could find a hero to follow…..

                I wonder how I could do that 🙂

            • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1.3.1.2

              It’s a falsifiable hypothesis!

              If one (just one) piece of empirical evidence turns out to exist after all, we can say with confidence that Ray the Realist has a vested interest, lacks analytical ability, has an inadequate understanding of the science, or all three.

              Now, about that atmospheric carbon isotope ratio…

        • Tracey 8.1.1.4

          i agree that the majority isnt always correct.

          • RedLogixFormes 8.1.1.4.1

            That’s not how the scientific method works. In science the majority is always correct. It’s a hard concept for many people to grasp.

            By definition new data, new information and idea always arise in the first instance ‘de novo’ as a minority opinion. Being right or wrong is not yet defined.

            If a new hypothesis survives skeptical peer review, if others reference it and can replicate, confirm or correlate it then it eventually becomes accepted by the majority. Only then does science accept it as ‘correct’.

            Not before.

            • Tracey 8.1.1.4.1.1

              and that can take decades, making the majority wrong wrong for decades

              • RedLogixFormes

                True – but what is the alternative?

                For every one good new idea that comes along – there will be dozens that will fail. And they are all minority viewpoints.

                It’s only with hindsight that we can see which new ideas are good ones and which were wrong. Willy-nilly accepting them all because maybe some ill-defined proportion of them will turn out to be correct is not science.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  Well, there’s more to it than that – level of funding being one, level of risk being another.

                • Tracey

                  not arguing that there is a better way. just saying like all bodies of humans it is flawed… and ego is one such flaw

                  • RedLogixFormes

                    Sure it is flawed. Nothing human is perfect.

                    All sorts of human failings get in the way, delay, derail and divert things. For a while.

                    But ultimately science has to pass the reality test. Does it work or not? Do it’s predictions and models give reliable, repeatable results?
                    Nothing false ever gets past that one. Wrong ideas eventually fail, right ideas thrive and go on to become the foundation stones of more new ideas. Think of it as a bit Darwinian; slow, clumsy, often quite messy – but in the end it always wins.

                    No-one ever claimed that the scientific method was a magic wand that reveals all knowledge perfectly formed and complete. But it is by far the best tool we have come up with for describing physical reality.

            • Ray the Realist 8.1.1.4.1.2

              In response to RedLogixFormesv
              The application of scientific method calls for the proponents of an hypothesis to test whether it is correct or incorrect. However, no one has succeeded in tabling the empirical scientific evidence necessary to prove the hypothesis that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions cause dangerous global warming.
              Rather than spoil a good story by acknowledging the inconvenient truth, proponents (including the corruptly-influenced IPCC, ideologically-biased national broadcasters (ABC, BBC, CBC, TVNZ), politicised science organisations (CSIRO and science academies), vested-interest and unprofessional scientists and entrepreneurs) resorted to unscientific means, viz. asserting, alarm-generating unvalidated climate models, politicising, propagandising, and shouting down anyone with an opposing view.
              In this context, the recent interview with Dr Patrick Moore, committed environmentalist and Greenpeace co-founder, may be of interest — see
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLXNiEd7axY#t=10

              Moore discusses various climate change issues, including his reinstatement of science as the basis of environmental policy and his conclusion that claims human action caused global warming (climate change) are not scientific.

              • Macro

                Ray never have I read such a load of claptrap. You obviously have no understanding of subject, and have been off filling your head with a load of nonsense.

                You accuse thousands of scientists world wide of acting in a conspiracy, aided and abetted by corrupt governments and broadcasters. (do you also believe in chemtrials and there is a man in the moon?)

                The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was created in 1988. It was set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to prepare, based on available scientific information, assessments on all aspects of climate change and its impacts, with a view of formulating realistic response strategies. The initial task for the IPCC as outlined in UN General Assembly Resolution 43/53 of 6 December 1988 was to prepare a comprehensive review and recommendations with respect to the state of knowledge of the science of climate change; the social and economic impact of climate change, and possible response strategies and elements for inclusion in a possible future international convention on climate. Essentially you are alleging that the UN is a corrupt body!

                As for your assertion that Climate models are “unvalidated”, do you really understand what you are saying? I bet you have no idea. Just how would you validate a model? If you were to say that the model produces results consistent with observed data and within the bounds of error, then that is just what Climate models do! And they are getting better at it. But that doesn’t fit with your world view does it? So better to tell lies and accuse anyone but your self that they are wrong.

                As for your statement regarding the hypothesis -I’m not sure if you will understand this – hypothesis testing and setting the correct hypothesis is not self evident, especially for the uninitiated, but here goes:
                If your hypothesis is “global warming stopped in 1998″, then the null hypothesis is that “warming continued at the same rate as prior to 1998″, not that “there is no warming trend”. Take this to a statistician if you don’t believe me, but I think you will find that what I say is true.

                ps – I guess i’m pushing it upstream, but if you really were to approach this with an open mind you might look here:
                http://tamino.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/global-temperature-the-post-1998-surprise/

                • Ray the Realist

                  In response to Macro:
                  “As for your assertion that Climate models are ‘unvalidated”, do you really understand what you are saying? … If you were to say that the model produces results consistent with observed data and within the bounds of error, then that is just what Climate models do! And they are getting better at it. ”

                  Your remarks are unfounded. The inconvenient truth is that climate model predictions have not been consistent with observational data. There has been no statistically significant increase in global temperature since about 1998, despite the continuing increase in atmospheric CO2 content. This challenges the fundamental assumptions of the models, and suggests that the models fail to adequately capture relevant natural variability. It is surprising that activists still deny the existence of the temperature pause.

                  The hypothesis promoted by the IPCC for at least the last 20 years is that human greenhouse emissions ( especially of CO2) will cause dangerous global warming. The inconvenient truth is that no one has produced scientific evidence to substantiate the hypothesis. Instead, the IPCC and its hangers-on brazenly rely on assertion to keep promoting it and to allege dangerous consequences of climate change.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    You see: this is the illiteracy Macro is talking about:

                    BBC: Do you agree that from 1995 to the present there has been no statistically-significant global warming

                    Phil Jones: Yes, but only just. I also calculated the trend for the period 1995 to 2009. This trend (0.12C per decade) is positive, but not significant at the 95% significance level. The positive trend is quite close to the significance level. Achieving statistical significance in scientific terms is much more likely for longer periods, and much less likely for shorter periods.

                    BBC: How confident are you that warming has taken place and that humans are mainly responsible?

                    Phil Jones: I’m 100% confident that the climate has warmed. As to the second question, I would go along with IPCC Chapter 9 – there’s evidence that most of the warming since the 1950s is due to human activity.

                    Interview 2010.

                    The IPCC hasn’t generated any “hypothesis”. You’re ignorant of that too.

                    Edit, and by the way it’s more like forty years since Margaret Thatcher brought the problem to international prominence. The ignorance pile is growing…

                    • Ray the Realist

                      In response to One Anonymous Bloke:

                      Agreement in 2010 that there had been no statistically significant global warming since 1995, was an honorable response from Professor Phil Jones, a CRU director embroiled in the Climategate scandal.

                      However, the integrity of Jones’ other comments is questionable — to say the least — in light of conclusions about Climategate reached by respected NZ investigative journalist, Poneke, in 2010 (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nz.general/bF0e3QINu8M ):

                      “Having now read all the Climategate emails, I can conclusively say
                      they demonstrate a level of scientific chicanery of the most appalling
                      kind that deserves the widest possible public exposure.

                      The emails reveal that the entire global warming debate and the
                      IPCC process is controlled by a small cabal of climate specialists in
                      England and North America. This cabal, who call themselves ‘the Team’,
                      bully and smear any critics. They control the ‘peer review’ process for
                      research in the field and use their power to prevent contrary research
                      being published.

                      The Team’s members are the heart of the IPCC process, many of them
                      the lead authors of its reports.

                      They falsely claim there is a scientific ‘consensus’ that the
                      ‘science is settled’, by getting lists of scientists to sign petitions
                      claiming there is such a consensus. They have fought for years to
                      conceal the actual shonky data they have used to wrongly claim there has
                      been unprecedented global warming this past 50 years. Their emailed
                      discussions among each other show they have concocted their data by
                      matching analyses of tree rings from around 1000 AD to 1960, then actual
                      temperatures from 1960 to make it look temperatures have shot up
                      alarmingly since then, after the tree rings from 1960 on inconveniently
                      failed to match observed temperatures.”

                      Cont. in following posting

                    • Ray the Realist

                      In reponse to One Anonymous Bloke continued:

                      Regarding the global temperature pause, Professor Michael Asten of Monash University made the following relevant observations in The Australian,13 Nov. 2014
                      ( http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/g20-can-coldfront-climate-lobby/story-e6frg6zo-1227121009652) :

                      “The hiatus in temperature can also be studied using smoothed averages. Both the (IPCC) Synthesis Report and the (Australian) Climate Council report use old plots that show a steady rise in smoothed temperature to 2010 (the decade of the start of the hiatus) .

                      Yet NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies’ global temperature graphs are updated monthly, show five-year averages, are publicly available on the internet and show average temperatures peaked in 2004 and show a decline for the following eight years. Since similar declines in global temperature occurred in 1880-1910 and 1950-75, it is reasonable to ask whether the present apparent decline is historically unusual, and why our government science advisers ¬persist in the view that steady increases in atmospheric CO2 are the major driver of such changes.”

                      With regard to hypotheses, it is too much to expect formal ‘generation’ of an hypothesis by an unprofessional, political IPCC that takes dangerous man-made global warming for granted and represses any opposing viewpoints.

                      However, from a scientific point of view, in essence the IPCC promotes the hypothesis that human greenhouse emissions ( especially of CO2) will cause dangerous global warming.

    • Macro 8.2

      Should a Flat Earthier be given time to give their opinion on Plate Tectonics and the occurrence of earthquakes? You know – just for “balance”.

      • les 8.2.1

        would it be fair to say that at one time at least 97% of the population thought the world was….flat!

        • Paul 8.2.1.1

          Zzzzzz
          Can’t believe how many deniers there are on this site.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 8.2.1.2

          Only if you had some sort of data to make your case.

        • lprent 8.2.1.3

          Amazing the effect of education. It was never a popular superstition amongst educated people and navigators who think. Just as climate change deniers tend to be less educated and have little science now.

          • les 8.2.1.3.1

            I’m sure you dont have data for that!Science cannot explain everything,scientists are always disagreeing ,defining ‘education’ is difficult.Labelling skeptics with an open mind as ‘deniers’ smacks of condescencion.

            • Colonial Rawshark 8.2.1.3.1.1

              “An open mind”

              Open to Koch Brothers climate change denial propaganda is not really a virtue to be trumpeted, you know.

              • les

                you are hardly being objective…you are obviously passionate about your prejudice but that is hardly a substitute for ironclad fact!

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  You are hardly arguing in good faith, demanding settled science in one thread while acknowledging ubiquitous uncertainty in another.

                  So, you’re short of honesty as well as facts.

                  • les

                    have a look at your post 8.1.1.1 and then talk about ‘good faith’.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      A simple statement of fact about a lying (presenting known falsehoods) gutless (hiding from self-incurred debt behind legal veils) douchebag.

                      I’m open about my views: yours twist and turn and contort themselves in a grotesque parody, as your engagement here amply demonstrates.

                • Colonial Rawshark

                  you are hardly being objective…you are obviously passionate about your prejudice but that is hardly a substitute for ironclad fact!

                  Oh fuck off, you smearing disingenuous prick.

                  I don’t understand how a nominally intelligent person like yourself thinks they can get away with your obvious BS rhetorical diversion, and not think that everyone will see it. Geeezus. We’re NZers not gormless Fox News fed Americans.

                  • les

                    I am but responding to various people on topic.I must say your kneejerk reactions hardly endear anyone to your own point of view.

            • lprent 8.2.1.3.1.2

              Labelling skeptics with an open mind as ‘deniers’ smacks of condescencion.

              It is more like absolute scorn at pathetic dingbats like yourself.

              Scientists disagree with each other because that is their job. In fact managing to attack and disprove each others ideas is how they earn kudos. That is why the people of science are able to explain processes and to predict events while muttering and dibbling imbeciles like yourself have to rely on the strained analogies and dubious word pictures that you call “arguments”.

              They face a much more serious process in discovering how things really operate competing in a civilised manner with people of similar or better intellects. That is the primary basis of science.

              It is only the truly mindless dorks like yourself who herd together and bleat in unison that you don’t “unnnnnderstand” and that you’re really just “victimsSs” and then proceed to whine like a Cameron Slater.

              I really wish that more than a handful of you gutless and lazy fools would actually learn enough science to give a halfway decent argument. The few exceptions mostly wind up arguing mostly that it isn’t going as bad as predicted, rather than it isn’t going to happen are worth having around. They have put in the effort to study the field in depth and have the same problem that the scientists have had over the century trying to poke on the thesis.

              But the great bulk of you deniers are simply a waste of space. You don’t bother learning enough about the science to be able to effectively argue, you are just used as parrots of the oil and coal industry squawking gross stupidity suitable only for talkback and dumb purchasable media fuckwits like Mike “bend me over my Ferrari” Hosking.

              And even worse, you are completely incapable of arguing even your case. Please go back to school. Even the year 11 kids are better at arguing science than you are.

              Many of the people you’re “arguing” with here have at least one degree in science or engineering. My science degree was in earth sciences and I have been following the debates in the science community about this since 1979, starting as a skeptic and winding up getting steadily more worried from the late 1980s onwards.

              So of course I am condescending to a lazy blowhard too lazy to read.

              I was convinced by working through the evidence as an educated layperson over decades. I have little time for people who don’t work at it and then whine they aren’t taken seriously. Who in the hell could take you seriously asking basic material that would take you only a look through wikipedia to find out? Schoolchildren do it – why can’t you?

              • les

                Thanks for that .I can always respect a different point of view especially when it is peppered with labels like,dingbat,dork,gutless,lazy,fool,parrot,fuckwit,and blowhard.Quite clearly a scientific approach by someone with an open mind ,confident in their own divine decree of what is fact and what is not.I now know all I need to do is consult Wikipedia and all will be right with the world.

                • Cave Johnson

                  Yes it’s a shame that a robust passion for one’s subject has to descend into abuse so often on this otherwise excellent blog site.

                  • lprent

                    Read the policy. Then think what is involved in “robust debate”. If you can’t handle it, then don’t whine about our rules. Start you own site with your own rules and do some work to get your own audience.

                • lprent

                  It is how I think of you. Sensitive wee soul aren’t you?

                  Incidentally that gutless tactic you just used is called ‘diversion’. Avoid dealing with the points raised and go for some personal attacks.

                  I just do it in a less snide and sneaky way and I explain exactly why. In your comment you avoided explaining it. A predictable response from another ignorant and proudly ill-educated denier too lazy to learn.

                  • les

                    You are full of yourself.There is nothing’ less snide or sneaky’ you can be proud of.Sneering self righteous contempt and a severe case of high self esteem verging on narcissicm is what I think of you.

        • Tracey 8.2.1.4

          and creationism should be taught in science classes, for balance!

          • les 8.2.1.4.1

            thats like saying science should be taught in Church… for ‘balance’!

            • Tracey 8.2.1.4.1.1

              its not like saying that.

              • les

                why is it not?Two different subjects.

                • Colonial Rawshark

                  “Church” is not a subject FFS

                  Also, your claim that 97% of people thought the earth was flat only applies to western europeans. The Egyptians, Chinese, Mesopotamians (Persians/Arabs) figured it out a long time ago.

                  • les

                    never said Church was a ‘subject’!What do the Egyptians,Chinese ,Mesopotamians think about climate change btw?Or U.S hegemony for that matter?

                  • lprent

                    The fascinating thing was that if you go and look at the evidence of navigational charts and instruments from the depths of the middle ages in europe you will find that navigators implicitly accepted a globe.

                    However the official church doctrine of the time did not because the popular theology of the continental tribesmen who wandered over the remnants of the western roman empire did not.

                    Some of the best navigators of the period were in fact clergy

  9. Lloyd 9

    Bryan told me years ago that wind power would never be a significant part of New Zealand’s electricity generation capacity because wind was not a constant source. The fact that New Zealand has never had a wind “drought” of several months without significant wind when compared to rainfall’s droughts was not considered by Bryan.

    • les 9.1

      so climate change doesn’t affect the wind at all then?Btw how significant is wind power in NZ as an overall %?

      [lprent: Try wikipedia. You can’t be a lazy illiterate all of your life. ]

  10. dale 10

    Mr Smith where is your evidence that 97% of scientists believe in man made global warming? I think the reaction to the interview is way over the top. At least Leland presented facts with the graph. Computer, trash in trash out.

  11. dale 11

    Molly, yes I read a lot. Climate Depot would be a great start for anyone wanting to understand climate change. Paul I am not a denier, but I question how much man can influence the climate. I often question the UN’S motives. Agenda 21 should have all free thinking people concerned.

    • Paul 11.1

      So a denier then.
      I prefer to listen to informed scientists than opinionated ignoramuses.

    • Paul 11.2

      Your source…..

      The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) is a conservative Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, founded in 1985. Its stated mission is “to promote a positive voice on environment and development issues”. CFACT co-founders David Rothbard and Craig Rucker believed that “the power of the free market, combined with the applications of safe technologies, can offer humanity practical solutions to many of the world’s pressing concerns.”[1]

      Craig Rucker stated that mankind faces a threat “not from man-made global warming, but from man-made hysteria.”[2] In 1993, CFACT began a daily radio program, “Just the Facts,” which in 2012 reached 5,000 daily broadcasts.[3]

      That’s an unbiased source, isn’t it?

    • Molly 11.3

      Didn’t actually read my link though… sigh..

    • Paul 11.4

      Opposition to Agenda 21 has links to the Tea Party..
      Your sources and bedfellows get even more impressive.

      “During the last decade, opposition to Agenda 21 has increased within the United States at the local, state, and federal levels.[18] The Republican National Committee has adopted a resolution opposing Agenda 21, and the Republican Party platform stated that “We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty.”[19][20] Several state and local governments have considered or passed motions and legislation opposing Agenda 21.[4][13][21][22][23][24] Alabama became the first state to prohibit government participation in Agenda 21.[5] Many other states, including Arizona, are drafting, and close to passing legislation to ban Agenda 21.[25]

      Activists, some of whom have been associated with the Tea Party movement by The New York Times and The Huffington Post, have said that Agenda 21 is a conspiracy by the United Nations to deprive individuals of property rights.[4][13] Columnists in The Atlantic have linked opposition to Agenda 21 to the property rights movement in the United States.[13][26] Glenn Beck co-wrote a dystopian novel entitled Agenda 21.”

      Source Wikipedia

    • tricle up 11.5

      Dale Add free will to your list…

    • miravox 11.6

      “Climate Depot would be a great start for anyone wanting to understand climate change. Paul I am not a denier,”

      Not a denier at all, which is why you prefer the thoughts (?) of this guy to ‘understand’ climate change rather than the findings of people who have worked for years measuring and collecting climate data and working out what this data really means?

      Marc Morano runs the climate denial website ClimateDepot.com. He previously worked for Rush Limbaugh and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) — both vocal climate change deniers.

      Although he has no scientific background, Morano has declared that the science of manmade climate change is “collapsing.” He has called global warming a “con job” and said that climate scientists “deserve to be publicly flogged.” Morano often appears on Fox News to spread misinformation on climate change, and Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly used his material to attack climate scientists.

      Climate Depot is sponsored by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a conservative think tank that has received funding from ExxonMobil and Chevron…

      CFACT’s 2011 financial disclosure form … lists Morano as the highest paid member of its staff at a salary of over $150,000 a year.

      http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/28/meet-the-climate-denial-machine/191545#morano

    • Tracey 11.7

      you dont mind humans acting to reduce their negative impact on the planet for whatever reason though?

  12. Cave Johnson 12

    I hope anyone who labels all anthropogenic-climate-change skeptics as cranks has done their own comprehensive review of the data from a range of sources and come to their own reasoned conclusion about that. I’d hate for it to be just be a pointless name-calling battle between two competing belief systems.

    • Paul 12.1

      Science science is not a belief system.
      I’m assuming you also deny anthropogenic climate change.

      • Colonial Rawshark 12.1.1

        Science has plenty of its own belief systems but it is usually also an excellent way of gaining understandings about the natural world.

    • McFlock 12.2

      Your comment contains two competely unrelated sentences.

      Why?

      Because in my experience AGW-deniers tend to fall over at the first encounter, rather than requiring me to indepentently gather all the data from paleobiology, through ice core samples and into the raw data from global weather stations over the last 200 years or so, then independently build models from which I come to my own conclusions about who is right and who is a duplicitous scoundrel.

      By “first encounter” I mean that the first AGW-denier comment I hear from them either follows the form of a liar, fails a basic logic/math/competency/sanity test, or a basic google search reveals a liar’s reputation or multiple serious and basic issues with proclaimed scientific “research”. Qualified climate scientists tend to not have those qualities. So the qualified professional climate scientists win.

      For example, by apparently suggesting that only independent primary-data researchers can come to a firm conclusion re:AGW, you fail a basic logic test. As illustrated above.

      Thank you for playing. Go back to your cave.

      • RedLogixFormes 12.2.1

        That’s a very concise explanation McF.

      • Cave Johnson 12.2.2

        You are arguing against a strawman that you yourself created. Climate science and climate politics are not the same thing. One is about testing theories and the other is about putting a stake in the ground and building a policy around it – that’s a practical response but if it’s unchallengable at that point then it’s no longer science.
        .
        There is good correlation between carbon and recent changes, but man’s behaviour is not necessarily the whole picture, and it is rather typical of man’s egocentricity to assume that things that are partly happening on a geologic and solar scale are down to him alone.

        • Colonial Rawshark 12.2.2.1

          That’s not an excuse for man not taking the steps that he is able to, like reducing the exploitation, consumption and waste of natural resources, while emphasising renewable energy.

        • McFlock 12.2.2.2

          In case you hadn’t noticed, my point was that AGW-deniers’ “challenges” tend to fall down at a strategic level, before even needing to examine their data or manipulations thereof.

          For example, your comment “it is rather typical of man’s egocentricity to assume that things that are partly happening on a geologic and solar scale are down to him alone.” Please cite where any, any climate scientist has made that claim.

          Failure to do so will merely reinforce my impression of you that your credibility is toilet water, and that your comments are merely intended to distract and muddy the clear waters of the global problem we face.

  13. dale 13

    Fully agree Cave. Paul some scientists are wrong. So before you call me anymore names please have a browse at other work on the subject. Climate Depot would be a great start.

    • Paul 13.1

      97% of scientists wrong?
      I’ll leave you to your delusions,
      The world can’t wait for deniers to hold up dealing with climate change.

    • jaymam 13.2

      Well this is a sea change – The Standard is promoting Leyland’s video and allowing comments from “deniers” to stay here, and Whaleoil has so far ignored Leyland’s video.

  14. Cave Johnson 14

    Science is a method. Interim conclusions are drawn based on interpretation of the data and can change as the data or interpretation changes. Once you lock in an interim conclusion as an immutable fact you have departed from science and entered into a belief system.

    • RedLogixFormes 14.1

      And news just in – scientist announces gravity is just a belief system. Then plummets ten stories to his death from apartment balcony.

      • Cave Johnson 14.1.1

        Interesting you should mention gravity. Scientists will tell you it’s one of the least understood forces in the scientific realm. it’s a fascinating world out there and we have a long way to go in our understanding of so many things. We are like ants crawling in the dirt thinking we rule the world.

        • RedLogixFormes 14.1.1.1

          Find a balcony – let us know how you get on.

          (Yeah there are lots of things we don’t know – which does not invalidate the usefulness of what we do know. Just in case that was not obvious.)

        • Colonial Rawshark 14.1.1.2

          Cave Johnson – gravity kills. Surely you are old enough to understand that.

          • les 14.1.1.2.1

            DNFTT…translation=any rebuttal of my position =trolling.Good day to you.

            • McFlock 14.1.1.2.1.1

              Nah.
              Any actual rebuttal would be nice, and might actually turn the field of climate science on its head. Hell, you’d probably win yourself a Nobel Prize.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                You could make a fortune stepping into the gap in the insurance market caused by Munich Re’s stubborn reliance on Climatology.

    • Paul 14.2

      Yes a climate denier.
      No need to discuss further. I don’t tend to debate whether the world is flat either.
      Talk to dale. He’ll listen to your ideas.

  15. dale 15

    Molly, I tried the link, but no response. Paul, you called me ignorant, have a good look in the mirror. I feel sorry for people who have been brainwashed into a closed mind.

    • miravox 15.1

      The link works for me
      http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024024/article

      relevant bit to your question re consensus percentage:

      Among self-rated papers expressing a position on AGW, 97.2% endorsed the consensus. For both abstract ratings and authors’ self-ratings, the percentage of endorsements among papers expressing a position on AGW marginally increased over time. Our analysis indicates that the number of papers rejecting the consensus on AGW is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research.

      So I guess we will now tortuously move on to the next stage of the umpteen discussions on this topic – the bias of publishers…

    • RedLogixFormes 15.2

      @Dale

      I’ve read a wide range of the climate sites for years – and before the internet was thought of I was working for people in this field. I can count four people I know very well who are still active in field research. And I’ve been a science and engineering professional over 35 years. I make a living by getting the science basics right. That’s the difference between someone who can cut and paste what other people tell him to believe – and someone who knows from years of direct, hard-won experience making things work.

      Here’s the thing Dale. I’d never for a moment lay claim to any real skill in the climate field, but why is it that I keep encountering simple howling errors over and again at the denier sites? Nine times out of ten I can spot the broad outline of the error in a minute or two, and usually a spot of googling will fill in the details.

      The arguments they keep putting up get refuted over and over and over again. It’s just one feckless blunder after another, and those of you who blindly follow them never notice, never make the connection that these site like Climate Depot constantly regurgitate variations on the same basic errors over and again. It’s why we call them PRATT’s. (Point Refuted a Thousand Times)

      If you showed the slightest sign of wanting to learn I’d be more than happy to work with that – but a complete unwillingness to learn has to be the absolute sine qua non of the denier.

      Now go away and get a decent Statistics book (I have Grant Foster’s excellent Understand Statistics right next to me) and actually work your way through one of the many online courses in the topic. Or failing that try your hand at Steve Carson’s Scienceof Doom for a very pure science-oriented tour-de-force.

      Because until you have made the effort to learn the essential, uncontroversial basics you will keep falling flat on your face. And we will keep mocking you.

    • McFlock 15.3

      linked worked for me, too.
      Maybe it’s the same reason you can’t work the reply button. I.e. mobile device or idiot or both.

  16. dale 16

    Paul, where is your evidence of 97% of scientists that agree with the IPCC? I’ve supplied reference to hard facts.

    • McFlock 16.1

      I’ve supplied reference to hard facts.

      No you haven’t. There’s not a single link, citation, or even article title in any of your comments.

      • He mentioned Climate Depot, whatever that is.

        Is it endorsed by any reputable university or research institute? Nope, its proprietor has zero credibility.

        • McFlock 16.1.1.1

          yeah, so at best he referred to a website (I assume – these fuckers tend to be a website and a lobbyist’s office with a big chequebook) that might or might not contain fact shrouded in what might or might not be bullshit.

          But claiming, via that, to have “supplied reference to hard facts” is either a fortuitously naive choice of words, or a cynical attempt to pretend that both he and whatever he happened to mention by name have orthodox research-level credibility.

          I know which one my bet would go towards.

    • The scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth’s climate system is unequivocally warming, and it is extremely likely (at least 95% probability) that humans are causing most of it through activities that increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels. […] This scientific consensus is expressed in synthesis reports, by scientific bodies of national or international standing, and by surveys of opinion among climate scientists.

      Surveys
      A 2010 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS) reviewed publication and citation data for 1,372 climate researchers and drew the following two conclusions:

      (i) 97–98% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field support the tenets of ACC (Anthropogenic Climate Change) outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and (ii) the relative climate expertise and scientific prominence of the researchers unconvinced of ACC are substantially below that of the convinced researchers.

      A 2013 paper in Environmental Research Letters reviewed 11,944 abstracts of scientific papers matching “global warming” or “global climate change”. They found 4,014 which discussed the cause of recent global warming, and of these 97.1% endorsed the consensus position.

  17. Murray Rawshark 17

    That Leyland guy has the same sort of manic look that I saw with Colon Craig. Colon has an open mind. Maybe he could pay their legal bill.

    I don’t even bother arguing with deniers any more. They are inevitably lacking in scientific knowledge, haven’t got a clue how science works, and are vulnerable to flashy propaganda. They’re also usually stupid enough to think that they’re being smart by criticising science on spurious grounds. We see this with the juxtaposition of computer models and “facts”. While it might surprise some, we don’t have facts about the future. This is why we use models, and one of the first things a modeller does is check that they can retrodict. It’s the first step.

    Deniers are crazy, dishonest, or stupid. There are no alternatives. TANA, heehee. 🙂

  18. les 18

    everything comes from the earth…..whats the effect of covering the earth with concrete?I am a skeptic,scientists get alot wrong.Some have to spend their entire life trying to justify their research and conclusions.

  19. Colonial Rawshark 19

    The behaviour of the climate deniers in this thread appears designed to distract and divert from valuable discussion on the poor background research done by TVNZ, etc.

    • NickS 19.2

      Yeap, not a single decent nugget of actual thought from them either, reminds me of of the run of the mill young earth creationist’s I’ve run into, all spam, no brains.

      We can haz smarter deniers naow?

    • Jan Rivers 19.3

      Completely agree. How important is it for us to hone skills refuting dishonest claims compared with developing thinking? This is a question for Lynn.

      Is it time to amend the terms of use so that a useful venue for addressing issues is not overridden by poor quality input from people who have far too much time on their hands and who keep the quality of debate very low? In this case people who are casting doubt on the scientific thinking behind the IPCC report.

      It’s all very well sharpening our collective ability to address diversions and magical thinking but it’s of limited use compared with the the size of the challenges faced. It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of well funded spaces for rehearsing the various denier positions who, let’s face it ,do not give a fair hearing to the 97% of scientists who support the emerging consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming nor the increasing probability of rapid and irreversible change.

      What would be needed? Volunteers to moderate? I can see that it would be hard to develop a rule that did not verge on censoring but I do recall posts that have been explicit about framing the responder discussion and have been moderated accordingly.

  20. Ray the Realist 20

    In response to Macro

    There is nothing new in your emotive response.

    No paper has yet been published that unambiguously invalidates the null hypothesis of a natural origin for observed, modern climate change, despite estimated expenditure since 1990 of hundreds of billions of dollars and the intense efforts of many scientists to find evidence that favours dangerous human-caused warming.

    On the other hand, if you think you have that evidence, then table it.

    • joe90 20.1

      No paper has yet been published that unambiguously invalidates the null hypothesis of a natural origin for observed, modern climate change, despite estimated expenditure since 1990 of hundreds of billions of dollars and the intense efforts of many scientists to find evidence that favours dangerous human-caused warming.

      Stupid, dishonest …….?

      Science facts and interpretations are entirely independent of the good character or otherwise of those who describe or fund them; post-modernists and political cynics please take note.

      In contrast, no paper has yet been published which unambiguously invalidates the hypothesis of a natural origin for observed, modern climate change, and that despite an estimated expenditure since 1990 of around $100 billion ($79 billion in the USA alone; Nova, 1979) and the intense efforts of many scientists towards finding evidence in favour of dangerous human-caused warming.

      As recently explained by Martin Cohen in his article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, the world’s very best advertising agencies have been employed to help the IPCC fashion the most effective climate alarmist messages possible.

      http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2009/12/why-barry-jones-is-wrong/

    • Macro 20.2

      Are you Bob Carter? You use his words?

      There is nothing to answer here. It is a false hypothesis.

      Firstly we know how much humans have contributed to the raised level of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere:
      http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/page4.php

      “Another, quite independent way that we know that fossil fuel burning and land clearing specifically are responsible for the increase in CO2 in the last 150 years is through the measurement of carbon isotopes. Isotopes are simply different atoms with the same chemical behavior (isotope means “same type”) but with different masses. Carbon is composed of three different isotopes, 14C, 13C and 12C. 12C is the most common. 13C is about 1% of the total. 14C accounts for only about 1 in 1 trillion carbon atoms.

      CO2 produced from burning fossil fuels or burning forests has quite a different isotopic composition from CO2 in the atmosphere.”

      – See more at: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/how-do-we-know-that-recent-cosub2sub-increases-are-due-to-human-activities-updated/#sthash.p8XfedmZ.dpuf

      Increasing the concentration of CO2 and other greenhouses gasses in the atmosphere will result in increased heat being trapped within the Earth’s atmosphere. At the present time the Earth is retaining around 3 Watts /sqm because of the increase in GHG. It may not sound much but over the whole surface of the Earth it adds up. This is the inconvenient truth you can only deny if you can redefine established physics.

      Given that very Inconvenient truth – adding CO2 to the atmosphere (increasing the concentration of GHG) will result in global warming (which only someone who does not understand the physics can deny) one must then look for the evidence. The sad fact is that the Earth is displaying many signs of warming.

      Ice across the planet is disappearing at the rate of 120 cubic miles per year
      http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/24/incredible-polar-ice-loss-cryosat-antarctica-greenland
      The oceans are warming at an incredible rate:
      “Since 1970, the top 700 meters (roughly 2,296 feet) of the ocean have been heating up 24 to 55 percent faster than scientists have been estimating,” around 2.2–7.1 × 10^22 J per year
      http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n11/full/nclimate2389.html
      And Global Surface Temperatures continue to rise – despite your friends protestations to the contrary.
      “The results are in for NOAA, and they show that the combined average temperature for global land and ocean surfaces for August 2014 was a record high, beating out the old record set back in 1998. The June through August global land and ocean surface temperatures were 0.71°C (1.28°F) higher than the 20th century average, making it the warmest such period since record keeping began in 1880.”
      http://earthsky.org/earth/hottest-june-through-august-ever-recorded-globally-in-2014
      “2013 marked the 37th consecutive year (since 1976) that the yearly global temperature was above average. Currently, the warmest year on record is 2010, which was 0.66°C (1.19°F) above average. Including 2013, 9 of the 10 warmest years in the 134-year period of record have occurred in the 21st century. ”
      http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2013/13

  21. Ray the Realist 21

    In response to Macro:

    “There is nothing to answer here. It is a false hypothesis.”

    A predictable, unconvincing response from one who goes out of his way to dismiss scientific observation that inconveniently contradicts warmist ideology that he promotes.

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    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    8 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
    This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti.  Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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