Oh Gordon Bennett

Mrs S and I were having one of those late night philosophical conversations we get into occasionally about separating blame from action last night. I won't bore anyone who cares to read this with the details, but we both concluded that someone who does a bad thing is not necessarily beyond redemption.

Then along comes Jonah Brown and proves that he is completely out of touch with reality big time, throwing our contentions into the briar patch. The guy is completely barking. Failing that he doesn't understand what scientific enquiry is at all. Alternatively, he sees carbon trading as a way to boost his pension fund (unlike the ones the Work and Pensions act screwed), and is vehemently protecting his investments.

Just as an aside; the thought does occur that Brown knows who all the sceptics are (The Internet is not really anonymous), and will set the lapdogs of officialdom on them and their families should opportunity present itself. Nothing big, just enough to make their lives awkward and miserable. He's a deeply unpleasant man, and I wouldn't put it past him if he really threw Teddy (or his Mobile phone) out of the pram. The sceptics have rained on his parade, and he'll probably want to send some precipitation our way. Not that he already hasn't. Loss of Pensions, Civil liberties, Sovereignty. You know, little things like that.

I personally hate the man for his many crimes against the UK (Him and Blair), and if truly bad things happen to him (and / or Blair), then I will break out the bubbly and P-A-R-T-Y! Not that I'll be coming back to the UK anyway if I can possibly help it. That, as they say, ship has sailed.

To conclude. For the hard of thinking, the Scientific Method goes like this;

• Define the question
• Gather information and resources (observe)
• Form hypothesis
• Perform experiment and collect data
• Analyze data
• Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis
• Publish results
• Retest (frequently done by other scientists)

NOT;

• Define the Answer
• Form hypothesis
• Gather information and resources
• Perform experiments and collect data
• Frighten politicians with predictions of doom
• Rake in millions of taxpayers funds
• Lose all the results that don't support your hypothesis
• Get into huge slanging matches with those who don't agree
• Interpret data and retest using bogus methods
• Refuse point blank to let anyone independently verify your results and methods
• Deny all wrongdoing
• Take early retirement to avoid scandal