+++BBC Climate 28 revealed+++

Maurizio Morabito has obtained the details of the BBC climate 28. It had been published by the International Broadcasting Trust.

Greenpeace, Tearfund, Television for the Environment (one of the companies involved in the BBC free programming scandal), Stop Climate Chaos, Npower Renewables, E3G, and dear old Mike Hulme from UEA. Just the group you'd want guiding climate change coverage. Read the whole thing.

[For those who don't know what this is about, read the back story here.]

Comments

[Mike Jackson]

Delingpole has decided not to blog on this but to do a Spectator piece instead.
See here

[ilma]

Has anyone sent this to the other TV news channels yet, i.e. Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News, Russia Today, etc.?

If not, they should be informed, as the BBC News isn't going to mention it, that's for sure.

No doubt however that Christopher Booker will write on it in his next column, as I would think will James Dellingpole.

Good news is coming thick & fast this week, what with the EU's Connie Hedegaard all but caving in over her stupid ETS 'tax'. Just now need Mann to be defeated in Canada & DC, and our economic rationalist MPs to tell Ed Davey where to stuff his wind policies, and things will have stepped forward a great deal.

[rhoda]

I've emailled Sky news and got an auto-reply, but I am not holding my breath as they seem to have decided Prince Charles's boiled eggs re rather more important.

[Gareth]

pat said:

Andrew Dlugolecki, Insurance industry consultant. post-katrina, maybe 2005/2006?

Center for Science and Technology Policy Research Colorado: THOUGHTS ABOUT THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON INSURANCE CLAIMS
Andrew Dlugolecki
Visiting Research Fellow, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia
http://cstpr.colorado.edu/sparc/research/projects/extreme_events/munich_workshop/dlugolecki.pdf

Good find. Listed as a mere insurance industry consultant but is associated with UEA. The Climatic Research Unit still list him on their website. He has written reports for the Tyndall Centre too.

[André van Delft]

One of the IBT members is Islamic Relief. You can make donations on their site for the good cause.

Have I got news for you:

UBS closes Islamic Relief account over terror risk

November 9, 2012

The U.K. based Muslim charity Islamic Relief has had its account closed and zakat donations to its account blocked by Swiss bank UBS due to counter-terror concerns. Islamic Relief is the world’s largest Islamic non-governmental organization, and Israel has previously accused it of funding Hamas.

UBS’s action is similar to the decision made by Minnesota banks to cease remittance services to Somalia. The risk that such transactions will be used for terrorism is simply too great a risk for the banks to bear.
(...)

[Dead Dog Bounce]

Has Helen Boaden committed perjury?

We should report the crime. The expenses scandal only happened when an SNP MP made a formal complaint.

[Dead Dog Bounce]

Does anyone know how to get a transcript of the proceeding where Helen Boaden etc testified?

We would need quotes of the perjury to interest reporters.

[Old Mike]

I've not had time to read all the comments so likely someone else has raised this but my question is what was the motivation for the person or persons behind the curtain. Not just for the "28gate seminar" but all of the IBT seminars, the "who, what, where, why and when" . Was it social engineering?, inbred stupidity?, delusions of grandeur?, greed?, power? or ???

Well done Maurizio for exposing this "sewer", I'm forever grateful.

I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg with more to come. .

Old Mike

[John Shade]

Thank you 'Gareth' Nov 13, 2012 at 10:56 AM for the illustration of government funding for the IBT (International Broadcasting Trust) and that it may well have been there from the start (see Nov 13, 2012 at 2:49 PM | Gareth's comment on the Quote of the Day thread). EU and government funding of charities and NGOs who then go on to lobby the sources of their funding for some policy or other is astro-turfing in a big way. But when they help organise a mass lobby event within the BBC, ostensibly leading the BBC to abandon what Paxman has called 'the pretence of impartiality' on climate matters (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/jan/31/broadcasting.digitalmedia), we have cause for concern.

I popped over to Climate Resistance to see if Ben Pile had written anything on this. I found instead a post by him on energy efficiency (well worth reading too!). But the last two paragraphs of it are relevant to this concern - I have added some bolding for emphasis:

“A look at the Energy Bill Revolution’s ‘who’s behind it’ page shows a vast constellation of NGOs, think tanks, companies, Quangos, and other organisations, who seem to have put their collective name behind this research in the name of ‘Warm Homes, Lower Bills’ — their slogan. Yet it would seem that through their narrow vision, they fail to consider better ways of delivering it than blowing £55 billion on a nonsense scheme with highly dubious benefits. You can guarantee that the research suits them though.
If civil society cannot challenge political consensuses and cannot interrogate the thinking behind policies, it becomes a mere echo chamber for the government. It is hard not to draw the conclusion that, indeed, rather than championing the public’s interest, statutory and independent organisations are nothing more than outsourced PR agencies for Number 10 and government departments. The consequence of this hollow political arrangement is inevitably colder homes and higher bills. There is no surprise that those are the two effects of the last two governments’ policies.”
http://www.climate-resistance.org/2012/11/the-mentally-deficient-efficiency-drive.html

[Dreadnought]

Joe Smith of the OU and Jon Plowman of the BBC got on so well together, that they decided to collaborate on big Climate Change comedy project:

Other valued partners and collaborators have included the Geographical Association, BBC Comedy (Jon Plowman)...

...Consultant to BBC Vision and News on climate change... advisor to production teams for Live Earth 7/7/07; BBC Comedy climate change project 2005 – 2007...

http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/people-profile.php?name=Joe_Smith

The BBC announced Jon Plowman’s involvement in the project:

He will also be working with BBC Worldwide on a number of potential international versions of BBC comedies as well as Executive Producing a big Climate Change comedy project for BBC One.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/06_june/26/plowman.shtml

Dr. Matt (Ban the Bulb) Prescott was involved:

From 2006 - 2007, Matt was the scientific advisor and project co-ordinator for BBC Comedy's Planet Relief project. This project explored the scope for using comedy to reach new audiences with environmental information and ideas..

https://sites.google.com/site/drmattprescott/

However, the project was cancelled, much to the disappointment of Richard Black:

The decision comes after executives said it was not the BBC's job to lead opinion on climate change.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6979596.stm

Jon Plowman and Joe Smith continue to collaborate, most recently on the OU/BBC Creative Climate film competition:

http://www8.open.ac.uk/platform/news-and-features/film-students-rise-creative-climate-challenge

[BH adds: most of this stuff is in my CMEP pamphlet]

[the boston struggler]

Fantastic journalism but it needs to be acted upon, by the press and other main stream media outlets, to gain wider exposure. If not it will just languish on websites like this and others used only by sceptics.

[James Evans]

I've just found Mike Hulme's response to this story:

The heuristic and ontological presime described by these latogical precepts are, as described by Lassime and Miinipaws (2003) with regard to their telemutic relationships, seen to be appropriately ranged with regard to...

[Continued on 94,000 pages.]

P.S. Can I have another grant now? Honest, I'm an interlekshal.

[Dreadnought]

Bish

Never mind, I spent a happy afternoon looking it all up.

[Wijnand]

What the hell is an insurance industry consultant doing at a seminar to determine BBC policy on climate change coverage???

[Joe Public]

@ Wijnand Nov 13, 2012 at 7:34 PM

"What the hell is an insurance industry consultant doing at a seminar to determine BBC policy on climate change coverage???"

Doh!.

Scaremongering.

Scared people buy insurance.

[3x2]

First of all - A big thanks to all those who have put the time and effort into this story. It is much appreciated.

As for Tony. Just how much did your legal battle with our serial lying (won't put the rest in! (JS and his beeb chums have been done to death)) 'national broadcaster' cost you? I ask because it occurs that, while they (the beeb) can draw on the inexhaustible tax base of the UK, should your 'big oil cheque' not arrive (because the Carbon trading - scamming bastards - were at the 'seminar') then perhaps BH and Anthony (WUWT) can help you set up a donation line - and us big oil execs can help you out with your costs.

Back to the 'beeb' ...

Although the focus has been on the 'Global Warming' aspect of the 'no equal time time' decision, this isn't just about 'The Science' (the beeb has never done 15u CO2 type science anyway). Looking at the list of attendees, the IBT documentation and the output of the bbc over time - the decision also covered our old friend 'The Agenda'.

That is to say that not only were those questioning the CAGW narrative to be denied air time, those questioning policy or indeed any element of the 'sustainability' agenda itself were to be air (CO2) brushed out of the picture.

As we have all seen - 'climate denier' (for our Balanced Broadcasting Corp [sic]) covers every sin from those questioning the 'homogenisation' of the SS temperature record to awkward questions concerning the value of PV in a modern industrial economy.

Strange that had these 'seminars' been organised by the 'Socialist Alliance' and the outcome had been a long standing 'no air time for heretics (the right)' decision then the beeb would be currently be listed on the LSE (privatised, no taxpayer support). The 'Right' would have made that a priority on gaining a current majority.

The problem is that, (I guess), most of the public and the empty suits that supposedly represent us still view the Green Taliban as a slightly eccentric, but well meaning, bunch of Tree/Whale huggers. The fact that the most expensive piece of legislation in British history was sketched out in some South London Wine Bar on a beer (Wine) mat by an FoE sock puppet and a 'that sounds really cool man' (but influential at the time) politician hasn't yet registered with the public.

The spiralling cost of energy and goods generally should have alerted the public at some point but perhaps the "no air time for 'deniers' " decision from beeb has had something to do with them not realising the true source of their problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3xseCcfMZY (around 5:30 doth the fun begin)

Were the beeb a private company you can bet that Savile would have been jailed decades ago, Worthington would still be a nobody in the 'sustainability movement' and half the empty suits in Westminster would be currently serving time.

Time for the empty suits in Westminster to 'sh^t or get of the pot .The BBC must be freed from its publicly funded chains.

[Wijnand]

@Joe Public Nov 13, 2012 at 8:04 PM
Thanks for the answer to my rhetorical question. ;-)

[johanna]

James Evans, gold!

More seriously, there seems to be enough new material in the BBC's recent travails and the whole government/NGO nexus, and related scandals, for a fresh series of Yes Minister. If this stuff had been put into the original series 30 years ago, no-one would have believed it.

Now we know it is true.

[Philip Peake]

3x2: Your faith in private companies is touching. However, experience with NBC, CBS and ABC in the US indicates otherwise, as does the participation of ITV4 according to the documentation so far uncovered.

If the lying becomes too egregios, they will toss the odd person under the bus (e.g. Dan Rather), but otherwise continue to push the same biased world view.

[Joe Public]

Oh the sad irony

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15359312

[sHx]

Congrats, Maurizio. Another nice piece of sleuthing.

Indeed, what was the Church of England rep doing at the BBC seminar of 'leading scientists'. Wasn't the god already ably represented by his steward Mike Hulme?

Hulme: "My work is as Director of the national centre for climate change research, a job which requires me to translate my Christian belief about stewardship of God’s planet into research and action."

[Gareth]

Joe Public,

Andrew Dlugolecki is more than a representative of the insurance industry. He was on the Advisory Board of the Tyndall Centre when Harrabin was there too.

Out of idle curiosity i've been searching the FOIA email releases for a few of the names of the attendees. From the 2011:

2518.txt dated 02/12/1997 states that Andrew Dlugolecki is a member of the IPCC and would be attending the 1997 Kyoto conference on behalf of the United Nations Environment Program Insurance Initiative.

1853.txt dated 18/12/2001 concerns the policy of Contraction and Convergence and Dlugolecki tells Mike Hulme "I believe it is an idea whose time is arriving, as obviously did the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and I understand the Government's Energy Policy Review will reflect that. Separately, Aubrey [Meyer the man behind C&C] has sent you the briefing document which helped to persuade hard-headed financiers in the UNEP Finance Initiatives to commend the C&C policy at COP 7 ."

3522.txt dated 28/09/2000. Mike Hulme replies to Andrew Dlugolecki who is responding to an invitation to join the Tyndall Advisory Board. Dlugolecki tells Mike Hulme "I will not be seeking another job once I retire, but I want to be involved in Climate Change and also economic exclusion from financial services , which is certainly relevant to Climate Change, so the Advisory Board is an excellent fit for me."

[Brian H]

There's a credibility issue here. As in "Big Lie" credibility. Neither the public, nor even most skeptics, can quite get their minds and imaginations around just how brazen these "fixers" really are.

Which is why I sneer at virtually every "lukewarmist". They are in effect saying, "Well, SOME of this BS must/might be true."

Nope.

[Dung]

I wish to make two points:

1. Maurizio Morabito for Prime Minister!

2. I look at the number of NGOs represented at the 2006 seminar and I suspect that this in line with the government signing up to Agenda 21. By signing up, our government entered into law the right of NGOs to be involved in both the setting of government policy and its implementation. The extent to which they have taken this seriously is demonstrated by the fact that they have got Oliver Letwin policing every single department of government to ensure that all new legislation enshrines sustainability in its wording.

[Jace]

It would be much much worse if it turned out that any of those attendees were in any way associated with the BBC pensions or other BBC investments.

[Jace]

Someone needs to follow the money. If the BBC or any of their high ranking staff had investments associated with parhelion and stood to gain finacially from more alarmism on the BBC it would be really really bad for them.

http://www.parhelion.co.uk/people.html

Andrew Dlugolecki – Andrew spent much of his career at the Aviva insurance company holding several senior roles including Chief Manager for Branch Operations in UK until 1991, then head of International Division until 1997 and finally Director of General Insurance Development until 2000. During this time Andrew developed his knowledge of climate change and the impacts on the financial services sector. Since leaving Aviva Andrew has been working as a private consultant focusing on climate change and insurance. Andrew was lead author on the effect of climate change on financial services for works by the Department of the Environment (UK 1991 and 1996), EU (2000), and the IPCC (1995), and editor of that section of the 2001 IPCC assessment. He has chaired three major studies into climate change by the UK Chartered Insurance Institute (the latest in 2009). He is a member of the statutory Adaptation SubCommittee responsible for supervising the UK's plans to adapt to climate change and is adviser to the UNEPFI (United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative) on climate change issues. Andrew has a B Sc (Hons) in Pure Mathematics at Edinburgh(1970), MA in Operational Research at Lancaster(1971), and a Ph D in Technological Economics at Stirling (1978). He is Fellow of Chartered Insurance Institute (1990), Fellow of Royal Meteorological Society(1992), Member of UK Social Investment Forum (2003) and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia.

Also at parhelion:

Kirsty Hamilton – Associate Fellow, Renewable Energy Finance Project, Chatham House –Kirsty leads the Renewable Energy Finance Project, as an Associate Fellow at Chatham House: creating stronger interaction between leading mainstream financiers and senior policy counterparts, to bring about a more effective ‘investment grade’ policy environment.
She has 20 years experience of the international policy debate as an Observer at the UN climate change negotiations, and is on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Energy; the Advisory Board of UNEP Finance Initiative’s Climate Change Work; Steering Committee of ‘REN 21’ the international RE policy network; as well as an Expert Reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Kirsty also does consulting on in the above areas.

http://www.aptn.org.uk/20121Q/120117%20Asian%20CleanTech.html

Kirsty Hamilton leads the Renewable Energy Finance Project, as an Associate Fellow at Chatham House: working since 2004 at the intersection between leading mainstream financiers and senior policy counterparts, to bring about more effective ‘investment grade’ policy conditions. More recently, she has been involved in the establishment and policy work of the Low Carbon Finance Group. She has 20 years experience of international climate and energy policy as an Observer at the UN climate change negotiations, and is on the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Renewable Energy; Steering Committee of ‘REN 21’ the international RE policy network; a former Advisor to UNEP’s Finance Initiative and an expert reviewer and contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

http://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/directory/70629

http://www.thegwpf.org/insurance-industry-lobbying-for-p3-billion-climate-fund/

[Jace]

Someone needs to follow the money.

http://www.parhelion.co.uk/people.html

Andrew Dlugolecki – Andrew spent much of his career at the Aviva insurance company holding several senior roles including Chief Manager for Branch Operations in UK until 1991, then head of International Division until 1997 and finally Director of General Insurance Development until 2000. During this time Andrew developed his knowledge of climate change and the impacts on the financial services sector. Since leaving Aviva Andrew has been working as a private consultant focusing on climate change and insurance. Andrew was lead author on the effect of climate change on financial services for works by the Department of the Environment (UK 1991 and 1996), EU (2000), and the IPCC (1995), and editor of that section of the 2001 IPCC assessment. He has chaired three major studies into climate change by the UK Chartered Insurance Institute (the latest in 2009). He is a member of the statutory Adaptation SubCommittee responsible for supervising the UK's plans to adapt to climate change and is adviser to the UNEPFI (United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative) on climate change issues. Andrew has a B Sc (Hons) in Pure Mathematics at Edinburgh(1970), MA in Operational Research at Lancaster(1971), and a Ph D in Technological Economics at Stirling (1978). He is Fellow of Chartered Insurance Institute (1990), Fellow of Royal Meteorological Society(1992), Member of UK Social Investment Forum (2003) and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia.

Also at parhelion:

Kirsty Hamilton – Associate Fellow, Renewable Energy Finance Project, Chatham House –Kirsty leads the Renewable Energy Finance Project, as an Associate Fellow at Chatham House: creating stronger interaction between leading mainstream financiers and senior policy counterparts, to bring about a more effective ‘investment grade’ policy environment.
She has 20 years experience of the international policy debate as an Observer at the UN climate change negotiations, and is on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Energy; the Advisory Board of UNEP Finance Initiative’s Climate Change Work; Steering Committee of ‘REN 21’ the international RE policy network; as well as an Expert Reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Kirsty also does consulting on in the above areas.

http://www.aptn.org.uk/20121Q/120117%20Asian%20CleanTech.html

Kirsty Hamilton leads the Renewable Energy Finance Project, as an Associate Fellow at Chatham House: working since 2004 at the intersection between leading mainstream financiers and senior policy counterparts, to bring about more effective ‘investment grade’ policy conditions. More recently, she has been involved in the establishment and policy work of the Low Carbon Finance Group. She has 20 years experience of international climate and energy policy as an Observer at the UN climate change negotiations, and is on the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Renewable Energy; Steering Committee of ‘REN 21’ the international RE policy network; a former Advisor to UNEP’s Finance Initiative and an expert reviewer and contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

http://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/directory/70629

http://www.thegwpf.org/insurance-industry-lobbying-for-p3-billion-climate-fund/

[Jace]

Oops double post sorry

[Peter Wilson]

In light of this information it appears that numerous statements made by the BBC, and Helen Boaden in particular, in their recent case against Tony Newbury's FOI, are demonstrably false. There is no evidence at all the meeting was under Chatham House Rules (although I fail to see what legal significance that has anyway), and even less that the invitees were "leading climate experts" - it would be very difficult to argue that you truly believed Claire Foster( Church of England) or Li Moxuan, (Climate campaigner, Greenpeace China) to be leading authorities in climate change.

She made these statements under oath in a courtroom, clearly knowing them to be false. There's a term for that. At least now we know why they spend so much money trying to keep this list secret, it simply makes a mockery of all their statements on CAGW, and the rationale behind their biased coverage.

Surely there is some way someone (residing in the UK) can make a complaint of perjury against her. The resulting court case would be great news for popcorn futures - but not for Ms Boaden, I suspect.

[EDW]

Why is there no way for readers to indicate approval/disapproval of these posts ?

[John Shade]

Maurizio has done some more digging within the 28Gate list and has found one of the more obscure participants went on to found a programme a couple of years later aimed at 'empowering' children to be political activists, mostly by hassling their parents and schools using materials provided for various eco 'missions'. I give links and have enlarged a little on this here: http://climatelessons.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-28gate-climate-crusader-conscripting.html