Take a look at the transcript of John Beddington's appearance on the Today programme a couple of days ago. It a masterful performance, replete with insinuation and devoid of explicit statements.
But what we have - what we can expect to see is an increasing frequency of extreme events.
That was neat wasn't it? Are we seeing an increased frequency of extreme events or is this just something that is seen in at the bottom of the climate teapot?
But I think what we're expecting - and actually starting to see evidence of - is an increasing frequency of these extreme events.
There it is again - the calculated ambiguity that leaves Sir John with plausible deniability while allowing him to push the green agenda as far as he dares. Is there any evidence at all of increasing frequency of extreme events? There is little or nothing on global scales and little or nothing at the UK level to the best of my knowledge.
So I wonder does Sir John actually have any evidence of increasing frequency of weather extremes or is he just dropping this into the conversation to add a little green spice to the interview?