[OLD BOY]

I am quite happy for professionals and politicians to admit when they are wrong and I would expect them to do so.

But I would have expected a certain amount of scoffing from those who demand more proof of so called 'climate change' when the scientists have to admit an over-estimation of the impact of increased levels of carbon in the atmosphere.

What I want to see is a reasoned debate, and more evidence, which we are not getting. Yes, if you accept that global temperatures are rising, it is a reasonable deduction in the circumstances to look at carbon as being the cause.

Unfortunately, it is not at all clear that temperatures are rising. Sure, there are indicators that might suggest that they are, but there could also be other explanations. For example, changing ocean currents can bring increased or decreased water temperatures, which might explain why ice is melting in the Arctic. This may be a regular occurrence over time for all we know, in fact the Arctic has been free of ice before, and Greenland has experienced this not long ago historically.

My position is to keep an open mind, but I do have a sense of disbelief. I would be a lot happier if we were given satellite temperature readings over the whole globe to show us what was happening, which would be far more representative of the situation. For some strange reasons, the climatologists prefer to use less reliable and less comprehensive and manipulated readings from weather stations which are not evenly spread across the world and that leave huge gaps in sparsely populated areas.