Many of us are beginning to weary of the pushier sort of ‘expert’. Gone is the sense of proportion, the admission of scientific doubt, the ability to weigh risks against benefits. Taking seriously a year’s worth of their health warnings would give anyone an eating disorder.
It hardly builds confidence when so much of the advice directly contradicts whatever was confidently pronounced beneficial only months previously. The natural reaction is to take it all with a pinch of salt (if that is still allowed) and assume that the hasty appearance of a government minister on the one o’ clock news to endorse the latest findings is an early indication that they will transpire to be nonsense.
Comments
Clint Lichtner
January 8th, 2008 3:27pmWhere is this book "Too Much Zeal" available? A search of the ISBN returns nothing as well. Is it so recently published that it's not yet distributed?
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Leonard Colquhoun
January 5th, 2008 6:29amThe "gullibility of the media" is surely linked to the (perceived) almost total ignorance of journos and celebs of science; indeed, isn't is trendy now to boast of this ? And with tabloids, and even self-styled "quality" media, publishing and/or broadcasting astrological nonsense as if fact, what can be hoped for ?
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ian skidmore
January 4th, 2008 6:10pmYou do a valuable public service in publicising this book. I make a point of eating more of anything the government warns me against. Not trusted them since the "carrot and the ability to see at night" scandal of wartime years when I ate a mouintain of carrtots Red Rum couldn't have jumped over,went out into the black out and walked im to a wall. I was 12 at the time but sixty seven years later I haven't forgotten or forgiven
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Alex Hutchinson
January 4th, 2008 5:25pmPerhaps the greatest threat from the scares surrounding BSE, salmonella et al is that just as with the boy who cried wolf, they lull us into a false sense of security when faced with a real threat with severe real consequences. Climate change may be that real threat, and even if it isn't, surely it makes good sense economically and on grounds of national security to reduce demand for imported energy and our dependency on regimes such as those of Mr Putin and Mr Ahmadinejad who supply it.
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jud kirk
January 4th, 2008 2:07pmI need to be enlightened as I have not found this overwhelming evidence. Perhaps Mr Calcott can direct me to this evidence?. I would also like to see where this "wait and see" approach is, because prior to the global warming hysteria plenty was being done to reduce energy consumption, primarily driven by economics but that doesn't provide stories for the media
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David Owen
January 4th, 2008 1:52pmPhilip Calcott's badly spelt comment seemed to miss the point as much as he accuses the article's author of doing. Seems to me they were not trying to argue the 'climate physics involved'. Does Mr Calcutt fully understand these ? Does anyone, given the degree of disagreement shown by different 'experts' in the field. Even if one accepts 'a step change in CO2 levels', it still seems perfectly reasonable to doubt whether this is entirely due to man-made activity, and even if it is, is there any way at all of reversing this trend ?
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EyeSee
January 4th, 2008 1:26pmExcellent topic and so true. We have become conditioned, particularly by the Labour nanny-state ideal not to think for ourselves, so scams like these get through. Now I don't want to do the conspiracy thing, but I found the 'buy it at Amazon' bit amusing. It isn't in stock and hasn't been for at least a while, if not since release. Nor at Play.com, why is that? Nor, incidently is Norman Baker's book about the murder of Dr Kelly.
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Philip Calcott
January 4th, 2008 12:13pmA fair enough article until the author gets to global warming. Here he just illustrates his ignorance of the climate physics involved. The evidence that a step change up in CO2 levels will have a dramatic effect on climate is overwhelming, as is the evidence that this is already happening. To ingore this and counsel a "wait and see" approach is shear irresponsiblity.
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