The Church of the Very Sad Polar Bears

A judge has decided that belief in climate change is precisely the same as a belief in religion; a conviction impervious to the “present state of information available”. Mr Justice Michael Burton was adjudicating in the case of a hugely irritating chap called Tim Nicholson, who wishes to have his case that he was discriminated against because of his beliefs heard at an employment tribunal. You can read the full story here.

This is good and bad, of course. At last we have an accurate legal description for the hysterical shrieking all around us; at last someone with judicial power has agreed with what many of us have been saying for a long time about those people who insist not merely that climate change is occurring (which it may be) but that it’s existence cannot even be challenged. On the other hand, these lunatics now have recourse to the law courts if, as a consequence of their bizarre beliefs, we stamp on their glasses and spit on their shoes. One step forward, two steps back.

Meanwhile, over at Fleet Street’s equivalent of the Rampton Secure Unit, George Monbiot advances the thesis that the “rapid growth in climate change denial over the last two years” is the consequence of greater evidence in support of…….uh,  climate change. And, as a corollary, that elderly people resist the notion of climate change because they fear death. He cites the example of the peerless Clive James as support for his proposition. Fabulous, just fabulous.