Sunday, October 29, 2006

EXCLUSIVE: Al Gore Joins British Government

I understand that the big news tomorrow is that Gordon Brown will announce the appointment of a new Special Adviser on Climate Change.... Al Gore. You couldn't make it up.

PS And there might be a football related post coming soon...Can't think why.

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear God! He couldn't get elected in the United States and he gets appointed in Britain? On this fantasy of "climate change"?

I thought Blair couldn't do anything else bizarre - I mean, having the Blairina for a wife and Carol Kaplan as a spiritual adviser and now Al Gore advising on the climate? I cannot stand it! (Oh, yes, I forgot; he invented the internet. The man's a fantasist.)

The Druid said...

As case for import controls if ever I saw one. Whatever next? Mayan rebirthing rituals on the NHS?

Anonymous said...

Yet again, in showcasing his opinions, Verity forgets all about actual facts.

Say whatever you like about his alleged appointment - its really not *that* exciting though, is it - but Al Gore could get elected in the US, and did: in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982 (Congress), and from 84-93 (Senate).

Anonymous said...

One should have been more pleased if the headline had read "Gordon Brown to join US Government", but life is full of little disappointments (of which the 45th Vice President was certainly one).

The Hitch said...

Wouldn't it be nice if we could set aside some land somewhere, maybe Africa,
Where we could send all these highly intelligent , self important ,useless deluded parasites and allow them to sit about having meetings all day rubber stamping things and making up laws and fining each other?
I predict that they would starve to death within a month.

Anonymous said...

I wonder why Gordon wants a relationship with some bloke who used to be the 2nd most important person in their Country but could win the big chair?

Anonymous said...

Paul - assuming you meant to write couldn't win the big chair, that is rather good.

Gore is a spoiled rich brat who bought his victories. Then exhibited the same giant sulk that I am sure we will see in Gordon when he loses, over hanging chads in Florida. Bad loser. Gore is an intellectual lightweight with delusions of importance and aspirations to be great - without the mental or spiritual wherewithal. In other words, he's quite blairesque.

Anonymous said...

verity - I did mean that, I blame this glass of red on my table

Anonymous said...

Yet another control freak sucking on the public tit.

Meanwhile.... have you read Henry Porter in the Observer today? Now there's a subject that should be on every thinking persons blog on a regular basis.

For a start, what stance is Desperate Dave taking on this assault on individual/collective liberty? Or is he hoping he'll be a beneficiary of the system - assuming he ever gets his feet under the table at Number 10.

Glass House said...

I'm amazed all of you are mocking so much. It's a PR coup!

Everyone is the country wishes Gore had beaten Bush and all the people who go and see 'An inconvenient truth' (i.e. the people Cameron is trying to court) will like the appointment.

Anonymous said...

Glasshouse - we all know Gore who took more Oil money than Bush would have never done anything if he got in.

Anonymous said...

Paul, Gore didn't just take oil money, he has oil money. Lots of it. And major tobacco money. And millions of shares in Google.

Glasshouse: "Everyone" in which country? British wishes in an American election aren't relevant, but if by "everyone" you mean Americans, you are living in a world of your own. Everyone I know loathes and despises Gore. They place him in the same category as Jimmuh Cahduh.

Gore has experience as a special pleader. That is all. President Bush has experience as a CEO. He was twice voted Governor of Texas (the first ever to be so) and he ran that great state very well indeed.

Glasshouse says: "all the people who go and see 'An inconvenient truth' ... will like the appointment." What? Both of them?

Anonymous said...

I had respect for Gore until he got involved in a dishonest film, about an issue he doesn't really understand.

simon said...

Clearly Gore isn't a heveyweight figure in the mould of, say, Zak Goldsmith. But, even though he's not a member of the English upper classes, he is generally thought to know something about this environmental business.

Glass House said...

Botttom line - Gore is a popular figure in this country and wheeling him out from time to time will make Brown look greener than he otherwise would.

I bet Cameron's pissed off that he didn't get there first.

Anonymous said...

glasshouse - Gore is a popular figure in Britain? His name is probably recognised by, max, 10,000 people. And even the people who've heard of him have absolutely no idea what he stands for, other than new voting machines in Florida.

The squid says: "he is generally thought to know something about this environmental business."

He is?

What is this "something" he knows?

Which "environmental business"? You mean the planet Earth, our atmosphere and the universe in general? And he didn't even complete his Masters in Law?

The man's a fruitcake.

Man in a Shed said...

Lets hope he can work the same magic for Labour that he did for the Democrats ;-), just hope the poor taxpayer isn't paying for him.

indigo said...

Al Gore gained a lot of popularity in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the Democratic Underground Forum were all over him.

What I want to know is: what is his fee? I don't believe that he will be doing this for nothing; rich people didn't get rich by doing things for nothing.

And what's wrong with the ex-Friends of the Earth chap whose name eludes me at the moment - he was environmental adviser by appointment to absolutely everyone - is he no longer In?

simon said...

Verity

Yes, largely as a result of his recent film, he is thought by a significant number of people to know something about climate change. He has become a fairly widely respected figure on the question and will add credibility to Brown in an area where Cameron has been making a lot of the running.

As to the quality of his insight and knowledge I am not qualified to judge. Are you? (As the holder of a law degree myself, I can't see why the failure to complete one should affect his credentials on the environment.)

Glass House said...

Verity - when the six o'clock news points out that Gore was Clinton's VP and that he stood against Bush in 2000, you can watch just how known and popular he becomes in the UK

simon said...

Verity

Yes, largely as a result of his recent film, he is thought by a significant number of people to know something about climate change. He has become a fairly widely respected figure on the question and will add credibility to Brown in an area where Cameron has been making a lot of the running.

As to the quality of his insight and knowledge I am not qualified to judge. Are you? (As the holder of a law degree myself, I can't see why the failure to complete one should affect his credentials on the environment.)

indigo said...

Afterthought, having read the smoke signals. Al Gore's appointment probably means that all the chemicals (and oil and God knows what) that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico from the oil platforms and refineries damaged by Katrina are about to arrive at the British coast, by way of the Gulf Stream. Al Gore did a lot of flying around and helping the coastguard and generally being a hero after Katrina.

Anonymous said...

Will Gordon tell us how much Gore is being paid for this, and also, if Gore does come over her (which will be how many times per year?) I assume he will be flying. In that case, who will be paying for the cost of his plane tickets, will they be the best ticket on the plane or will he be flying with the rest of the plebs, and it doesn't say much for the Governments plans when they will be having to fly in an advisedr at the same time that they are planning to increase the air passenger duty.

Anonymous said...

This is all the work of Brown looking for green credentials. Look at this weekend's events and see the hand pulling the strings - reports from an economist on climate change (Brown adviser), leaked letters from the Milipede (Brown lickspittle) and now Gore.

I take it all with a large pinch of salt and a larger dose of cynicism. It'll go nowhere.

The Hitch said...

Glasshouse you donkey
probably 30% of the bipeds with the (undeserved) right to vote in the Uk couldn't tell you the name of the Prime minister if you shot it up their arse wrapped in a copy of Hello magazine so who gives a fuck if Al Gore is popular.
He has about as much credibility as Xac Goldsmith another inbred mutant, and yes I did spell it with an X.

The Hitch said...

sguid
anybody with a few hundred million quid becomes a well respected figure by default.
Doesnt mean they are right.

Yak40 said...

Algore has become an "expert" due to the principle of repeat a lie often enough it will be believed, especially by media types who can barely spell atmosphere let alone know any science.

Algore, the son of the "Senator from Occidental" is still benefitting from Oxy's dollars while preaching "green", maybe he's referring to greenbacks !

Yak40 said...

indigo, "Democratic Underground ", otherwise known as the DUmmies would indeed like Gore, his name is a four letter word which, if you lurk there awhile, you will see is about their limit.

Anonymous said...

My God, where to begin?

Indigo - 'Al Gore gained a lot of popularity in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the Democratic Underground Forum were all over him.'

What is the Democratic Underground Forum? A bunch of grassed out anti-Viet Nam protesters with posters up on their walls that read "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"?

Plus, he didn't gain a lot of popularity after Katrina because everyone knew he was wrong, as always. President Bush could not come storming into Louisiana without an invitation. Three times he called Governor Blanco asking if he could send in Federal help and three times she said she was working on it.

'Al Gore did a lot of flying around and helping the coastguard and generally being a hero after Katrina.'

What? Al Gore helped the US Coastguard how???? Donned a Sou'wester and drove a boat because they were too untrained to do it themselves? Or jumped into Lake Ponchartrain (how we wish!)studying the dams until the Army Corps of Engineers arrived, at which point he gave them his report? How did Al Gore "help the US Coastguard" - a government body well-armed with professionals?

What are you talking about?

Indigo - just for you to remember, the dykes in NO were built under a corrupt Democratic regime. Louisiana is so corrupt Jacques Chirac wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Governor Blanco [Spanish married name but from a very old, very embedded (geddit?) Louisiana family]. That's why she took so long to allow the Feds in. They had to figure out how to divvy all the Federal aid up.

Please. Inform yourself.

The Squid: "Yes, largely as a result of his recent film, he is thought by a significant number of people to know something about climate change." A significant number of people think crop circles are from outer space.

How did he get this knowledge of the all the varied sciences of climate, meteorlogical history, the world's atmosphere and the cosmos, chemistry, given that he never studied any one of the many disciplines involved? Intuition? He just, like so many on the left, 'feels it'?

Yes, it seems so. You write: "As to the quality of his insight and knowledge I am not qualified to judge." The quality of his insight? As in, "I dunno, summers just seem to have got hotter since when I was a kid."?

The man didn't even have the discipline to finish his law degree! And now he's an expert on physics, chemistry and the universe? Are you mad?

He won't be paid much. Just enough to look like a real fee, because Tony is now scared to death of the voters and Al Gore is very rich indeed (and Tony may need him for future income if the Bush family dumps him, which they may; who knows?).

How naive and uninformed are Indigo and Squid?

Anonymous said...

This whole Global Warming conspiracy is not only mad, but it's going to cost us billions.

100,000 years ago anybody standing in the English midlands would have been buried underneath an ice-field one mile thick.

NOBODY knows why that ice-field suddenly disappeared over a 20 year period as a consequence of (welcome) global warming. But it does not seem likely that it was anything to do with people driving cars about.

150 years ago, the Thames used to freeze. Every year. Dickens wrote about it. Oxen used to be roasted in the middle of the river channel, in the perfect safety of the frozen water. They call this the mini ice age.

It doesn't seem likely that this was anything to do with people driving 4x4s about either.

If the earth is getting warmer, and that is by no means certain, there might be a reason for it which is nothing to do with us. I go further. It would be amazing if it was anything to do with us at all.

There might be many other reasons for the Earth warming up. The Sun is a variable star. Nobody really knows how it works. I saw a theory the other day that clouds in the Earth's upper atmosphere can be affected by the frequency of super-novae in the galactic neighbourhood. If it should be the case that, quite randomly, the number of local supernovae should be fewer in number than in times past then it would naturally follow that fewer rain-clouds would be conjured into existence and that the world's temperature would rise.

To summarise, I don't buy any of this stuff. Even if I was prepared to believe in global warming, that the Earth is actually warming up, I don't believe it has got anything to do with us. The solar system is not just very big, it's also very complicated, more so than people realise. I read recently that Global Warming has recently been spotted on Jupiter.

There are more things on Heaven and Earth Horatio......

Anonymous said...

Once you have the Second Permanent Secretary at H. M. Treasury, Sir Nicholas Stern, do a Report urging us to pay lots more money in taxes you can see why Brown made him Perm Sec for Public Finances...................now to get Al Gore to get The Guardian etc to advocate a 50% levy on paper and newsprint to pay for the cost of bleaching paper

indigo said...

yak40: I have been reading the Democratic Underground for about two years - I look in two or three times a day - and have to say that, compared with DUers, Freepers (as seen on their equivalent forum) are knuckle-dragging neanderthals. Where DUers demonstrate an ability to question intelligently and feel compassion for the less fortunate, Freepers don't; where DUers exhibit a healthy scepticism about the motives of the current US administration, Freepers parade slavish adulation of Bush and horrible anti-gay, anti-Black, anti-Catholic prejudice and cruelty. And so on. The vanity and stupidy of Rapture Ready Freepers is especially contemptible.

Anonymous said...

verity: gore won 1/2 million MORE votes than bush, you idiot.

Tristan said...

According to my other half's US passport, working for a foreign government means you forfeit your citizenship (along with becoming a citizen of another country).

This is ignored for the most part (at the moment) but I can imagine Hilary Clinton rather liking the idea if it does look like Gore will run again...

Anonymous said...

anonymous 9:00 Gore lost.

He's a self-important windbag.

Anonymous said...

Gore IS a household name in the UK.

He appears occasionally in the Simpsons.

Anonymous said...

I don't get this. Gore fronts a film put together by others, touts it round as his own work, and is then 'appointed' as 'Special Advisor'. A few questions:

a) Does he actually know very much about his chosen subject?

b) Are there no British experts who can offer his level of knowledge?

c) When was the job advertised?

d) Who is picking up the tab?

e) How much is the tab?

Maybe, perish the thought, Blair thinks that Gore's 'ecological' profile is so high that by 'appointing' him he'll get a political bonus. But is that concept just a touch too cynical?

neil craig said...

Gore has recently discovered a significant, heretofore unknown, cause of global warming - cigarette smoking.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/28/220035.shtml?s=lh

All this from the man who invented the internet. We are honoured that such a great scientist deigns to help us.

neil craig said...

Gore has recently discovered a significant, heretofore unknown, cause of global warming - cigarette smoking.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/28/220035.shtml?s=lh

All this from the man who invented the internet. We are honoured that such a great scientist deigns to help us.

Prodicus said...

Yeah, well. Brown knows a bandwagon when he sees one especially if it's shaped like a lifeboat.

Anonymous said...

"a) Does he actually know very much about his chosen subject?"

He knows bugger all, but then Blair, who appointed him knows bugger all, as well. Here's a headline in today's Telegraph:

"Prime Minister warns of disatrous consequences of global warming." The arrogance is breathtaking. The ignorance sends one reeling. He knows less than nothing about anything, never mind anything as complicated as the science disciplines that would be involved in coming to this conclusion. He didn't even know Britain had a Bill of Rights. He has an IQ of around 90.

When he makes a moronic statement of this ilk, someone should force him to answer this question: "Who told you so?" so we can know which vested interest Tony Blair is listening to (and being slipped a bung by).

It's only the left that are touting this line, and it's because they are trying to downscale civilisation and progress to the level of an aboriginal somewhere (whose culture is equally valuable to our own).

As for why Al Gore - Tony, as ever, seeks to consort with the very rich - and Al Gore is very rich indeed - with an eye to future earnings. Everything he does in the great office of Prime Minister is with his eye on future earnings.

God,I hope Scotland Yard gets him! As an ex-con his appeal would vaporise. He'd have to become new best friends with that Ozzie conman who helped Cherie, Peter someone.

Anonymous said...

Here's what Melanie Phillips has to say about the "global warming" con: http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=460

Anonymous said...

"As to the quality of his insight and knowledge I am not qualified to judge. Are you?"

I don't know about Verity, but I am more qualified than Gore is to judge - I have a science degree from a very good university, my main subject being Earth Sciences, probably the most relevant bachelor degree to the issue.

I can tell you that Gore is presenting over-simplified, out-dated, controversial science as if it was absolute fact. Unfortunately it fits with the narative the media has been presenting, and certain scientists trying to protect their funding have not helped (like the head of the Royal Society making anti-scientific press briefings). The politicians have been swept into this, and basically over-simplified facts are all the media and politicians ever want.

He might, as Glasshouse says, be a PR coup, but I don't want my country to be run by PR coup. I see that as negative point - the appointment smells strongly of PR rather than actually trying to get something done.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Richard Dale. An opinion, at last, from a real scientist, not a science-illiterate politician.

Anonymous said...

And he'll be commuting between the UK and USA with his entourage of staff, will he?
Oh, the irony of it.

indigo said...

Call me an old cynic but I am becoming more and more suspicious about this sudden development. Are there any scientists tracking the effect on the ionosphere of the immense fire at Camp Falcon (just south of Baghdad's Green Zone) armaments store on the night of 10/11 October, when around 315 US troops and more than 100 Iraqis died, and over USD 1 billion's worth of armaments went up in smoke - including, according to some reports, depleted uranium munitions. This video was filmed from a point 11 miles away from Camp Falcon. At 3:58 into the film there is an *enormous* explosion. This is another, amateur, video of the fire made by a US soldier.

My point is that Blair is doing this now to distract us or make us blame global warming for something that was actually caused by tons and tons of radioactive gases being released into the atmosphere (to blow around the world) from Camp Falcon three weeks ago.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 5:42 - But it's OK because he is saving the world and mankind. It is not OK for you or "the little people" to take extra trips in their car, though. He is a typical lefty.

Anonymous said...

Indigo

Depleted Uranium is not what you seem to think it is. It is radiactive anywhere near to the levels of the by-products of nuclear power or of a nuclear explosion. The greater proportion would not be turned into any type of dust that might be transported in the air, certainly not into a gas. Remember depleted uranium rounds are not explosive (that's the point - they penetrate armour by kinetic energy, hence the need for the density of DU).

I am sure the world-wide radiation would be less than that from say a nuclear test on a Pacific Island.

indigo said...

Thank you, Richard Dale. Can I point out though that, when an occurrence as spectacular and - obviously - destructive as the Camp Falcon fire is not coolly analysed and explained in those media whom we do trust, then people will wonder if something really bad is being kept from them. It was just a headline in the MSM, with a claim of very light casulties. But anyone with access to the web can find out more - but not enough "more". I first saw one of the amateur films on a posting on the arrse.co.uk forum, and then I began to suspect that the (US and Iraqi) lives lost must be more than the handful reported. The other film I found on a blog; the explosion seen about 3:58 into the video filmed from 11 miles distant is self-evidently out of the ordinary. The human brain is hard-wired to try to make sense of things and will go on attempting to do so even in a news blackout. Woe betide the Government who lied to its electorate.

indigo said...

richard dale, I am sure the world-wide radiation would be less than that from say a nuclear test on a Pacific Island.

Could I ask you to make a similar comment with reference to/comparison with Chernobyl?

indigo said...

Paging Richard Dale, paging Richard Dale ... whilst awaiting your further pearls of wisdom, I have another question. On BBC Radio 4 "Today" this morning, we heard Angus Stickler's report on depleted uranium munitions. They have been described as "weapons of indiscriminate effect": they are dangerously carcinogenic. In Iraq there has been a sudden increase in cancers and babies born with birth defects. I suspect that those Iraqi civilians born deformed or who have developed cancer would not be comforted by being told that the radiation would be less than that from say a nuclear test on a Pacific Island.