Scared To Death

Today I have been mainly lazing around and reading Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth.

It is a most awesome book, incredibly well researched etc. Warmly recommended.

They really hate Vaclav Klaus, don't they? (5)

Christina Speight alerted me to The Grauniad's editorial of yesterday, entitled The Dud Czech, the highlight of which is probably this:

Faced with growing evidence that scientists have understated climate change, Mr Klaus told a conference of climate change deniers at the weekend that Europe was being too alarmist. If this is leadership, the EU's rotating chair cannot swivel fast enough. Better still, let us have a permanent EU president. Mr Klaus could not be making a more persuasive case for one.

Cool. We're democrats, and we'll abide by the pre-agreed rules unless we're unhappy with the outcome, in which case we'll keep changing the rules in favour of an ever smaller number of True Believers until one day one of us can run the show single-handedly, just like dictators of yore. While skim-reading this diatribe, my eye chanced upon this:

Monbiot's royal flush: Top 10 climate change deniers.

... which is well worth a read. Apart from Sarah Palin, I have no idea what the Yanks on the list may have done to merit inclusion, and while I applaud Melanie Phillips' rabid Zionism, she would appear to be motivated primarily by bitterness, but as it happens, I have awarded four of the other five "rocks" for services to MMGW-Myth debunking (click labels below) and have often referred to Christopher Booker's countless - and so far futile - attempts to explain the difference between white asbestos (relatively harmless, once in situ) and blue or brown asbestos (nasty stuff that was banned over twenty years ago). So clearly these people have managed to really get under The Establishment's skin, and here's hoping that they keep up the good work in future.

EU F***wittery and Child cruelty

There was a fine article in this morning's Metro (no link) about a girl whose parents drag all the way from Kent to Sheffield once a week to train for the Olympics diving competition, her local pool having been closed because 'asbestos was found in the roof'.

Point 1 is that her parents ought to be done for child cruelty.

Point 2 is that this is almost certainly white asbestos, which is nigh harmless, especially if it's encased in something else, as Christopher Booker has been pointing out for years. As opposed to blue or brown asbestos, which are real killers.

But, as we know, the EU is in fact 31,000 bureaucrats who churn out directives at the behest of industry lobby groups, which is pretty much mirrored in the machinations at UK level. So, in this instance, a totally artifical market has been created in 'asbestos removal', all in the name of Elfin Safety.

Bastards.