date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 16:57:51 -0000
from: "Richard Starkey" <r.starkey@umist.ac.uk>
subject: RE: Will Hutton's A-level essay
to: "'Mike Hulme'" <m.hulme@uea.ac.uk>

   Hi Mike


   Thanks a lot for the info - extremely interesting.


   I know that SBC is editor of EE and I know she is a CC sceptic.  Is his the "hidden agenda"
   of EE too?  Do you think WH was briefed by SBC?  If I get round to replying to WH, would it
   be legitimate to mention the contentious (non-neutral?!?!) nature of MMO3 or would this do
   more harm than good?


   Any draft reply, I would of course be happy to run by you and Asher.


   Richard


   PS Copying to Kevin for his interest.  (He might also help me draft a reply!)


   -----Original Message-----
   From: Mike Hulme [mailto:m.hulme@uea.ac.uk]
   Sent: 08 December 2003 14:10
   To: Richard Starkey
   Cc: simon.shackley@umist.ac.uk; a.minns@uea.ac.uk
   Subject: Re: Will Hutton's A-level essay


   Richard,
   The McIntyre and McKitrick paper (MM03) has got a hidden agenda behind it.  Check out this
   web site for some commentary on it.  As with the contentious Soon and Baliunas paper, MM03
   has been published by Energy & Environment and is part of Sonja Christriansen-Boehmer's
   on-going campaign.
   [1]http://holocene.evsc.virginia.edu/Mann/EEReply.html
   So while not endorsing this attempt at undermining our basis for current exceptional global
   warming, I must say I find myself in sympathy with much of what Will Hutton writes.  In
   particular his conclusion that the debate around climate change is fundamentally about
   power and politics rather than the environment seems undeniable.  There are not that many
   "facts" about (the meaning of) climate change which science can unequivocally reveal.
   I am copying this to Asher Minns, since Asher has been giving the issue of "sound science"
   and Tyndall's reaction to it some thought recently.
   Mike
   At 11:37 08/12/2003 +0000, you wrote:

   Dear Mike

   Did you see Will Hutton s article in the Observer yesterday.  See

   [2]http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,12877,1101658,00.html

   An appalling article in my view.  One of the key paras is

   An important and neutral paper by Canadians Steven McIntyre and Ross McKitrick suggests
   that the best guess is that, while temperatures are currently rising, they probably lie
   within the range for the past 600 years. Environmentalists, just as in a battle over a new
   runway, are being as partisan in their use of science as their opponents.

   Do you know of these (neutral!!!!!!!!!) guys and their paper.  Do they have credibility?
   Is Hutton s interpretation correct?

   I d like to do a reply but could do with some insight into the science.

   Richard
   _____________
   Richard Starkey
   Researcher
   Tyndall Centre for Climate Research
   UMIST
   PO Box 88
   Manchester M60 1QD

   Tel: +44 (0) 161 200 3763 (direct)
   _____________

