Lord Monckton, Climate Change Denier

Lord Monckton's latest trip to Australia hasn't been a happy one. He's already been banned from speaking at venues around the country and yesterday he had a run-in with ABC radio presenter Adam Spencer. Spencer couldn't contain his contempt for the Lord and became so angry, he hung up on him. Shocked, Monckton said "It was a live broadcast interview that the ABC requested but it was really a malevolent and hostile tone the host was taking - he would not allow me to speak - he kept saying 'You are not a real Peer, not a real scientist' and he was implying that I'm a complete idiot who makes things up. Then he started asking questions more and more rapidly without giving me a chance to answer - he wanted to show who was boss I suppose and then I realized he'd hung up."

Adam Spencer

Monckton continues "Then his producer rang me and was extremely apologetic saying that wasn't the right way for a host to behave and 'we want to get you back on the air straight away' - all credit to the producer, it's nice to know that there is some civility at the ABC after all."

Yesterday Steve Jacobs from Fairfax sent an email to staff "Hi all" it said "We are not calling him Lord and this is the reason - although he calls himself Lord, he is not a member of the House of Lords but he is an hereditary peer. In 1999 the law debarred most hereditary peers, including his father, from sitting or voting in the House of Lords. Thanks Steve."

Adam Spencer deliberately set out to discredit Monckton's credentials. "It's my understanding that you have never held any academic position at any university or research institute attached to any science connected to climate change science." Monckton replied "You say you are not taking a position but it's clearly a position which is hostile, you are entitled to do that, it's what the ABC is infamous for on this debate."

Monckton said that the government's chief climate change adviser Professor Ross Garnaut has "a fascist point of view" and is someone who expected people to "accept authority without question." And isn't this the bottom line? I'm not going to believe that climate change is real just because Professor Garnaut says so and I don't need a degree in science to have an opinion. We know very well that there are plenty of climate scientists out there who still believe the whole thing is a phoney beat-up. The jury is still out on this one.

Footnote: The lord created a puzzle called Eternity II aka E2. There is a prize of $2 million to be won if you can solve it, but to date, no one - including mathematicians, computer geeks and even computers - can solve it.