Wrong conspiracy
Sir, In responding to Stephen Foster, I hereby wish to fill the vacuum left by Colin Summerhayes' reluctance to comment on the integrity and independence of the IPCC (which I do not believe should go unchallenged).
Dr Foster's letter is essentially a lengthy re-statement of a number of talking points promoted by organisations like the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which Colin has already rebutted in detail. Furthermore, given how much effort Colin makes to be reasonable and conciliatory, I am disappointed by the apparent indignation in Foster's letter.
However, I am more surprised by his apparent willingness to self-identify as a conspiracy theorist. I recognise that this is not a very 'conciliatory' remark but, what else am I supposed to conclude from his repeated use of the term "UN-IPCC"?
The IPCC is an independent panel of relevant experts, drawn from all corners of the globe, which synthesises and summarises climate science for the benefit of governments and policy makers (i.e. as opposed to some part of an insidious plot to establish worldwide authoritarian government and punitive taxation via the UN).
There is simply no evidence for a left-wing conspiracy to over-tax and over-regulate people (so as to make everyone poorer), but there is a great deal of evidence for a right-wing conspiracy to under-tax and under-regulate industry (to make a few people richer).
Furthermore, whereas I am not aware of any significant precedent for a politically-motivated campaign by scientists to promote their research funding, there are very clear precedents for business-funded campaigns by industries to protect their vested interests.