James Delingpole, the champion of online climate conspiracy theorists, claims he was ‘intellectually raped’ on television on Monday night, reports Joss Garman.
James Delingpole, the champion of online climate conspiracy theorists, was ‘intellectually raped’ on television on Monday night by the new head of the prestigious Royal Society. (Reportedly Delingpole’s own words.)
In a must-watch interview for the BBC’s Horizon, the Nobel-prize winning Sir Paul Nurse gently questioned the columnist about his forthright views on climate change science, which he espouses regularly for The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph and in the regular TV and radio spots he is offered by, amongst others, the BBC.
Here’s the video clip of the interview on YouTube:
Surprisingly, the question that tripped him up was one he should surely have seen coming. Delingpole, who had just been attacking the use of consensus in science, was asked if he would submit to a consensus scientific opinion if he needed treating for cancer. Stumbling wildly, he eventually feebly tried to change the subject, saying:
“Erm, shall we talk about climategate?”
Having been (unusually) simply lost for words, later he says:
“It is not my job to sit down and read peer-reviewed papers because I simply haven’t got the time, I haven’t got the scientific expertise… I am an interpreter of interpretation.”
But he apparently does have the time to obsessively blog misleading information about climate change and smear scientists in the process.
Anyhow, perhaps the most beautiful thing about his embarrassing interview is that Sir Paul clearly didn’t try to set him up. Delingpole needed absolutely no help in making himself look stupid. Sir Paul ended his programme urging scientists to speak up. He said:
“Scientists have got to get out there… if we do not do that it will be filled by others who don’t understand the science, and who may be driven by politics and ideology.”
As Left Foot Forward has previously noted Delingpole has admitted how his obsession with climate change is driven by “ideological warfare”.
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39 Responses to “Telegraph columnist ‘intellectually raped’ by Royal Society scientist”
Philip Painter
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph columnist 'intellectually raped' by Royal Society scientist: http://bit.ly/htP25Q reports @JossGarman
tracy mcveigh
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph climate chnage denier tripped up beautifully by Royal Society scientist http://bit.ly/gHmshU
Joss Garman
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph columnist 'intellectually raped' by Royal Society scientist: http://bit.ly/htP25Q reports @JossGarman
Letitia Smith
This really was cringeworthy to watch! But you are right, Nurse didnt really need to do any hard questioning in his interview, Delingpole managed to look a bit silly all by himself!
Alan Stringer
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph columnist 'intellectually raped' by Royal Society scientist: http://bit.ly/htP25Q reports @JossGarman