The Question

Dickie says, "At the risk of fanning the flames, I'd have thought that these days you'd be approaching these things from the more cautious perspective of a father, rather than a cynic anyway".

You know, it's not that I'm not concerned about environmental issues, I just don't blindly believe all the garbage we're exposed to from people with hidden agendas. Al Gore is interested in one thing and one thing only, self publicity, and he's good at it. He knows the best way to grab a headline is to say something outrageous. That's why he's predicting we have ten years to save the world.

It was the same when people with a political agenda, like Greenpeace, were predicting disaster if we used nuclear power. If the world had listened to the sceptics and cynics like me 30 years ago and gone nuclear, we wouldn't even be having this argument about carbon dioxide now because it wouldn't be there. Currently the US depends on fossil fuels for 80% of it's power generation. Change all those fossil fuel power stations into nuclear generators, and you solve most of the problem overnight, and it was a problem caused by environmentalists.

The question Dickie should be asking himself is this, "Why do I believe Al Gore when he says we have 10 years to save the earth, and I don't believe the East Anglia University Climate Research Unit when they say there has been no temperature rise in the last decade?" Think about it, they can't both be right. One is a respecable science research unit with no reason to spread false information, the other is a politician desperate to grab headlines and revive a flagging career. It's a no-brainer when you look at it like that isn't it?

Apparently the royal family cost us £37 million a year. This is apparently fairly cheap. Many of the heads of state in Europe cost their countries considerably more than that. I don't think the cost of the monarchy is really a good argument for abolishing it. I think there are plenty of other good reasons to become a republic however. It'll be a very sad day when the Prince of Wales puts the hat on.

Taiwan recently tried to oust their president as he became entangled in corruption issues. The attempt failed, but I think he should do the decent thing and step down. The Taiwanese are funny people. They don't seem to realise just how precious their democracy is, or how delicately balanced it is. Chen has been loosing credibility for a long time and he's been dragging his party down with him. He really should be doing something to ensure that they move into the next election