Knob of the week

I know it's only Monday, but I want to present my "knob of the week award" to the Bishop of Stafford.

The Bishop of Stafford, Gordon Mursell, seems to think that climate change sceptics, and I count myself among their number, are as guilty as Josef Fritzl. My first reaction to this story was confusion. He does however try to explain himself. It seems that Gordon thinks that to ignore climate change is selfish and that it condemns our children to an unpleasant future. That's like Fritzl you see, he didn't give a toss about his daughter, only cared about himself.

Over and above the fact that his comments are so vacuous as to destroy his own argument, this story is interesting to me for other reasons. He appears to be of the opinion that climate change is so obviously happening, that anyone claiming otherwise can only be in denial. I wonder whether he considers me to be as guilty as Fritzl. I'm of the opinion that there is very little firm evidence to suggest that global warming is actually happening, though I'm certainly willing to listen to anyone who does have compelling evidence. It seems to me that the climate scientists can't agree on the rate of warming, the effects of warming, or what's causing it. And all conclusions appear to based on the premise that the climate would be stable if man wasn't meddling. That premise is demonstrably wrong.

Why is that interesting to me? I'll tell you. The standard Christian argument for the existence of god is very similar to Gordon's argument for the existence of global warming. It's obvious it's there, you just have to look around to see it. You can't possibly need more evidence than that. To ignore it is morally wrong.

The Bradford and Bingley Building Society is drifting up Shit Creek sans paddle this morning it seems. Their chief exec, a man in whom the market apparently had some confidence, has resigned with health problems hours before it was announced that they were in the red. The B and B were (are?) the biggest buy-to-let mortgage lenders in the country. House prices are plummeting, and I guess it seems as though they have a huge amount of money invested in property which isn't worth as much as it was. What's more, it's property bought by people who rely on letting the place to tenants to cover the loan repayments. If they can't find tenants, and the value of the property falls below what they borrowed to buy it, they won't be able to make the repayments, and they won't be able to pay off the loan by selling it.

This morning I read that Yves Saint Laurent has died, this afternoon Bo Diddley passed away, and just a day or two ago, Beryl Cook died. It's been a bad week.