Oxford University Report: GWPF Has Been Very Successful Think Tank

Oxford University report concludes: "The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has  had considerable success in getting their point of view across much of the media. They have been extensively quoted in the print media of all political colours."

Reactions from last night's British Council launch of "Poles Apart: The International Reporting of Climate Scepticism"

• At The British Council for the launch of "Poles Apart: the International Reporting of Climate Scepticism" by James Painter. It was Benny Peiser's night - even Andy Revkin agreed with him. --Maurizio Morabito, at the British Council event, 10 November 2011
• Everybody agreeing with and/or congratulating Benny :-) - the GWPF has become an important and recognized player. --Maurizio Morabito, 10 November
• I congratulated Benny on his brilliant propaganda campaign, greatly helped by ideological op-ed desks. --Bob Ward, 10 November 2011
• Benny thanks Bob Ward for helping establish GWPF's public profile. --Oliver Morton, 10 November 2011
• Clues come in an additional chapter in the report, which looks at 10 UK newspapers - virtually all the national dailies, in other words. Among other things, it shows the success that the the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has had in inserting itself into national discourse since its establishment in 2009 - a success noted this week by the conservativehome blog, which describes it as "one of the most important think-tanks in Britain today". --Richard Black, BBC News, 10 November 2011
• The main findings from the study of ten UK national newspapers can be summarised thus: [...] The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has been particularly successful in getting its views reported across most of the 10 UK newspapers. The two most quoted sceptics by far in the second period were Lord Lawson and Benny Peiser (more than 80 times between them) both from the GWPF. --James Painter, Poles Apart: the International Reporting of Climate Scepticism, University of Oxford, Reuters Institute for the study of Journalism, November 2011

William M. Briggs, Statistician » Global Warming, Asinine Science Roundup

Still in Taipei and a bit swamped. Here are some links that will be of interest; mostly provided by Willie Soon, Marc Morano, and readers just like you!

- Bishop Hill blog - Corrupt inquiries

Readers here have come across one two university cover-ups in the last few years, so the news reported at Climate Audit that the President of Penn State university has been fired for failing to investigate allegations of paedophilia against one of football coaches is perhaps less of a surprise than it might be to others. For these latest allegations to be centred on Penn State - Michael Mann's place of work, and the university responsible for one of the Climategate non-inquiries adds a certain piquancy to the story.

As McIntyre points out, the impetus to "hide the paedophile" seems to have been to protect the university's commercial interests. One can only assume that the university bigwigs were incentivised to maintain and grow the flow of funds into the football programme.

When we turn to the university of East Anglia then, we might wonder if we can see a similar commercial incentive in place. I think we probably can - it is known that CRU was bringing in very large sums of money from US funding bodies for doing very little at all. The need to protect that flow of funds may well have been enough for the integrity of the inquiries to be jettisoned from the start.

Alberta premier to go to Washington to lobby for Keystone XL pipeline - Brandon Sun

CALGARY - The Obama administration's decision to delay its approval of the Keystone XL pipeline could have serious consequences for the Alberta economy, and the energy sector that drives much of it, Premier Alison Redford warned Thursday.

"It is disappointing that after more than three years of exhaustive analysis and consultation on this critical project, we find out that a decision will be delayed until early 2013," she said.

...

A lobbyist for TransCanada expressed dismay about the decision, saying it stemmed from "a couple of senior advisers" in the White House.

"It's breathtaking; the White House's political operation gave in to the protesters, going completely outside the national interest and the three-year permit process that's been a painstaking one," the lobbyist, who asked not to be identified, told The Canadian Press.

"The ballsier thing would have been to either approve it or deny it, but to kick the can again is actually more difficult for the president politically. There's 20,000 jobs on the table and they did this to save one — Barack Obama's."