Another warble gloaming date for your diary.

From the Met Orifice, ten years to 'control global warming' or we're all fucked.

Pollution needs to be brought under control within ten years to stop runaway climate change, according to the latest Met Office predictions.

Now let's just stop here and consider that most of the CO₂ in the air is natural and that it's essential for plant life. On top of that unless the world has some magical way of telling the difference between a CO₂ molecule that was produced by a power station and one that was exhaled by a baby dolphin it's hard to see how it can be a pollutant. Then let's remember that the sum total of all the time in the history of human existence during which we have controlled the climate is zero, and while we're streets ahead in our understanding of these things than at any time in our history the chances of us developing a complete understanding in the next ten years are too remote to take even slightly seriously. And finally the idea of stopping 'runaway climate change' - ever heard of anything more ridiculous? If it's not under our control now and never has been then it won't be in ten years that we'll see runaway climate change, it's a reality right now. Not only that but since the climate has always changed and it's never been under active control by us or anyone/thing else on the planet 'runaway climate change' has always been a reality for the past 4+ billion years. And of course the is the Met Office we're talking about. You know, the barbecue summer mob. Their track record of predictions lately is pretty poor.

Anyway, adding that to our list of disaster we get:

• Probably should have happened by now - New York's West Side Highway impassable due to being underwater - Dr. James Hansen (1988/89 interview)
• "Imminently" - loss of world's coral reefs - David Attenborough ('world’s tropical reefs face ‘imminent destruction’ unless CO2 levels are slashed')
• Late 2013 - ice free Arctic - Al Gore (North Pole will be ice free in five years')
• 2014 - the whole world and everything fucked up beyond repair - WWF.
• Dec 2016 - the whole world and everything all fucked up beyond repair - the Prince of Wails and the 100 months
• Late 2019 - ice free Arctic - Pen Hadow (ten years to Arctic ice loss)
• Late 2019 - the whole world and everything fucked up beyond repair - UK Met Office.
• Late 2029 - loss of Great Barrier Reef - marine scientist Charlie Veron ('global warming will destroy the World Heritage site within just 20 years')

Well I don't know about anyone else but with such consistency I'm sold.