Th UK Government has lost all sense of realism and decency. As a father of two young children myself, I’d like to smack the person(s) responsible for this upside the head and say “what were you thinking!”.
Even normally pro AGW Nature calls it the Worst. Climate. Campaign. Ever. Watch this.
Link to transcript
Nature writes:
The UK government has decided to convince us all that climate change is real. To this end it is spending £6 million on a prime time advertising campaign featuring a father reading a bedtime story about the evil carbon dioxide monster created by grown ups which is making rabbits cry.
…
In perhaps the worst advert for stopping climate change I’ve ever seen, the cringe worthy short has the father telling his child how scientists found that global warming “was being caused by too much CO2, and it was the children of the land who’d have to live with the horrible consequences”
In an article in the Register, Andrew Orlowski points out that even the UK Met office doesn’t go this far:
Met Office climate modeller Vicky Pope has said apocalyptic predictions are misleading – “distorting” the perception of climate change. She cited shock-horror press releases about recent Arctic ice melt, which she said could equally be explained by natural variation.
…
Taxpayers are paying £6m so their children can be scared out of their wits. It’s not Halloween, but a new climate change TV advertising campaign that begins tonight, which features a young girl watching a dog drown.
See the new center of climate porn here:
http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/actonco2/home.html
They do have a contact form. The question is: will they listen or just brand everyone who thinks maybe the campaign is “over the top” as paid shills of Exxon ?
http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/actonco2/home/about-us/Contact-us.html
Given the net carbon consumption of making, broadcasting and watching TV the most natural thought would be that the TV companies should close themselves down to make and immediate and, likely, measurable impact.
Of course this may not please the Government since a population not controlled and made comatose by TV might start to re-discover its critical thinking ability.
I guess that would leave it with no option but to take state control of the Internet.
Stranger things have happend.
In recent times ther have been some very odd, and getting odder, decisions by the Norwegians about the destination of the Nobel Peace Prize. Gore, obviously, but before that Arafat and others. Could this award be co-opted as a proxy for the degree of madness exhibited by the ‘Ruling Elite’? And then be extrapolation help us to understand and predict what idiotic policies are about to be publically aired by the ‘World Government’?
Well Jimbo concerning WMD’s and secret services …http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1189182.stm
—-
Anyway this kind of heavy hand is not really susprising. They are playing this game for a much longer time.
Just complained to the ASA … Two tracks …factual inaccuracies (lies) and the way that they are being peddled.
I strongly advise this action. The ASA have teeth and they can stop this sort of rubbish pretty quickly.
If you’ve ever had any involvement with animal research or animal agriculture you won’t be surprised by this or the one posted by Gary Hladik (13:51:04).
How long will it be before these fascists are terrorizing you and your family because you don’t drive an electric car or because your business or home isn’t powered by wind and solar? PETA, ALF , WWF, the radical greens and, apparently now the British government are willing to use any means to make you conform to their world view, no matter how warped and misanthropic. They’ve already brainwashed your kids’ teachers into brainwashing your kids; now they’re bringing it into your home. This stuff is not only sick, it’s dangerous. A UCLA researcher conducting critical neurological research using monkeys recently gave up because of fear for his family after they had been terrorized in their own home. You could be next.
Now if the UK government owns the TV networks, how’s come it costs them £6 million to put up an advert in prime time?
Maybe the government should demand the resignations of the BBC Chairman and Director General if it can’t get a bargain rate.
Speaking of top level BBC resignations, I see that Wikipedia has whitewashed the David Kelly affair in its bio page on Andrew Gilligan.
You need to make your voices heard very loudly. In letters, emails and comments, ask every government department, environmentalist, activist, media outlet, bank and carbon trade lobbyist if there will be a refund or reimbursement for money spent on carbon taxes or carbon credits if temperatures fail to rise when greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise (because they will not stop rising for a long time). Say it loudly and say it everywhere and watch how the cretins cringe when they can’t answer the question.
David L. Hagen (13:55:17) :
Please express your opinion to:
“Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald
The British Embassy
Washington D.C.
3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington D.C. 20008-3600 USA
Or email britishembassyenquiries@gmail.com”
Or make a complaint here:
http://www.cap.org.uk/
Hey, we have 2-Jags as our climate change spokesperson, who says we Brits don’t have a sense of humour?
As for Kingsnorth being canned, we’ve also been treated to news preparing us for domestic energy bills increasing by 60% between now and 2016!-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8297882.stm
Lemme think. Build powerstation, more power, harder to justify price hikes. Don’t build powerstation, demand increasing.. Yup, sounds like a plan!
But it’ll be ok, £6m (or $9.6m) is a small price to pay for our future kid’s nightmares. Me? Think I’ll risk the wrath of PETA, skin some bunny wabbits and make some nice warm slippers and gloves.
Interesting. They pull Ren and Stimpy, the Road Runner, the Cat and Mouse one (can’t remember the name of that one), and Yosemite Sam because they are too violent for little children. But a drowning dog is okay????
@tallbloke
We dumped our TV 20 years ago now. Never missed it, not once. People ask “What do you do with all that time?”, and I reply, “How do you find the time to watch TV?”
It was dull crap back then. Now, it’s “999 channels and nothing on (except repeats)”, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen IIRC.
The best part? Our children READ. And I mean read, really read, every single day and love it. A trip to the bookshop is the highpoint of any week.
That you will never be able to buy, and I will never give it up or stop trying to convince others of the benefit.
Anthony,
Thanks for running the story. I get much of my climate news here; not a day passes without visiting.
It’s one thing to fulminate on a blog such as this, but unless direct messages are sent to the responsible party, they will always say: “We’ve had no complaints.” So hats off to Martin Brumby, Nick Name Game and EricH, above, for sounding their complaints in the appropriate ear.
I’m glad we’re not all saying exactly the same thing, but there’s enough similarity to strengthen each other’s theme. I said:
Richard Treadgold,
Convenor,
Climate Conversation Group.
Totally disgusting.
Parents should not let thier children watch sci-fi horror ads made to look like it already happened.
Send your kid to bed with a nightmare, what a message.
This is what happens when you let the government into your private lives.
Les Johnson (15:29:51) :
What’s a manufacturing job? /sarc
DaveE.
Nick Name Game
My children are grown up, and my grandchildren live in Australia, but I hate the thought of this vile rubbish being propagated, so I’ve sent my complaint.
“MattN (13:30:22) McCarthy may have been a bombastic bully but unlike the AGW crowd he was right.”
When he was “right”, does the saying “sometimes even a blind squirrel can find a nut” mean anything? He was more wrong than he was ever right, ruined the lives/careers of many perfectly decent Americans who dared question what he was doing, and when he began investigating the FBI for commies, his act came to an abrupt end….
“Jump the shark” indicates that something is ludicrous and unbelievable, whilst “beyond the pale” means “outside of accepted behaviour”. I don’t know what the British equivalent of “jump the shark” might be.
Be careful Mike – it could be coming to a country near you sooner than you think.
For the first time ever – I made a complaint …
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_complain/complaints_form
Moving slightly OT …
Paul is a familiar face in these parts (Yorkshire) as the “weather man”. Comes across as really good natured and quick thinking. He has occasionally had to tell people to leave town (York*) as serious flooding is imminent. Can’t think of a nicer bloke to hear it from.
I don’t see the article as any kind of about turn from the BBC but it says something that at least there is an acknowledgement in there that there may be another point of view. Who knew?
“The UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre, responsible for future climate predictions, says it incorporates solar variation and ocean cycles into its climate models, and that they are nothing new.
In fact, the centre says they are just two of the whole host of known factors things that influence global temperatures – all of which are accounted for by its models“. There you go then, no more research required. Again, who knew?
(*) There is a Pub in York called The Kings Arms, right on the river bank. At the bar they have a brass “measuring stick” (floor to ceiling) that marks the heights of bar flooding going back to 1640 (IIRC). Will try to get a photo next time I am there.
Could you point me to your source for that one?
I just knew WUWT would drag me out of the despondency following the advert …
This is CO2 – anything is possible. (may, could, might, possibly …)
and my nomination for QOTW….
And finally.. what were they thinking when they came up with this one!
Better now than never.
BBC wakes up, I never thought I would see the day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm
dearieme (15:14:59) :
“It’s the legacy of Mr Blair: fascism-lite”.
Right, and now he comes back to screw the entire EU as their first President.
I think the “The World’s End” sign for the pub with the drowning dog and cat at the background was the best part of this ad. Fantastic!
I am not really keen about politics but now I must say that the labour government has finally lost the plot, completely. How much more crazy can they get?
Don’t think the /sarc was required, probably an exam question for UK school leavers about now.
(i) What’s a manufacturing job?
a) A job where something real is produced.
b) Tree selection for climate reconstruction.
c) A job made for you by Government using tax revenue from adults still employed in manufacturing .
d) A drowning Puppy.
That is a really piece of propaganda. What will be next after childrens?
I’m assuming it is this Paul Hudson BTW. Though until now I had no idea he was a Bradford City fan. Always knew there was something fundamentally “wrong” about him.
TonyB (15:38:44) 09-10-09:
“Joan Ruddock’s work focuses largely on how ‘we can change behavior across UK society and reach an ambitious global agreement to reduce our carbon emissions in a fair and effective way’”.
Joan Ruddock was, at one time, chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). I think it is now reasonably well established that CND received some, if not most, of its funding from “anonymous donors” that were actually conduits associated with the old KGB, and hence the USSR.
I am not suggesting a grand conspiracy here, I am just saying …
Curiousgeorge (15:46:51) 09-10-09:
If you are going to fight the AGW’s on their terms, you are going to have to have very deep pockets … don’t forget they can increase taxes in order to up the pressure if they need to.
All we have is the truth – it will have to do.