Last week a number of people were in shock about the news that James Delingpole had his last column at the Telegraph. It was all rather abrupt. As to why, I have the inside scoop.
I asked James directly, and in a nutshell it was three things.
1. They paid him poorly, ’nuff said.
2. They never seemed to appreciate the kind of traffic and exposure he’d brought. Remember, Delingpole was the first MSM columnist to break Climategate, and I’m pleased to say he got the scoop from WUWT. But, they didn’t really recognize the asset, even though he won an award for his Climategate coverage. When Delingpole’s column won the Bloggie award for “Best Weblog About Politics“, they didn’t even mention it in the print edition or in the online main page. Usually when a columnist or writer wins such an award, the paper crows about it.
3. Often, they didn’t like the content. As we know, James skewers the left and in particular greens. He reports he was getting increasing pressure over his environmental essays.
Usually when people are the most angry at someone for something they’ve said or written, it’s because what they’ve said or written has some truth in it. While Delingpole pulled no punches when it came to describing (with great flourish) the defective nature of some aspects of the environmental movement, some ‘proper’ folks found it hard to stomach.
Of course, then we have this, which I find even harder to stomach:
Andrew Montford cited this as an example of Delingpole’s prescience.
So, now, the Telegraph’s loss is Breitbart’s gain, and just three days later, James has come out swinging:
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/02/16/Lefty-Lies-UK-Floods
All in all, quite an exit mirrored by a grand entrance.
Finally, all this leads me to something I’ve been remiss at doing simply because the day to day business of running WUWT often gets in the way, and that’s to recommend James most recent book. He kindly sent me a copy, and while the title admittedly made me cringe, once I started reading it, I found it lighthearted and hilarious. It reads a bit like a dictionary, except every definition has a punch line. Highly recommended, click the cover to have a look.
Also, be sure to add Breitbart London to your bookmarks. Delingpole’s latest is: Whose Life Is More Important? Yours, Or A Shark’s?
Oh, and what essay on Delingpole by yours truly would be complete without this photo courtesy of our friends at “Skeptical Science”?
Rhys Jaggar says:
February 18, 2014 at 11:17 pm
“The ‘Right Wing Club for the Good Ol’ Boys’ continues its online love in……..
Delingpole was late to the Climate Change Party and thinks that it started with ‘Climategate’.
Well: it didn’t. It started a decade earlier.”
I don’t mind how late anyone comes to the party as long as they come. The fact is that millions of people are coming late to the party after recognising the AGW fraud. Let them keep coming. I’m sure even you Mr Jagger will want to come to the party one day when the utter stupidity of the AGW cause, which you obviously support at the moment, sinks in.
February 18, 2014 at 11:17 pm | Rhys Jaggar says:
Oh, my ! your petticoat is showing … Dellers is not an American !
Wow!! What a picture….I’ll be fantasising all morning!
Wait a minute….I KNOW James hasn’t got pecs like that, I’ve seen him in his shorts! Come to think of it I believe An..ony has lost a bit of ‘presence’ somewhere too? Can’t be sure about about ‘his lordship’ but all three of you look pretty good, I may put the pic on my fridge door to keep ‘himself’ on the diet.
Off topic but I wonder whether twits like Rhys Jaggar ever try to tell the Chinese about people arriving ‘late’ to WW2.
“Finally, all this leads me to something I’ve been remiss at doing simply because the day to day business of running WUWT often gets in the way, and that’s to recommend Jame’s most recent book.”
Anthony, someone may wish to do a bit of editing here.
I read the Telegraph for years (following my father’s example), and it used to have a delightful dry sense of humour but it has been going downhill for years (possibly when the Barclay Brothers got it). Any paper with Mary Riddell writing in it can’t be taken seriously. I stopped reading it years ago and James’ departure just reinforces my views.
sorry about being off topic but I need your help quickly, Ive sterd up a hornets nest on youtube with some greenie hippy. please answer this question quickly if you can,and promise I want bother you with off topic stuff again. Do our tax dollars help pay for these agw scientist research grants.
Rhys Jaggar says:
February 18, 2014 at 11:17 pm
“Delingpole is a typical American joining a 20th century world war. Late to the party but demanding all the credit.”
You should be very careful with the word “demanding”.
Delingpole demands nothing of anyone; rather the international Green movement with their leader science czar John Holdren of EcoScience fame in the White House demands population reduction, tax increases, de-industrialisation and the expropriation of private property via Agenda 21; furthermore the worldwide ban of nuclear technology and GM technology (as demanded by Greenpeace).
Unfortunately Breitbart isn’t a real news agency, just a right wing propaganda website. Maybe he can write stories about the Friends of Hamas.
Congratulations on finding a better venue for knowledgeable and open journalism. It is astonishing how much money has been wasted on green scams. The UK floods are a very clear example of the consequences of idiotic, impractical, green environmental policy.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/02/16/Lefty-Lies-UK-Floods
Comment:
It is interesting to compare James Delingpole’s thoughtful insightful article on the UK floods to the Economist’s vague, confusing, punch pulling, David Cameroon protecting, article on the same subject.
You’ll need to update your list of blogs on the right of this page with his new URL
Richard111 says:
February 18, 2014 at 11:46 pm
“We stopped buying the Daily Telegraph over three years ago. Been buying the Daily Mail but beginning to have doubts about them. Wondering about the Spectator.”
Read them all (and many more) on-line and stop having to worry about purchasing any one of them. Makes for a nice broad view of the world to boot.
I have about 4 bookmarks for for global warming. One of them was James Deligpole’s Telegraph Blog. I have updated my bookmark.
Rhys Jagger:
Well, yes, our friends in the Virginian Colonies were a little late at arriving in WW2 in some respects, however they were giving Britain a lot of support in many other ways. When they did eventually arrive, as the result of a most unruly prod from behind, they were also a little slow at first, but a giant takes time to get moving, slowly at first, then a little quicker, with every step, until they were eventually in full spate. The 300,000+ graves in France alone might just enlighten you as to the tremendous cost in Human sacrifice they gave to liberating Europe from tyranny, just so you could say what you want to say, & in English instead of German (No offence to Germans anywhere, I speak a little myself)!!! Oh & that was for the SECOND time in the 20th Century!!!!
“Unfortunately Breitbart isn’t a real news agency”
I suppose for you real news agency means forcing people at point of the gun buying BBC leftist propaganda…
The flooding fiasco this winter is making many British people wake up to the reality of the ugly misanthropy of the eco-fascist Khmer Vert movement. It is indeed well over time that free societies “get rid of all the green crap”. Karl Popper’s contribution to WW2 was to write the book “The Open Society and its Enemies”. Its message remains vital today, the eco-fascists are the biggest threat to democracies.
Some quotes from Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies:
If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories. In this way it is only too easy to obtain what appears to be overwhelming evidence in favor of a theory which, if approached critically, would have been refuted.
Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.
There is an almost universal tendency, perhaps an inborn tendency, to suspect the good faith of a man who holds opinions that differ from our own opinions. … It obviously endangers the freedom and the objectivity of our discussion if we attack a person instead of attacking an opinion or, more precisely, a theory.
Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification — the art of discerning what we may with advantage omit.
Other quotes:
“The collectivists . . have the zest for progress, the sympathy for the poor, the burning sense of
wrong, the impulse for great deeds, which have been lacking in latter-day liberalism. But their
science is founded on a profound misunderstanding, and their actions, therefore, are deeply
destructive and reactionary. So men’s hearts are torn, their minds divided, they are offered
impossible choices.
Walter Lippmann.
“To the debacle of liberal science can be traced the moral schism of the modern world which so tragically divides enlightened men”
Walter Lippmann.
“The chief danger to our philosophy, apart from laziness and woolliness, is scholasticism, … which is treating what is vague as if it was precise. . .”
F. P. Ramsey.”
snow says:
“Do our tax dollars help pay for these agw scientist research grants.”
Yes. More than $100 billion since 2001. You will have to look it up, though, as I am going by memory.
Thank you dbstealey.
So happy he jumped over to Breitbart. It’s a way better place for him in the long run and he will reach more people anyway. I hope his readership follows him as he enjoys the benefits of a much wider audience from Breitbart.
I’ve just ordered The Little Green Book from Amazon.
Rhys Jaggar says:
February 18, 2014 at 11:17 pm
“Delingpole is a typical American joining a 20th century world war.”
Mmmmm… Unh-uh.
Alan the Brit says:
February 19, 2014 at 2:12 am
Well, yes, we do feel we played a key role. But, many of us are well aware that Britain was sine qua non. Had the Brits not held virtually alone in the darkest days, there would have been no safe routes for American troops and material to arrive.
I’ve had arguments with friends who insist that, by virtue of suffering the most, the Soviet Union really won the war. I say, you don’t give credit to the guys who helped start the fire. In my book, the Brits were the real heroes.
I am hoping James will skewer the Greens over this piece of Stalinism:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26187711
Quote:
‘Greens call for clear-out of ‘climate change deniers’ reads the headlines, it’s actaully quite concerning.
I followed him at the Telegraph, I will now follow him at Breitbarts.
I missed him, I was experiencing ‘Dellingpole withdrawal’ for a few days there.
The Soviet Union won WW2 by kicking it’s way into Berlin after the greatest land battle in history…
Interestingly the Telegraph Comment section still lists James Delingpole as one of their columnists in the banner.