UPDATE: it seems that Mr. Ward doesn’t confine his accusations of dishonesty to concerned members of the public like Donna Laframboise, he’s going after Dr. Richard Tol as well, complaining to journal editors about Tol’s publications made years ago – see update below.
It seems the irascible Bob Ward from the Grantham Institute just couldn’t handle having climate skeptics allowed to give an opinion before the UK Parliament, so he filed rebuttals to every witness. I’ve been sitting on this over a week, and Donna Laframboise reports that the cat is out of the bag now, along with the skeptic response to Bob Ward, who she labels a “rat-snake” for his intolerance.
Parliament has just published the point-counterpoints, and Donna has let loose with a video response.
- Bob Ward, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment | PDF version (
79 KB) 
IPC0060 | Ordered to be published 04 Mar 2014 - Richard Lindzen – written evidence | PDF version (49 KB) IPC0068 | Ordered to be published 04 Mar 2014
- Nicholas Lewis – written evidence | PDF version (115 KB) IPC0069 | Ordered to be published 04 Mar 2014
- Donna Laframboise – written evidence | PDF version (73 KB) IPC0071 | Ordered to be published 04 Mar 2014
Source of Links above: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/energy-and-climate-change-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/the-ipcc/?type=Written#pnlPublicationFilter
Here’s Donna’s video response:
and her blog post about this matter:
Bob Ward says I uttered a “a number of inaccurate and misleading statements” when I appeared before a UK parliamentary committee in January 2014. His accusations have no basis in fact.
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2014/03/05/rat-snake-bob/
========================================================
UPDATE: From Dr. Richard Tol’s website, we have this.
Nick Stern’s attack dog PR person, Bob Ward, has reached a new level of trolling. He seems to have taking it on himself to write to every editor of every journal I have ever published in, complaining about imaginary errors even if I had previously explained to him that these alleged mistakes in fact reflect his misunderstanding and lack of education.
Unfortunately, academic duty implies that every accusation is followed by an audit. Sometimes an error is found, although rarely by Mr Ward.
Here is an example. The left figure was in the Final Government Review Draft of IPCC WG2 AR5. The right figure will be in the published report. Spot the difference?
For all the millions of research pounds at Nick Stern’s disposal, the impact is, well, minimal.
=================================================================
Andrew Montford comments at Bishop Hill that:
Bob’s main problem is that he has only one card to play, namely to accuse his opponents of dishonesty, usually at the top of his voice. In this case, he has accused no less than three people: Nic Lewis, Donna Laframboise and Richard Lindzen.
…
The committee are going to find themselves thinking that he is a bit of a wally. Or a lot of a wally.
See: Whole lotta wally
re: Phillip Bratby says March 5, 2014 at 11:21 am
Why are you being unkind to rats?
Disease carriers (literally: carriers of dis-ease)?
(Full English: “Because they are carriers of disease?”)
.
Bob Ward and is a well known attack dog and a generally nasty piece of work.
Thankfully he’s not that bright and regularly makes himself look silly.
sc, Slartibartfast, etc., while I appreciate your gentle sentiment to keep everything as honest as possible, I disagree with your nitpicking characterization of Donna’s use of the IPCC quote. If I write, “This chapter identifies and recommends ways to address the most significant weeds in each bed of my garden” and do not add a qualifier such as “if any”, am I not stating that there are significant weeds in each bed of my garden, weeds worthy of a chapter’s worth of addressing?
In fact, the chapter cited goes on, as promised, to identify and make recommendations to address what it characterizes as significant shortcomings in:
> Scoping
> Author selection
> Sources of data and literature
> Handling the full range of views
and regarding which it concludes that improvements are “both possible and necessary” but which Slartibartfast characterizes as insignificant in comparison to Donna’s omission of the word “most”.
And in addition to using “their own words”, Donna has written a whole book on the subject that delves far deeper and uncovers flaws of greater significance. She is well qualified to characterize the IPCC as she does, quote or not, don’t you agree? Why divert attention from the beam in Ward’s eye to the purported speck in Donna’s? She is talking 9-11 and you focus, Nuccitelli-like, on something far less significant and germane than waterboarding.
Donna, love the video and your “wise as a (rat) snake and innocent as a dove” delivery! Thank you. Soldier-on!
The most damning of shortcomings in the IPCC’s process was addressed by neither of the three witnesses. This is that its assessment reports provide a policy maker with neither a logical nor a scientific basis for making policy but is worded in a deceptive manner that appears to do so.
Just checked Bishop Hill, anyone who maybe interested in some other Bobisms, look here:
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/display/Search?searchQuery=bob+ward&moduleId=1282578&moduleFilter=&categoryFilter=&startAt=0
The list is quite long.
Whenever I see the name Bob Ward, I am reminded of Uriah Heep
One of Charles Dickens fauning characters.
That is how i imagine Bob to be, serving his master whilst grovelling.
Loathe as I am to revert to the vernacular, of all the possible adjectives
that are available, “Bullshiter” out performs any other at my command.
Estimates of unnecessary deaths from cold in Britain have grown to as many as 50,000 as pensioners are crushed by escalating energy costs exacerbated by a green energy response to the CAGW scheme:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-204541/Deaths-cold-hit-2-500.html
Meanwhile, CBS reports the EU imports more than a third of it’s crude oil from Russia, further imperiling reasonably priced energy as most indications point to another decade or more of cooling temperatures (as well as 17.5 years without warming).
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/does-russian-oil-trump-possible-european-sanctions/
I would suggest Ward is a very dangerous man, particularly if you, a family member or a friend is living on a pension across the pond…
I think I’ve pretty well read all the comments here and I haven’t seen any discussion on the ethics of someone writing a letter (paper! Peer-reviewed even!!) that prays in aid SEVEN leading companies, yet uses a disclaimer to say they are not responsible for the comments of the author.
If I was the CEO of one of these companies I would be heartily dis-chuffed to find someone taking my company’s name in vain in this way. (For those that can recall: this was a defence used by Douglas Bader when being charged with abusing lines of command in equipment supply – Ref: Reach For The Sky).
Is there no one on this blog with some kind of qualification in ‘ethics’ who could comment? Something that Bob ‘Logo’ Ward would understand?
Imnsho the term “each” is the dealbreaker – it means there are shortcomings in EACH step. Donna is correct.
John Whitman says:
March 5, 2014 at 11:11 am
Donna,
Great initial testimony and rebuttal. My donation money was well spent I see. : )
The snake thing in your recent video is weird; I strongly recommend you drop it in the future. It detracts.
But if you insist to do that sort of thing then I would recommend using a character out of literature. Liken Bob Ward to Grima Wormtongue who was the disturbingly duplicitous counsel to King Théoden in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Two Towers”.
Nice, I often compare Jay Carney to the “Mouth of Sauron.”
michael hart says: @ur momisugly March 5, 2014 at 9:12 am
I second everything you said. I happen to be very fond of rat snakes. My Black Rat Snakes will chase the copperheads away so they are very welcome at my farm. I really like the Scarlet King Snakes too but they are further south.
Bob Ward on the other hand can stay in England.
This seems very unfair to rat snakes, they didn’t do anything wrong.
GeeJam says: @ur momisugly March 5, 2014 at 9:28 am
…..It is outrageous that Donna, who had volunteered and dedicated her professional time (with her flight funded by a substantial donation plea to us skeptic community) in order to help our UK politicians get a grip on the realities of the CAGW scam, is treated in this way. She certainly will not volunteer again.
To this day I still fail to understand why Christopher Monkton, Christopher Booker, James Delingpole, Nigel Farage or Nigel Lawson were not invited to testify…..
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It is very simple. She was a woman and had called the holier than thou IPCC a ‘Delinquent Teenager’ and they wanted to trounce on her for her uppitiness.
Equality doesn’t apply to females especially when you are talking about older powerful men.
It doesn’t look like Donna is going anywhere soon.
From her post:
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2014/02/23/judith-curry-free-speech-champion/
“The past week has been insane. Among the things on my plate: ………….
…. •assembling and testing software, green screen technology, and lighting intended to turn my home office into a mini broadcast studio (2014 is the year I try to learn to love video)”
==============
It would appear she is just getting started, and we just watched her first video ?
Well done, Donna!
I had a pet rat snake as a kid in South Carolina. It was grey and brown – not the pretty green color of the species in the video.
Gail Combs says:
“Equality doesn’t apply to females especially when you are talking about older powerful men.”
I think it’s power, period, not ‘equality’. Malcolm X said: “Power never steps back, except in the face of more power.”
You’ve got to force them back.
Réaumur says:
March 5, 2014 at 8:53 am
I sympathise with Donna’s case, but I don’t think childish name-calling helps either side one bit.
I truly believe Donna is a person of integrity and as such has been shocked by the total lack of honesty from people on the AGW side. Bob ward has done something that Donna would never do; that is lie, blatantly lie and seemingly is able to do so with ease to ensure his side keep pushing their agenda.
As a colleague says the left have an infinite capacity to lie, be cruel and practice intolerance of all but their own ideology..
Donna is absolutely correct to call him a rat snake or something along the lines that describes him as a liar. Good for Donna.
Yes, very unfair to both rattees and snakes, however…
I, like Donna, am sometimes accused of being a “conspiracy theorist”. I don’t mind. Better, IMHO, than being a conspiracy practitioner – especially a paid one, like ratsnake 😉
“Slartibartfast says:
March 5, 2014 at 10:37 am “Most significant issues” and “significant issues” generally mean different things.”
That’s what I love about Warmists, when their backs are against the wall (e.g. no Global Warming for 17 years and 6 months) they immediately go into deflect, distract and obfuscate mode.
It won’t do them any good in the end, and I think they know it.
dbstealey says: @ur momisugly March 5, 2014 at 1:10 pm
….I think it’s power, period, not ‘equality’. Malcolm X said: “Power never steps back, except in the face of more power.”
You’ve got to force them back.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On that I will certainly agree but the 6 foot plus WASP males have a physical advantage over the rest of us.
Men are assertive. Women are aggressive.
Men are passionate. Women are emotional.
Men steer. Women support.
I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.” ― Rebecca West, Young Rebecca: Writings, 1911-1917
Thank goodness I have seen a change in this attitude in my lifetime but the attitude does still linger.
Slartibartfast says:
March 5, 2014 at 10:37 am
Let me encapsulate what I have said up until now, for clarity:
“Most significant issues” and “significant issues” generally mean different things. The most significant issue may have great overall importance, or it might not. Examining the conclusion of the report, it seems that none of the most significant issues are critically important, but the report emphasizes they should still be addressed.
You have switched from talking about significance to talking about importance. Because you made this switch, I can agree with your position. You were interpreting the word ‘significance’ as if it were the word ‘importance’.
However, Donna remains correct on her use of ‘significant’. Ward used the phrase “most significant” and, in so doing, he implied that the topic is significant. Donna was entirely correct to use the word ‘significant’. Had Ward introduced some scale of relative significance, then Donna would have been required to refer to that scale. But Ward did not. Do not blame Donna for the author’s inarticulateness.
Are we discussing climate or grammar now? Confused.
Rat snakes are a rather large family; most of them with a quiet temperament and are one of the snakes most amenable to becoming pets.
In Virginia, a very common rat snake variety is the black snake; it does show rat snake marking when very young, but becomes a solid shiny black as it ages, well except for it’s belly. When taking Scouts hiking or camping I would catch most rat snakes we might spot and let the scouts see them up close and perhaps handle them. Yes even wild snakes can often be caught without crushing their neck, as depicted on TV. Slow careful handling and it is a rare rat snake that over reacts.
Sorry Donna, rat snakes just don’t deserve the Bob Ward sobriquet. As another commented above, wild rat snakes are tremendous vermin killers. Having rat snakes around one’s house is the classic good new/bad news syndrome. Rat snake presence means good news that they’re consuming small vermin (and birds if they can), the bad news is that there are enough small vermin to attract the rat snakes.
Now if I was to nominate a snake deserving of a Bob Ward expletive name it would be the American Northern Watersnake. While they eat small rodentia along with fish, frogs and other small critters, Northern Watersnakes have a very unpleasant attitude often delivering painful bloody bites to the unwary or over curious.
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=030034
http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/northern-watersnake/northern_watersnake.htm
Preferably, leave poor critters out of the discussion; Bob Ward is just an unpleasant mess one finds on their boots whilst wandering otherwise bucolic neighborhoods. Don’t get in cars or walk indoors until one scrapes off and washes away the waste.
Thank you, Donna. Your video was a treat to watch and listen to.
Some day I’ll learn how to be soft-spoken in my arguments. You’ve shown how effective that is. I was actually scooted forward on the front of my seat.
Brava!
Bob Lard seems fitting (BH typo)
http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2014/3/5/whole-lotta-wally.html#comment20802651