Verbal

On the contrary. The hole is still there but smaller Why? Because governments took action on MAN-MADE CFCs, which caused it. An effective precedent for what should be happening now.

Dear Mr 'I don't know the difference between weather and climate': please quote your sources in the scientific literature. You perfectly sum up the 'sceptic' position: it's all about a lack of imagination. And as for 'left wingers' being 'proud' of bio-fuels killing people - the problem can easily be solved either by an equitable redistribution of land, or dropping the bio-fuels mania, which was never anything much more than a way for large landowners in south america in particular to leverage ever larger profits. Advocates of bio fuels have mostly been people like Tom Friedman - just about the most capitalistic of NYT's writers. So I take it I can join you up to the socialist revolution?

How lovely, normanbates. It must really offend you when someone doesn't share your rage.

What you do in your spare time is your business.

Brilliant! Does that mean you won't post on here unless it's about submarines?

London? The Middle East? I don't know. Who the f**k cares?

I expected that level of contribution from you. Check out those people - every one of them is directly responsible for ordering extrajudicial killings on an epic scale.

Ratko Mladic Radovan Karadzic Jorge Videla Manuel Contreras Than Shwe Kim Jong il Robert Mugabe The world would be a much better place with them gone.

I agree. Let's ban all human rights in order to stop Cherie getting her fees.

Global warming only applies to some people.

I have. your contributions are as usual deeply depressing.

Your presumably wilful misunderstanding of climate change science is so fundamental as to render it impossible to engage with you in any sensible way. You're judging climate change science - all the complexities of atmospheric chemistry - by sticking your head out the window, and looking at the weather.

Moral panic! Moral panic!

Of course, the scientific community is wrong and you are right.

And declared fallible, presumably, by those sensible, well-rounded souls that inhabit Planet Lounge. That's alright then. I'll sleep more easily now. Nighty night.

Badlands Les enfant du paradis All the President's Men

Why does no one on here actually discuss the SCIENCE in any of this - I mean the actual papers written on the subject, published in the respected journals?

It's broad scientific consensus vs Tory-boy conspiracy nuts, trousers. You decide.

Another Guernsey native encouragingly. First name Pepe Le

'Fair' is one of those idiotic terms favoured by LibDem spinners and their like. It is different from notions of 'justice' because it is essentially meaningless - or can be twisted to mean whatever you want it to. Why you should tie it to your life-philosophy of utter hopelessness is perfectly understandable. But did you ever in your life think things were worth changing - or at least trying to change them?

No, you're incapability to understand my point has nothing whatsoever to do with your dyslexia.

Define 'a bit'.

It's really beside the point - and a tad too much clutching at stereotypical straws. The correlation between rates of college/university education and prosperity exists because - in the main - graduates have developed their intellectual skills more than non-graduates in such a way - generally - that they are able to parlay these skills into new businesses, innovation, paying jobs, etc. It's a bell curve argument - and doesn't have a damned thing to do with your or my petty prejudices.

Frankly, you really are hoist by your own petard on this. If you complain about students' educational standards and then post punctuation-free paragraphs, you could easily be accused of not fully understanding the root causes of whatever it is you didn't like about them.

Sorry Nick but companies always used to bear the full cost of apprenticeships. Now they're just corporate welfare scroungers, cadging a few quid off of the taxpayer.