This week I’ve been reading ‘Scared to Death – from BSE to Global Warming; why scares are costing us the Earth.’ Quite a long title – and a lot of read at nearly 500 pages. Well worth it though – here’s what it says about itself: This book for the first time tells the inside story of each of the major scares of the past two decades, showing how they have followed a remarkably consistent pattern. It analyses the crucial role played in each case by scientists who have misread or manipulated the evidence; by the media and lobbyists who eagerly promote the scare without regard to the facts; and finally by the politicians and officials who come up with an absurdly disproportionate response, leaving us all to pay a colossal price, which may run into billions or even hundreds of billions of pounds. This book culminates in a chillingly detailed account of the story behind what it shows has become the greatest scare of them all: the belief that the world faces disaster through man-made global warming. Personally, I’m […]
