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Wednesday, 25 June, 2008

Ian Lacey | 18:12 UK time, Wednesday, 25 June 2008

It's been a hectic day here - we've got a lot of strong stories and films in production and it seems that most of them have been in the running order at some point. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions this morning. Today's programme producer Robert Morgan has finally nailed down tonight's offering.

CLIMATE CHANGE
earth203.jpgEver thought of global warming as a threat to national security? If the answer's no, think again. Our science editor Susan Watts has the inside track on how America's intelligence agencies view the implications of global climate change. They've looked ahead to 2030 and present the coming US administration with a choice - wake up to the climate-changed world, and help it to adapt - or lose status as a superpower.

TOP ASIAN POLICEMAN ALLEGES RACISM
Newsnight has learned that Britain's top Asian policeman is considering action against the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair alleging racism. Any action from the Met's Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur would follow similar allegations made against Sir Ian during an employment tribunal this week. Newsnight has been told that Tarique Ghaffur has been compiling a dossier for two years, that he has persuaded the Association of Chief Police Officers legal committee that his case is good enough for them to fund it, and that he has signed up Kingsley Napley as his lawyers. Tarique Ghaffur will be taking his file to a meeting of the executive of the National Black Police Association tomorrow and they are expected to back him.

We'll be speaking live to Ali Dizaei of the Black Police Association. .

BROWN'S FIRST YEAR
Political Editor, Michael Crick takes us through the ups and downs of Gordon Brown's first year as PM. We'll also analyse his year with our panel of political grandees, Michael Howard, Lord Hattersley and Charles Kennedy.

Thanks again for all your suggestions as to the one thing that Gordon Brown might do to regain public support... not sure he'll find them all helpful.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    HALF THE TRUTH WORSE THAN NONE AT ALL

    There is more than fifty years of investigation, with at least one Nobel Laureate involved, that is, nevertheless refused acknowledgement by orthodoxy and tells a very different cosmological story RELEVANT TO CLIMATE CHANGE. It is more than likely we have only part of the story. If, as is postulated, the universe is one great electrical circuit with conductive plasma wiring and electrical lighting effects called stars and galaxies, the changes on earth may be in response to outside influence. Anyone who wants to step outside this particular 'lie' (Havel again) should enquire at (if allowed on blog):

  • Comment number 2.

    NATIONAL BLACK POLICE ASSOCIATION

    If this organisation did not exist, it is something I would expect Private Eye or some fringe comedian to invent an anarchic moment. Is there a National Masonic Police Association? Can anyone join? Every time I read that title, my brain struggles. How does it exist in today's shadow-scared, PC shackled (sic) existence? Am I alone in this?

  • Comment number 3.

    HATTERSLEY BROWN (NOSE)

    Can anyone tell me why Roy Hattersley sounds like Good Ship Lollypop Blears when extolling the leadership qualities of Gordon?
    Although he backed off slightly recently, he still maintains that Brown HAS IT IN HIM when it is so clearly evident that his problem is HE DOES NOT! Is Roy desperate for some reward that is within Gordon's gift? Roy praising Gordon is reminiscent of Alastair Campbell professing his undying love for Tony. Ah: two wild eyed zealots; two jowly bumblers - perhaps it IS love.

  • Comment number 4.

    Hi Barrie.
    Re #2. Great point; sadly, only the public would agree with you. And so it all persists. Like the existence of the EU, when 70% of the population of what a reasonable person might regard as Europe, want out. And socially inadequate Fat Gordon berates Mugabe, while riding rough-shod over our hard-won freedoms and rights, never having being elected as PM, and having beaten no-one in the Labour leadership contest.

    Re #3. Isn't it amazing that Brown could exist in high office for so long without the poor voter getting a chance to see what a mass of nervous ticks and twitches he really is. We need much greater access to, and questioning of, these shocking politicians for the voter. This ludicrous system where a maniac like Blair can cart us into a war no-one wanted, or weirdo like Brown can simply lie over a referendum, and the sole means of calling them to account, is through the busted PMQ's, must be reformed.

  • Comment number 5.

    Hello Ian Lacey,
    Thanx for the involving tone of your synopsis. It is nice to feel that someone makes time to scan our ramblings.

  • Comment number 6.

    ref Barrie #1. With the various reports stating that the planet has gone through several phases of warming up and cooling down over many thousands of years,
    I cannot help but suspect that all this talk of global warming is some red herring (based on a certain amount of facts) to deflect our attention away from some impending disaster or underhand dealings.

  • Comment number 7.

    Barrie (post 2)...
    No, you are not alone in your bewilderment regarding the existence of the National Black Police Association: nor are they the only PC-defying organisation.

    The website of a certain political party lists dozens of organisations whose titles proudly (and blatently) proclaim their interest in sectarian values rather than integration.

    I won't identify the website: that would guarantee being sent into the 'moderate-your-language' corner. I read the websites of all rosette stands so that I can get the overall picture and form my own conclusions.

  • Comment number 8.

    More Climate Change rubbish - very disappointed at the biased and very weak report on the "global warming as a threat to national security" item. Any chance of EVER having someone who doesn't believe in the world according to Gore and Hansen. Margaret Beckett - don't make me laugh.

    BTW the world temp have gone down during the last 10 years - or has no-one in Newsnight noticed that?

  • Comment number 9.

    Excellent Newsnight tonight - particularly on Gordon Brown's 1st anniversary debate :-)

  • Comment number 10.

    So now we have the intelligence agencies stating that Global Warming will lead to Armageddon. These are the very same intelligence agencies that stated that they had irrefutable proof that Saddam had substantial quantities of WMD in Iraq and that costly, in all respects, military action was the only option. Have we forgotten this or is it just convenient doublethink?

    We heard the real reason why they are making these claims, that of increased spending. Up it to the levels of the war on terror or better still, the Apollo program, and with the same underlying bogeyman, that of risking loosing status as a superpower. Plenty of highly profitable business for companies, scientists, et al and of course plenty of taxes to pay for it all.

    The problem is, just as with WMD and Iraq, when the smoke clears and the mirrors tarnish and crack, as they will do as people see with their own eyes that the planet isn't heating up and sea levels aren't rising, the backlash will be immense. Politicians, governments, environmental organisations, science in general, all will be discredited as at best fools, at worst liars.

    By replacing nuclear Cold War Armageddon with Global Warming 'hot war' Armageddon, these people are playing with fire and we all risk getting badly burnt.

  • Comment number 11.

    HILLSIDE BOY aka GUNGA DIN

    I applaud your masochism in reading MP websites. My MP (whose parade I 'rained' on in 2005 with my 'Spoil Party Games' candidacy) is so typical of the breed I have to look away rather than towards.
    I used to have a lot of (actual) nightmares where nothing added up and I could not get a purchase on any reality. It seems as if, in Britain, it is not so much a case of 'the centre cannot hold' more 'centre - what centre?' I have worked for businesses that were so badly run, they should not have survived, but they were so woven into the purchasing patterns of their customers that they did. It is hard to believe Britain merits its current commercial status. As for social status: I have referred to 'soft corruption' somewhere on the blogs tonight - I think that sums us up.

  • Comment number 12.

    Any average intelligent person weighing up the overwhelming verity of Scientific FACTS proving the threat of global warming, would certainly not agree with the comments posted here.

    Its quite likely that those who stand to loose out to global warming (we all know who those companies are), have posted comments such as those dominating this story.

  • Comment number 13.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 14.

    Global Warming or is it Climate Change ?

    Why I personally think global warming is a sham -

    1) When has the earth not got hotter or cooler ?

    2) Why is the sun so readily dismissed as having any ill effect on planet Earth ?

    3) Are we sure over population is not the real problem here ? cut down that rain forest as we have another billion people who want beef and wheat !


    One thing I do agree with , that for security reasons we need to find another power source as the oil supply will only become more dangerous in future years .

    I think current nuclear technology , tho improved is still flawed from the security point view .

    The only clean and relatively endless supply of energy I know is gravity , how to harness that , who knows , but hopefully one day someone will have an Eureka moment or a religious revelation (depending on what side of the fence you sit).

  • Comment number 15.

    The Global warming report might just be the precursor to cutting back on that over-population story thing thats doing the rounds. 6 billion+, "well lets start a few wars and gets thst armageddon bandwagon on the road...yeeehaa"

    I've heard that the optimum population for our globe is er....... 5 hundred million...YES, THATS HALF A BILLION...but don't quote me on that...you maybe taken for a fool. ( i might need to do some more research on that).

    I would have taken the alleged racism accusations more serious but for the inclusion of Brian pillock (useless..USELESS...U-S-E-L-E-S-S) and that other questionable character Ali Dizaei on tonights Newsnight. Any credibility this story had, has lost its legs. Have you ever noticed that the average man or woman always think they pull the most weight and that the laziest always think they work the hardest? ....The METs assistant commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur (the complainant) i would hazard a guess would not have reached the dizzy heights within the MET if he had have been white. And Ali Dizael,...and this needs to be said- if white, would have been sacked from the Police long ago and would now be working in Tescos stacking lemons..Here's a novel thought; maybe the assistant commissioner just did not cut the mustard to go further up the career ladder, maybe he should concentrate his mind more on his job and put his "is it's because i is black" card back in his breast pocket.

    And as for the 'Black police association'....if i decided to start my own 'whites whatever association'.... i would be arrested!!! its a funny old world we live in.

    P:S for balance; blairs not much cop either.( to keep the usual McCarthy like response to a minimum)

  • Comment number 16.

    The way for America to stop being a super power is for it to enter into an economic suicide pact to cap its CO2 emissions by law and then institute an insane carbon credit buy and sell regime. This would not only spell ruin for the US economy but for the world's economy as well and would be the beginning of worldwide famine the like of which we haven't seen in the better part of a century. And how do you sell Americans on the notion that they must cut back their economic growth and their standard of living while India and China don't so that they can catch up to Western levels? This kind of self sacrifice is beyond even what Americans will tolerate from their government. And why should they when America sits on proven reserves of coal, gas, and oil of its own beyond all forseeable needs into the indefinite future?

    The world will find a way to adapt whether voluntarily or by force of events. One way will be a reduction in the size of the world's population which has outstripped the ability of the ecosystem to absorb its waste products within the constraints of our carbon based technology. The alternative is to go back to life as it was in the mid 19th century. That isn't going to happen. Those who see conservation and efficiency as THE solution without cutbacks in population simply don't understand the dimensions of the problem or just how marginal conservation reductions will be in light of the magnitude of what is required. Europeans are just beginning to wake up to the reality of what cutbacks really mean, not their imaginary notion that all the world needs to do is build windfarms and solar boilers, turn off the lights, and drive smaller cars. And they don't like it one bit. I have news for them, the current shortages are barely a first taste of the appetizer. Wait until the main course arrives.

  • Comment number 17.

    #2. I agree 100%. I don't see how organisations such as this exist under law. If I was deny membership to any organisation I ran according to the colour of the applicants skin I'd be prosecuted.

    Going off at a slight tangent how is it possible for the lottery commission to deny funding to the RNLI (an organisation that rescues sailors of any race or nationality from Britains waters) on the grounds that 'they lack ethnic appeal' yet give funding to an Asian womens social centre in Nottingham (a building that discriminates on both race and sex) ?

    Clearly barring white people from activities isn't racist. In light of these outrageous discrimination laws revealed today it appears that this IS the legal case.

  • Comment number 18.

    I watched your item on the climate change report in the USA and wondered why we let our government representatives talk so smugly.
    Margaret Beckett should have been challenged while she was self-righteously saying that our government was encouraging other countries to take climate change seriously.
    How can we say this when the government does not include the pollution from planes and shipping in any measures or targets and is prepared to let BAA build a 3rd runway at Heathrow DOUBLING the number of flights as just one example of the double standards that this government operates on.
    Come on team, don't let our politicians get away with such smug self-congratulation that is unwarranted.

  • Comment number 19.

    an excellentnewsnight especially messrs hatterley howard, and the ex leader of the Lib Dems,Kennedy but Hatterley was wrong to suggest that Brown could not turn left as he has nowhere else to go! He has TO appease the Daily Mail and they still attack him instead of staying loyal to his traditional core Labour supporters (you know the ones....they made him) ditch PFI's, have a fairer tax system as was suggested and bring theboys home. His problems could evaporate overnight but he won't do it becaUSE HE LISTENS TO THE WRONG PEOPLE.

  • Comment number 20.

    Earth-Reply,

    "Any average intelligent person..."

    Why is it that Global Warming believers resort to insults so readily. Insulting someone doesn't make them agree with you. The consensus of scientific data point to no warming of the Earth. CO2 as a greenhouse gas is still a hypothesis. Using the words 'facts' and 'prove' just shows a lack of understanding of how science functions.

    The data published by two independent organisations contradicts the data controlled by someone who is in the thrall of a person who has already benefited greatly and is set to benefit still further from his ownership of a carbon trading company and green investment funds. Indeed data published by his own organisation that he is not in control of contradicts him. However, the IPCC chooses to believe the data that suits their purpose and dismisses out-of-hand any that doesn't. Not scientific, but then the IPCC is political, the clue is in the name. The majority of the media then follow their own agendas, choosing to accept what is put out by the IPCC, calling it a consensus when it is not.

    "Its quite likely that those who stand to loose out to global warming (we all know who those companies are), have posted comments such as those dominating this story."

    Why is it you try to dismiss what you admit are the majority of comments as planted by the oil companies? We already see that the so-called Green Industry is making plenty of money from 'Global Warming'. Domestic wind turbines have already been shown not to produce enough electricity to counter the CO2 produced in their manufacture, but if legislation was introduced forcing people to install them, the manufacturers, suppliers and installers are on the gravy-train. If mandatory carbon trading is introduced, then not only will the carbon trading companies make millions, so will computer hardware and software companies. As do manufacturers of insulation, energy-efficient light bulbs, et al. And let us not forget that governments, and even local councils, have already collectively pulled in many billions in taxes they wouldn't have raised without the great green scare.

    So why resort to being insulting and dismissive if you have a sound argument that can be backed up with real scientific evidence and not assumptions?

  • Comment number 21.

    EXCITED NEPHEW

    Aunt Bum! (#18) At last, I hear from you after you walked out one dark night in winter all those years ago!
    I thought dear Margaret was restrained in terms of her usual level of self-righteousness. And not ONE hurrumph! Perhaps it was this that disarmed Paxo?
    I think we should allow Beckett her smug self-congratulation - she did well to be less like herself than usual.

  • Comment number 22.

    CARBON OFFSETTING (鈥. . it resembles nothing so much as the sale of indulgences by the medieval church鈥).

    Nigel Lawson (and the Lords in general) made some interesting points on all of this. Basically, Lawson (Thatcher's Energy Minister at the crucial time) is on record as saying that Thatcher's government jumped on this (naturally cyclical?) warming bandwagon to bolster the case for nuclear over fossil fuels. So... more politics than science?



  • Comment number 23.

    JadedJean,

    Yes and how ironic it is that the nuclear power industry, vilified by green organisations for so long as a long-term polluter and possible destroyer of life on Earth, an industry that ought to be shut down completely, now is being presented as 'green' and stands to make countless billions from the Global Warming gravy-train.

  • Comment number 24.

    IT'S ALL ABOUT ....

    SilencedMajority (#23), an earlier one from his son Dominic in 2007 on hypocrisy and it serving as a cynical investment vehicle/money pump (like SIVs?):


    439432.html

    "Gore's spin doctors argued that the former Vice-President had bought "carbon offsets" to compensate for his home's use of
    "polluting" energy.

    It turns out that Gore bought these modern equivalents of indulgences from Generation Investment Management--a company which he chairs. In other words, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out with its customary regard for the bottom line, "Gore buys his carbon offsets from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself".

  • Comment number 25.

    NOT JUST A LIE - A BLACK ONE

    Indulgences indeed! And such a perfect example of (yet again) 'living within the lie'.
    Poor Gore just could not let go the stage, so he settled for strutting his Global Warming routine in a theatre 'where you are' (to use a juvenile 91热爆 phrase).
    Now we have Miliband as our expert. His scientific credentials are without taint - he hasn't any credentials for the taint to stick to. This illustrates another madness of our politics. These general-purpose rosette stands rise through the ranks, by brown- nosing, to be given briefs for which they have never shown aptitude or inclination. They then strive to 'make their mark' on whatever they have been handed, to gain kudos and leave that DAMNABLE LEGACY.

  • Comment number 26.

    I think both Obama and McCain support a Carbon emissions cap and trade policy. When this insane idea gets passed in Congress and becomes law, there will be no reason why American farmers won't sell their Carbon credits to the power companies, put down their farm equipment, and get jobs in the city. They will make more money with less work. The flip side is that not only will America's number one export dry up but in the wealthy countries the price of food will skyrocket while in the poor ones there just won't be any. Just look at what's happened to food prices already with a small diversion to alcohol additives for gas and the increase in the cost of the fuel it takes to grow and transport food to markets. This is just the start of something monumentally stupid.

  • Comment number 27.

    Climate change is not the problem it is the symptom.

    Collapse of the planet's ecological systems is the problem.

    Deal with the cause of this.

    If the Government's of the world are allowed to increase consumption just to stabiize an abstract economy. They wil hastened the end.

    Take the advantage of the recession and innovate your ideas.

    Do not increase consumption. Follow the natural order of things.

    Have you never heard the phrase.

    "When you are in a hole, stop digging."

    Establish a new paradigm.


    Celtic Lion

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