Complaint to Ofcom Regarding “The Great Global Warming Swindle”

Piers Corbyn

Corbyn was described in the Channel 4 programme’s caption about him as “Dr Piers Corbyn, Climate Forecaster.” However he is not a “Dr” since he does not hold a PhD and his highest degree is an MSc in astrophysics (see http://tinyurl.com/yo9fvk). He is also not a “climate forecaster”, but a weather forecaster, who claims to be able to accurately predict weather many months in advance using solar activity (see www.weatheraction.com) – an idea at odds with all meteorology. Weather and climate are apparently intentionally confused with each other at various points during the programme – see Comment 88, page 74.

Despite his “willingness”, expressed in the Channel 4 programme and elsewhere, to make bets on his weather forecasts, he has declined to accept a bet from climatologist James Annan on his climate forecasts of cooling in the future (see http://tinyurl.com/2olp97 and http://tinyurl.com/ynvhsw), despite the following article in Nature: http://tinyurl.com/3e3tbn.

He refuses to disclose his weather forecasting methods, and has not published any peer-reviewed articles on his theories on weather or climate, or on any other subject (ISI WoS).

Piers Corbyn cannot, therefore, objectively be regarded as a “leading scientist”, and still less as an expert on climate science; and yet he was given extensive air time in the documentary.

Dr Philip Stott

The programme wrongly identified Dr Stott as “Professor Philip Stott, Dept. of Biogeography, University of London”. However, the University of London has never had a Department of Biogeography (see http://tinyurl.com/2ukxr4).

He is a Professor Emeritus (having retired in 2004, see http://tinyurl.com/22omnr. of Biogeography, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (see http://tinyurl.com/2y9jb9); a Social Sciences college of the University of London which does not contain a Science Faculty. He has only had 9 peer-reviewed articles published since 1970, and all those concern forests in tropical regions; with nothing on climatology or the impacts of climate change (ISI WoS).

Dr Stott could not, therefore, objectively be considered to be a leading scientist; still less a climate expert: and nor does he have any known expertise in English history. [Note: It should also have been mentioned in our complaint that Dr Stott has never had any involvement with the IPCC, on which he commented as an “authority” in the film.] Yet he was given a great deal of air time on the Channel 4 programme, to talk about climate science and English history.