Little Georgie says sorry - sort of . . .

When I read, over at WUWT, that little 'Georgie Moonbat' has said sorry for being a prat and that his Mum had told him he was a very, very naughty boy, I rushed to my OED Dictionary of Quotations for the only possible contender for use in this instance which, like most quotations I sort of know but not exactly, and which I needed to get dead right lest one of you pedants tick me off.  Here it is:

Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Alas, when I read little Georgie's piece in full I then realised that it was only half an apology, but even so, most of us would choke on the words rather than issue even that much of an apology:

It’s no use pretending that this isn’t a major blow. The emails extracted by a hacker from the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia could scarcely be more damaging(1). I am now convinced that they are genuine, and I’m dismayed and deeply shaken by them.

He takes unerring aim at the main man:

Worse still, some of the emails suggest efforts to prevent the publication of work by climate sceptics(5,6), or to keep it out of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(7). I believe that the head of the unit, Phil Jones, should now resign. Some of the data discussed in the emails should be re-analysed. (My emphasis)

Unfortunately, like a sole survivor from the sinking Titanic without even a piece of wrecked flotsam to cling to, he thrashes about in the icy waters of disillusionment and pretends he's having a dip in the Med:

But do these revelations justify the sceptics’ claims that this is “the final nail in the coffin” of global warming theory?(8,9) Not at all. They damage the credibility of three or four scientists. They raise questions about the integrity of one or perhaps two out of several hundred lines of evidence. To bury manmade climate change, a far wider conspiracy would have to be revealed.

He then goes on and on with a long, tedious and peurile piece of clumsy satire which is, alas, all too typical of the spotty swots in the Lower 5th (or, The Guardian, as it likes to call itself).  Even so, half an apology is better than none and me and my mates might leave off bullying little Georgie - for a while.

Comments

[whippersnapper]

Wikipedia articles that should record this event in a neutral and balanced manner, with journalist-written sources (best to discuss on the talk page, don't just start editing directly):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_e-mail_hacking_incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Jones_(climatologist)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_E._Mann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_stick_controversy

[David Duff]

Thank you, 'Whippersnapper'.