AA Gill on 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'

There's a very nice, and typically pithy piece by AA Gill in the Sunday Times today, on the Channel 4 programme, 'The Great Global Warming Swindle':

"It suffered from all the sins it accused the environmental lobby of enjoying: there was selective science and partial interpretation. I suspect that most of us who aren’t scientifically competent enough to make informed judgements, and therefore have to rely on the media, need to find another way of forming an opinion.

"It’s helpful to ask the oldest question in jurisprudence: Cui bono? Who benefits? Who gains from a belief global warming is not man-made or significantly influenced by man? Well, obviously, people who drill oil wells, own power stations or appear on popular motoring programmes all have an interest in global warming being none of our business.

"But don’t for a moment imagine that the bicycle-riding, organic-hedgerow-grazing, self-denying, 40-watt miserablists are in fact selfless crusaders for the common good. Never underestimate the sustaining pleasure in a hair shirt. Just look at George Monbiot, and witness a man who couldn’t be happier about the imminent demise of life as we know it. It’s given him purpose, prestige and celebrity: without global warming he’d be a geography teacher. In the end, if it is the end, I think it’s better to waste as little as possible, to live with a modest care, to mind what you eat and to have a conscience about what your life costs other people’s lives. It may or may not change the weather. It will be better for your soul and your state of mind, and make you a nicer person."