Earlier this month, the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) had to admit that their Assessment Report that the glaciers in the Himalayas could vanish in 30 years was actually based on one conversation between a journalist and a single Indian scientist a decade ago. They admitted the report had been “poorly substantiated”, which is a bit like calling Gordoom “rather iffy with economics”.

However, rather like repeats of Only Fools And Horses, the embarassment for the IPCC just doesn’t stop flowing. In a recent report, they claimed that reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa were caused by global warming. You would think that that kind of an amazing report would be backed by years of serious study and scientific data but you would be wrong.

“The report referred to two papers as the source of the information, but the Sunday Telegraph says one of the sources quoted was actually an article published in a magazine for mountaineers. The article was based on anecdotal evidence about the changes the authors were witnessing during climbs.”

The newspaper says the other source was a dissertation written by a geography student who was studying for a master’s degree at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

The dissertation reportedly quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps.

It’s strangely reminiscent of Alistair Campbell and the WMD dodgy dossier cribbed from a student off of teh interweb, isn’t it? So, what’s next? Gordoom’s General Election Manifesto to be based on a homework assignment from the Kirkcaldy Boys Junior School? Well, now we think about it….

This is looking, however, more and more ridiculous. It’s time to start from scratch in studying climate change. It’s time for politics to get out of science. It’s time to stop listening to hypocrites like Al Gore trying to make money off of global warming, and Hollywood actors hyping false propaganda. It’s time for scientists who care more about science than politics to have integrity and begin again.

UPDATE: Thanks to MrXyz for this.