Nigel Lawson`s finely argued book of that name is sub-titled A COOL LOOK AT GLOBAL WARMING. Regular readers of this blog will know how suspicious, not to say cynical I am about the emotive rubbish spouted on the subject of GW, the unscientific waffle, the leaps to change things, often for the worse, based on hyperbole not on cool facts, the panic-mongering based on what he think know as against what we actually do, and on what is happening as against what we guess (I use the word advisedly) may happen in  100 or 1,000 years time.

I cannot do much more than press Nigel Lawson`s temperate book upon you and quote from it every day for a while.  I am so convinced of its importance book as a check and balance to all the received-opinion and muddle-headedness that I have bought 20 copies and am happy to post one to anyone who is ready to read some facts and common sense.  The usual e-mail to mail@susan-hill.com with your address and a copy will be on its way.

But before quoting anything from the book itself, let me copy two quotes on the back cover.

'This brief and  elegant book treats the science of global warming seriously but convincingly shows that whatever views one has of the science, almost all proposed approaches to the putative problem are intellectually deficient, economically absurd and  harmful, and morally misdirected at best. Lawson`s An Appeal to Reason is an appeal that must be heeded if one is to truly avoid great harm to man and the planet.

Richard S Lindzen. Professor of Atmospheric Physics, MIT.

'At last, we have an independent, hard-headed examination of the realities of global warming . Nigel Lawson sklices through the layers of pseudo-scientific hype, anti-American prejudice, green evangelism and rampant ecomania to expose the scientific realities, the political issues, the economic options and the ethical considerations that really matter... no one in authority should pronounce on global warming again until  they have read it.'

Antony Jay.

And here, as your Cool Reason starter for ten, are some facts - let`s try demolishing the myth about the melting ice-cap.

'It is perfectly true that the West Antarctic ice sheet...is showing evidence of melting and glacier retreat. But the West Antarctic peninsular accounts for only around 10% of Antarctic land-borne ice and has a different climate from the rest of Antarctica. In most of the other 90% of the continent, according to the most recent research*,  the ice sheet appears to be growing.'

* D Wingham, et al. Mass Balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 2006.

The whole point of Lawson`s book is manifest in the title. The operative words are 'Reason' and 'Cool.'

And in case you wonder why I am so keen to have everyone read this book, it is not only because I hate what Jay calls 'green evangelism' but more importantly, because I care about the Third World and it poverty. As I am sure do you. We owe it to them to get our facts straight.

These ships usually have a very wide turning circle, but fortunately, we are witnessing one bitter consequence of our lemming-like panic into producing alternatives to fossil fuels right now. If you give over to the production of biofuels land which has always been used for the production of food crops, you find that people who were previously well-fed start to starve and the already-starving increase in number and get hungrier. Very quickly. That is happening now, it is not merely an academic argument about what may or may not happen to the world inherited by our great-grandchildren and beyond.

But don`t take my word for any of this. Read Nigel Lawson`s book and take his.