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James
Delingpole is a writer, blogger and broadcaster most
prominently known for his Daily Telegraph blog.
He describes himself as "libertarian conservative" and has referred
to climate change as a
"myth". He played a notable role in closely covering 'Climategate' in
several publications. He has written for the Daily Mail, the Times
and the
Spectator. Delingpole was awarded the 2010
Bastiat Prize for online journalism by the free-market
International Policy Network.
Delingpole refers to climate change as a "myth" that is
promoted by a "conspiracy". He has attacked a wide range of
institutions for their coverage of the issue including the
Met Office, the
BBC, the
Royal Society and the Economist. He has repeatedly
compared groups calling for action on climate change to Nazis and
eco-fascists, arguing that
the climate change movement "threatens our society, threatens
our freedoms, threatens everything we believe in." He is
highly
critical of the academic field of climate science,
having said on the BBC Politics Show that "climate
science…is not about rigour, is not about empiricism, it's
not about the pursuit of truth. It is about politics."
In an
article praising the US Tea Party, Delingpole explained: "I've
been devoting far more of my time… to exposing the great Global
Warming scam… This is not because I've suddenly realised I'm a
science manqué… It's because I understand that "Environmentalism"
is but one strategically significant theatre in a much greater
ideological war being waged across the world."
Delingpole is often at the forefront of elevating stories from
climate sceptic blogs into the mainstream media. In November 2009
he was the first journalist to cover 'Climategate', which involved the theft of
climate scientists' emails from the University of East Anglia, in a
piece
entitled "Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of
'Anthropogenic Global Warming'?", and crediting the blog Watts Up
With That as his source. Delingpole claimed that "the conspiracy
behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth has been suddenly,
brutally and quite deliciously exposed." He has also covered
claims by sceptic blogger Richard North that the IPCC printed
disinformation about the impact of climate change on the Amazon,
dubbed 'Amazongate'. The Sunday Times article which
pushed the issue into the mainstream was later
retracted.
Delingpole uses his blog to launch ad hominem attacks against
those he sees as promoting the climate change 'myth'. He has called
the
Archbishop of Canterbury the "celebrity
Muppet-/Druid-/The-Master-Impersonator", journalist
George Monbiot a "squirmy, weaselly get-out of a no-good,
snivelling, yellow-bellied, milquetoast loser",
Jeremy Paxman "one of Al Gore's useful idiots" and the entire
staff of the
BBC "tree-hugging pinkoes."Recent targets of his attention
include
Fiona Fox,
Bob Ward,
individual staff members at the campaign organisation 10:10 and
Hugo Rifkind. In early 2010 he accused a man who emailed their
prospective Conservative candidate about climate change of being a
"
stalking eco-bully", and reprinted the email which included the
sender's name and address. Readers of the blog post photographed
the man's house and telephoned his wife. Delingpole later
apologised and the post was removed from the Telegraph
website.
Delingpole was
educated at an independent boarding school, Malvern College,
before studying English at Christ Church College, Oxford. His first
job as a journalist was writing a diary column for the Evening
Standard, before moving to the Daily Telegraph website. Delingpole
has published several novels and two political commentaries:
How to be Right - The Essential Guide to Making
Lefty Liberals History and
Welcome to Obamaland - I Have Seen Your Future and
It Doesn't Work.
Delingpole has written about the "imbecilic liberal-leftist
philosophy of "multiculturalism"" in a column which
described the BNP as "not nearly so dangerous as the liberal
commentators who write meaningless 'Thought For The Day' drivel".
He has described his
experience of suffering from manic depression in the Daily
Mail.
In April 2011, Delingingpole used his
Spectator column to announce he is "giving up blogging for a
while". He cited long term health problems as well as the financial
and emotional cost of blogging as reasons for giving up.
...