This week, I managed to get no further than one minute and 25 seconds into this week’s episode of This Week (is that enough “this weeks”?), before Andrew Neil had me back on the BBC’s complaints site.
This time, Andrew decided to use his introductory monologue to mock the IPCC’s special report on climate change and cast aspersions about its veracity by comparing it with other entirely unrelated assessments, the contents of which do not actually contradict the report itself. Here’s the clip if you can bear to watch it:
Andrew has a long history as an arch climate change denier. For the uninitiated, I’d point you to Sunny Hundal’s excellent Twitter thread on the subject:
Complaint to the BBC
Here’s the full content of my complaint to the BBC. Feel free to copy, adapt etc. if you’d like to complain yourself, which I’d encourage you to do:
‘I am deeply concerned that Andrew Neil introduced this week’s episode of This Week with a withering, sarcastic rubbishing of the IPCC’s special report on climate change that was released on Monday 8 October.
‘To mock a report that has such a broad level of support from the international scientific community, and by trying to smear it with comparisons to unrelated assessments from other organisations (which are not actually contradictory), is not just immensely foolish, but actively dangerous.
‘Would the producers of This Week allow Andrew Neil to cast doubt on the efficacy of vaccinations, and blithely suggest that he’s heard they might cause autism? I suspect not, and I imagine the reasons for this are that: a) this theory was not scientific, and the person peddling these myths is discredited and disgraced; and b) it’s dangerous to allow someone in a position of Andrew’s authority to mislead the public in this way.
‘So why is it deemed acceptable for him to not just question climate change, but to actively seek to discredit the IPCC’s landmark report, representing the work of thousands of studies of climate change from thousands of scientists across the planet.
‘Furthermore, as ever, Andrew Neil is abusing his position as presenter of This Week to push the agenda of the right-wing magazine of which he is chairman, The Spectator. This magazine is well-known for its climate change denial, having run dozens of front covers rubbishing climate change altogether. Andrew himself has put out countless tweets spreading the same lies and misinformation.
‘Frankly, I cannot understand how Andrew manages to keep his job with this flagrant level of bias. And I am utterly baffled as to why the producers of This Week allow him to keep peddling the garbage printed in his beloved right-wing rag.’
Originally posted on my own site.
Jack Lenox 