Simon Bunce

Mountains, software, thinking about things.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@rorysutherland @markritson As our capabilities as humans have increased, mechanisms allowing people in positions of responsibility to escape culpability for the results have also flourished.
Perhaps one useful way to look at AI is as the best expression yet of that trend.

[Toby Young @toadmeister]

In this week's @Spectator, I've written about the worst aspect of the current heatwave: being button-holed by eco-zealots who think the soaring temperatures 'prove' they're right and you're wrong.

The first person to confront me during the current sunny spell was a Guardian journalist at at the ARC conference, which the newspaper had clearly identified as a hotbed of 'denialism'. It didn't help that the air conditioning wasn't working and it was approaching 40°C in the main auditorium.

'I see you're sweating profusely,' he began, shoving a microphone in my face. 'Still think climate change is a hoax?'

I had to patiently explain that few people on my side of this debate deny that climate change is real. We don't even maintain that man-made carbon emissions aren't a contributory factor – not many of us, anyway. The disagreement is about how much of the 1.5°C rise in average global temperatures since the 1850-1900 period is due to these emissions and how much to other factors, such as solar variability, natural ocean cycles and land-use changes.

Yes, we're fond of pointing out that the 1850-1900 period may have been unusually cold, coming as it did at the end of the Little Ice Age -- so may not be a reliable baseline; and that the rise in temperatures since may have been exaggerated by recordings being made in built-up urban areas or near airports. But that isn't to deny that the climate has changed in the past 125-175 years.

This all matters, I told the journalist, because if the 'climate emergency' lobby is wrong about the extent of global warming and its causes, it may not be necessary to immiserate ourselves to achieve Net Zero by 2050. Even if we allow that there would be some benefits (in the unlikely event of China, America, India and Russia committing to the same target), they would likely be outweighed by the costs, which, as we know from estimates of how many billions we need to spend to decarbonise the UK's power grid, are eye-watering.

Needless to say, none of this made it into the Guardian article.

https://t.co/xZi1SpFfXI

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@brianheg @FamedCelebrity Fantastic. Instructive that Miller's only substantive argument was a ludicrous one about longer life spans being somehow equivalent to immigration from different cultures, but Powell still engaged with it clearly and calmly.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@ClareCraigPath (I think that's the 3rd one)

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@chrismartenson 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@the_geeker @g__j Sounds great. When are you planning on disconnecting from the grid?

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@Sptme1 @Edessagospels @volcaholic1 Good point. Weather stations are designated class 1 to 5 according to how accurate & reliable they are. Less than 15% of UK weather stations are in the top two classes.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@Sptme1 @Edessagospels @volcaholic1 It's a notoriously inaccurate weather station
https://t.co/9lHqmX5Ho8

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@metoffice This Santon Downham?
https://t.co/9lHqmX5Ho8

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@eugyppius1 Spat out my beer at "For the rest of your life, which we hope will end with death in battle"

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@MerrynSW It's certainly worth something to these people. A kind of social currency.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@ianrich15813274 What's your explanation for why there are "Muslim areas"?

What happened to the type of people that used to live in these areas?

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@LoftusSteve I wonder if this will apply to money market funds? If not, surely ISA providers could just switch to these as vehicles for cash in an S&S ISA (like for example Trading212 does currently as an option).

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@timfarron "Deeply suspect"?
https://t.co/UWQv2Es2ca

[Daniel Hannan @DanielJHannan]

I sense that political obituarists are preparing to run with the line that @Keir_Starmer was a decent fellow, but ill-suited to politics. Honest but naïve.
Well, have a look at this and then try to tell me he was honest. The signs were there from the start.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@ZachWLambert https://t.co/dbGV5ayBv4

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@DrEliDavid If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@Heccles94 You have no idea how anything in the real world works.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@TheSimonEvansX I'm not sure Freddie conceding only to being "overly hasty in expressing scepticism" quite counts as a formal apology for his comments.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@freddiesayers @SamoBurja Or perhaps now they've been found guilty?
https://t.co/LaDM8FHtly

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@freddiesayers @SamoBurja I'm sure you'll be revisting this story now that the people who took the video have been charged?
https://t.co/iKksFUVj6M

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@mansfieldrv6 @RedtheLinux @TimeForReform29 @RupertLowe10 At that time, Restore had only just been started as a pressure group. It wasn't a political party until early 2026.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@TheSimonEvansX Indeed. And you didn't even need to cover what he's done to Private Eye.

[Simon Bunce @SimonBunce63]

@KathrynPorter26 Exactly this. A key part of the Speaker's job should be ensuring that Parliament can properly hold the government to account. If ministers can just ignore questions without real consequence, what is the point of Parliament?