We all engage in hypocrisy from time to time. In fact, being a hypocrite is a defining characteristic of the human condition. But there are some amongst us who have the capacity to take what is usually a mundane trait and raise it to a level that has us all looking on with perverse admiration. Take, for example, the stance taken by the BBC, an organisation that 55 days after the October 7^th massacres still steadfastly refuses to label the atrocities perpetrated on that day as the acts of a terrorist organisation. I know they have access to dictionaries in their newsroom, and yet for them this is not about the correct use of the English language but the small matter of remaining objectively impartial. Like everyone else, they could abide by the dictionary, but that would be taking sides. Of course, the reality is that the BBC’s professions of a high journalistic standard are nothing more than a false pretext for engaging in the insidious, left-wing inspired anti-Semitism that infects its editorial thinking. So yes, if I were to award a ‘Hypocrites of the Year Award’, it might very well go to the BBC.

But this website is supposed to be about climate scepticism, and so I feel obliged to restrict my scope to those who have spoken out on that particular subject whilst exhibiting levels of hypocrisy that even a BBC executive would struggle to emulate. And for that reason, the John Ridgway Climate Hypocrite of the Year Award for 2023 has to go to Jennie King, Head of Climate Research and Policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

The views that have led to the gaining of this prestigious award can be found espoused on the ISD website but, for the purposes of today’s citation, I choose to illustrate just how worthy King is in receiving her award by referring to her participation in an interview with Rosie Frost of Euronews.com. Here King is introduced as an ‘an expert in the evolving trends of climate mis and disinformation’ – an introduction for which the word ‘irony’ appears to have been invented. The subject being discussed is the use of the term ‘extremist’ in the context of the climate debate. You can read the interview for yourself, but the essence of the King argument is as follows:

There are legitimate concerns out there that have been high-jacked by ‘extremists’ pushing their own ‘culture war’ agendas, and the recent street protests against extending ULEZ in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election is a manifestation of that phenomenon. This was not a case of locals letting the politicians know what they think of a policy that they believe will blight their lives; instead this was ‘weaponisation’ of the climate debate in the name of extremism, and it is very important that such extremism be recognised for what it is and the correct terminology be applied. Not doing so would be a dangerous thing.

One of the reasons why it is important to call a spade a spade here is because these extremists are hell-bent on misusing the English language by accusing the likes of Just Stop Oil of ‘eco-extremism’. And yet these JSO people a merely engaging in street protests to let the politicians know what they think of a policy that they believe will blight their lives. That’s definitely not extremism, and it is very dangerous to suggest that it is.

So, in a nutshell, street protests against ULEZ are a manifestation of extremism, yet JSO street protests are self-evidently not. Calling out JSO protestors as extremist is a dangerous misuse of terminology because it may incite violence, but calling out ULEZ protestors as instruments of extremism is a correct use of terminology that can do nothing but good.

King’s criticism of a group for doing something that she then finds meritorious in a different and ISD endorsed group is of course an hypocrisy, as indeed is the double-standard she applies regarding the wisdom of using the term ‘extremist’. In fact, it is hypocrisy of such purity and pristine perfection that I can only fall to my knees and raise my arms in praise and adulation. If I were to strive with all my powers, to the end of my days, I could not possibly hope to come anywhere near achieving a level of hypocrisy so utterly beauteous in its splendour. Oh Jessie, mightiest of experts in the evolving trends of climate mis- and disinformation, I prostrate myself in your presence, for you are truly the one who was put on this Earth to show just what it takes to enter the Kingdom of Hypocrites. We mean and base hypocrites are not worthy. So please accept my award, which I bestow with a humility and sincerity most profound.

Speech! Speech!