Extreme cold snaps are actually predicted by the climate scientists and show the accuracy of their models. The US didn’t just have “its coldest winter in living memory”; that’s untrue. It was colder than most recent winters, but most recent winters have also been exceptionally warm.

I’ve read the evidence put forward by climate-change denialists (such as “Lord” Monckton) in debate with credible scientists. I’ve spent hours of my life following their arguments as they pull data out of context, misrepresent research and evade every criticism by changing the subject. I’m a trained scientist myself and I can follow scientific debate pretty well. The denialists are just clowning around, I’m afraid to say.

Put it this way: the evidence has to be pretty strong for a country like Saudi Arabia to approve the IPCC reports and effectively agree that burning oil is cooking the planet — as much as they’re kicking and screaming to not have it so.