Prince Philip has invited David Bellamy, who was allegedly banned from the BBC because of his views on global warming, to give a lecture at Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales warned in March 2009 that there were “less than 100 months to act” to save the planet from irreversible damage due to climate change. His father is known to be more sceptical. Now, the Duke of Edinburgh has invited Britain’s best-known global warming heretic to give a lecture at Buckingham Palace. --Richard Eden,
The Sunday Telegraph, 3 February 2013
When in 2009 I published a book called The Real Global Warming Disaster it provoked contrasting responses from two members of the royal family. Prince Charles, protesting that he was ‘bemused’ about my views on climate change, struck me off his Christmas card list where I had been for 25 years since we became environmental allies back in the 1980s. I was, however, startled and delighted to have a long, thoughtful and sympathetic letter about the book from Prince Philip, whom I had only met once, and which, inter alia, led me to be far from surprised when he last year made headlines for having dismissed wind turbines as ‘absolutely useless’. –Christopher Booker,
The Spectator, 25 August 2012
They share a name – David – and a passion for nature. For a while they also shared a place in the vanguard of nature documentary-making, broadcasting from every corner of the globe to the homes of millions. But while one, Attenborough, basks in the glow of national treasure status, the other claims he is now a pariah. David Bellamy is clear his stance on climate change ended his TV career. "All of the work dried up after that. I was due to start another series with the BBC but that didn't go anywhere, and the other side [ITV] didn't want to know. I was shunned. They didn't want to hear the other side." -- Paul Cahalan,
The Independent on Sunday, 13 January 2013
Capitalism and consumerism have brought the world to the brink of economic and environmental collapse, the Prince of Wales has warned in a grandstand speech which set out his concerns for the future of the planet. The heir to the throne told an audience of industrialists and environmentalists at St James's Palace last night that he had calculated that we have just 96 months left to save the world. And in a searing indictment on capitalist society, Charles said we can no longer afford consumerism and that the "age of convenience" was over. Charles's speech was described as his first attempt to present a coherent philosophy in which he placed the threat to the environment in the context of a failing economic system. –Robert Verkaik,
The Independent, 9 July 2009
Britain's Prince of Wales lambasted climate change deniers for playing "a reckless game of roulette" with the Earth's future in a speech to the European Parliament. He said that climate sceptics were having a "corrosive effect" on public opinion and asked: "How are these people going to face their grandchildren and admit to them that they failed their future? I cannot see how we can possibly maintain the growth of GDP in the long term if we continue to consume our planet as voraciously as we are doing," he told MEPs and business leaders. --
EurActiv, 10 February 2011
Dr Benny Peiser, director of Lord Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation, said Prince Charles’s views were still out of step with mainstream thinking. “He is really a good representative of the environmental movement as such and it is not a personal issue,” he said. But he added that the “extreme alarm and extreme concern” was “over the top and not helpful to the debate. It doesn’t convince any governments or any ministers and in the end it is over the top and won’t be heard.” --Jonathan Brown,
The Independent, 23 November 2012
Chris Huhne, the former climate change minister, resigns as MP after pleading guilty over claims he persuaded his ex-wife to take speeding points for him in 2003. The former cabinet minister Chris Huhne is facing a jail sentence after he admitted perverting the course of justice in a last-minute change of plea. In a statement after the hearing, Huhne, who was granted unconditional bail, said he was resigning his seat. --Caroline Davies and Esther Addley,
The Guardian, 4 February 2013
But for a few votes in 2007, Chris Huhne could have been deputy prime minister. Instead, his decision to plead guilty to perverting the course of justice means his career in politics is now over. He will almost certainly face some kind of jail sentence. He has announced he will resign from parliament. –James Landale,
BBC News, 4 February 2013
