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Andrew Montford is a climate-change sceptic and operator of the blog Bishop Hill. He is the author of a book, The Hockey Stick Illusion, which was published in 2010.

Personal history

Montford is an accountant and science publisher who works from his home in Milnathort in Kinrossshire. He moved to Scotland from England to study chemistry at St Andrews University. He currently lives in rural Scotland with his wife and children. He is a blogger at Bishop Hill where his layperson's explanations of the Hockey Stick debate have won acclaim, specifically his summaries of posts from Climate Audit which he called "Caspar And The Jesus Paper".

He is the author of The Hockey Stick Illusion which recounts the struggle of Ross McKitrick and Stephen McIntyre in discovering the data and methodology used by Michael E. Mann in the creation of the Hockey Stick Graph which they contend Mann refused to release.

Climate Change Advocacy

Montford came to the subject of Climate Change in 2005, when he read a blog post by an amateur non-journalist named Tim Worstall who in turn was posting details of Stephen McIntyre`s work.

In a Times Online live special which featured The Times environment editor Ben Webster, Andrew Montford, and Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment debated. Montford said in the debate "OK, it's pretty clear that the three investigations are not intended to get at the truth. All of the panels have had highly questionable memberships and remits that divert them away from the issues. There are some really, really serious allegations that have been ignored by both the panels that have reported so far."

Montford has been interviewed by the Newshour show on the World Service over the findings by the University Of East Anglia`s findings into the Climategate Controversy he said "I made the point that the scope of the panel missed key allegations and cited Ross McKitrick's point that Jones had inserted baseless statements into the IPCC reports". When the interviewer asked if skeptics would ever be happy he replied "we would, if presented with evidence that the allegations were false".

The Channel 4 programme "The Report" Asked Montford to look at some of the questions Phil Jones might be asked during the Parliamentary Investigation into the controversy.

In an interview with The Times he questioned the appointment of Lord Oxburgh to the panel on conflict of interest grounds, writing "Lord Oxburgh has a direct financial interest in the outcome of his inquiry.

A post on his blog led to the resignation of Philip Campbell, the editor in chief of Nature from the panel. In an interview with Chinese state radio, Campbell said that he believed nothing untoward had happened. The Guardian newspaper commented "The interview, posted on the Bishop Hill blog run by the climate sceptic Andrew Montford and shown on Channel 4 News, risked undermining Muir's claim that the inquiry team was impartial"

Paul Dennis a scientist from University of East Anglia who was questioned by the police over the controversy posted his account of the interview on Montfords blog, Bishop Hill. He said, "they thought I might have some information on the basis that I had sent a copy of a paper I had exchanged emails with Steve McIntyre over the leak/hack" Dennis had also refused to sign a petition supporting Professor Phil Jones saying "science isn't done by consensus".

In a letter he submitted to the parliamentary inquiry over the controversy he said "there were many apparent problems with the conduct of climate science have arisen from the CRU emails, the withholding of data and code, unethical pressuring of journals, gatekeeping by journal editors and on one occasion the misrepresentation of the reliability of scientific data".

Hockey Stick Illusion

Published in 2010 by Stacey International, the book has been well received with critiques from Matt Ridley, George Gilder, Christopher Booker and Nigel Calder.

References

1. ^ Webster, Ben (23 March 2010). "Lord Oxburgh, the climate science peer, 'has a conflict of interest'". Times Newspapers Ltd. Times Online. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
2. Christopher Booker (27 February 2010). "A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC". Telegraph. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
3. "Casper and the Jesus paper". Retrieved 1 April 2010. {{cite web}}: External link in |publiser= (help); Unknown parameter |publiser= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
4. ^ Ridley, Matt (3 February 2010). "The Global Warming Guerrillas". The Spectator. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
5. Revkin, Andrew C. (23 June 2006). "Panel Supports a Controversial Report on Global Warming". New York Times. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
6. "Live debate: can we trust the outcome of the climategate inquiry?". The Times Online. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
7. Montford, Andrew (14 Apr 2010). "More radio". Bishop Hill. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
8. "Newshour". BBC News. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
9. "Questions for Climategate boss facing MPs". Channel Four News. 1 March 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
10. Batty, David (12 February 2010). "Climate emails review panellist quits after his impartiality questioned". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
11. ^ Leigh, David (4 February 2010). "Detectives question climate change scientist over email leaks". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 7 April 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
12. "Police question global warming 'sceptic' scientist over 'Climategate' email leak". Daily Mail. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
13. "Memorandum submitted by Andrew Montford (CRU 36)". www.publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
14. "The case against the hockey stick". www.prospectmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved Saturday, Apr 03 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
15. "George Gilder Hails "The Hockey Stick Illusion" on the Science Scandal of Global Warming". www.discoverynews.org. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
16. "A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved Saturday, Apr 03 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
17. "The global warming alarmists". www.vancouversun.com. Retrieved Saturday, Apr 03 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

See Also

• The Hockey Stick Illusion
• Climategate
• Global warming controversy

External Links

• Bishop Hill Blog

• Global warming
• British people
• Living people