Letters From A Tory Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others.

“We are trying to do our best …but to guarantee a zero fault product is probably not possible for any human enterprise.”
- Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice chairman of the IPCC, who says that climate scientists are “only humans” who can make mistakes like everyone else when writing their reports.  His comments come as the UN’s [...]

“They can’t attack the science so they attack the chairman. But they won’t sink me. I am the unsinkable Molly Brown. In fact, I will float much higher.”
- Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, speaking yesterday in response to criticism of his leadership following the revelation that the IPCC’s claim that Himalayan glaciers could melt [...]

“Evolution isn’t true, because if we evolved from monkeys, how can they still be here?”
- an epic fail from actor and evangelist Stephen Baldwin

…or so say the six doctors who have started legal action for a new inquest into his death.  I’ll let the Telegraph do the rest:
The action is being taken because six doctors are convinced that the original verdict of suicide is unsafe and should be overturned.  Some suspect that Dr Kelly, 59, was murdered shortly [...]

“When you’ve got the families of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan saying they haven’t got the kit they need, collecting reports of funny lights seen in the sky can’t be seen as a priority”
- UFO expert Dr David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, on the Ministry of Defence’s decision to [...]

Meet David Holland.  He describes himself as a David taking on the Goliath that is the prevailing scientific consensus on climate change, and is now seeking prosecutions against some of Britain’s most eminent academics for allegedly holding back information in breach of disclosure laws.  He complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) last week after the [...]

“If you looked through any organisation’s emails from the last 10 years you’d find something that would raise a few eyebrows. Contrary to what the sceptics claim, the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, Nasa and the world’s leading atmospheric scientists are not the agents of a clandestine global movement against the truth. [...]

“For demonstrating that tiny banks can be rapidly transformed into huge banks, and vice versa”
- the reason why managers at Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, Glitnir Bank and Central Bank of Iceland won the Economics prize at the IgNobel awards – an annual spoof version of the Nobel Prizes given out by the Harvard-based humour magazine ‘Annals of [...]

Dear Mary Helen Immordino-Yang,
My initial reaction when I saw the headline suggesting that digital media such as Twitter and Facebook might damage our sense of morality was that it was another bunch of scientists desperate for their 15 seconds of fame who had come up with some crackpot evidence to support their ideas.  While this [...]

“It can be done from time to time to alleviate the congestion and the patient can adjust the number of intercourses depending on the severity of the symptoms.”
- neurologist Sina Zarrintan from Tabriz Medical University in Iran, claiming that hay fever symptoms could be alleviated by sexual intercourse.  He claims that sex constricts the blood vessels [...]

“We’re all feeling the effects of the economy and, especially for families seeking reproductive options, every dollar counts.”
- Danielle Moores, spokeswoman for Xytex international - a sperm bank who are now rolling out their very own ’stimulus package’ by offering up to $200 off a vial of sperm to clients wishing to start or add to [...]

Dear Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi,
Better late than never.  There are, sadly, many Christians who still feel that Darwin needs to be knocked down a few pegs and attacked whenever possible.  In fact, the very mention of Darwin causes swords to be drawn and I think it’s fair to say that convincing either believers or critics of Darwin [...]

Dear Rev Prof Michael Reiss,
Being Director of Education at the Royal Society sounds like a fairly impressive position to hold, which makes it all the more remarkable that you have spouted such ignorant rubbish this morning.  You believe that excluding alternatives to evolution as an explanation for the origin of life from science lessons is [...]

Dear Department of Health,
Surprise surprise, the government panders to the wish of yet another pressure group in their desperation not to upset any more voters.  Your spectacular u-turn on allowing deaf parents to select embryos for deaf children is not only weak, it represents a shocking attack on humanity and common sense.
A few days ago, [...]

Dear Ben Bradshaw,
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is not quite as straightforward as you might think.  As an atheist myself, I’m very much in support of using science to better people’s lives within certain boundaries.  But if the newspapers are correct in saying that this Bill will allow the creation of hybrid human-animal embryos, we are [...]

If any readers of this blog remain unconvinced about the intelligence of the average American, it will come as no surprise that there is now scientific evidence demonstrating that Americans can be out-smarted by a monkey.

“It is not uncommon to see males collapsing with exhaustion as the demands of the females get too much for them”
Dr Jakob Bro-Jorgensen from the London Zoological Society, describing why male topi antelope are probably the luckiest animals on the planet.