John Brignell, the smartest man in England. Once in a great while, there is a distillation of wisdom so profound and so elegant that it must be shared. I am compelled to do so, taking from http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/2008%20May.htm
“The very basis of modern society depends on the observation of strict rules about what may be openly debated and the media have an excellent record of adherence to that principle. Do we really want the multibillion dollar climate change industry to perish like the South Sea Bubble, leaving thousands unemployed and Al Gore without a private jet? Think of all those environmental editors with wives, families and mortgages to support. How can we expect them to go out to find real work at their time of life, when they are highly trained at passing on pre-digested reports from kosher organisations? How are modern politicians and their parties supposed to operate if irresponsible authors are blowing gigantic holes through the middle of their policies? What will happen to the economy if there is no plausible excuse for continual tax increases? How can we keep the lower classes under control it they get access to energy, convenience and, worst of all, information?”
Mr. Brignell is one of those rare spirits with a grasp of truth, of justice, of mathematics, of science, of history, of economics, and of literature. He is not a Roman Catholic, but, if he were, I’d like to think he’d be a Catholic Fundamentalist.
He could be called the embodiment of a Renaissance Man, if that phrase were not so limiting.