In which the pond takes in a holyday Caterist ...

The pond thought a holyday competition might provide a little distraction in these troubled times …

Guess which rag ran which coverage during the Golden Globes? These came up at around the same time, and the angles taken are revealing ...

  

Sorry, it's not much of a competition, is it? Way too easy ...

Who but the reptiles would lead with a Greta joke, and completely obscure what Rusty was saying about climate action …

The pond doffs its lid. It takes considerable skill and relentless purification - of the kind needed to get drinkable water in bushfire areas - to ensure that not a hint of the real world enters the bubble of the Surry Hills inner city, 'leet, barista-loving reptiles above the faraway tree in their la la land …

And so to another holyday treat. When the pond retreated to its weekend coverage, alas and alack soon to resume, one of the big losses was the Caterist …

The Caterist was the pond's resident, go to expert on the movement of flood waters in quarries, and his considerable skill at attracting successful libel suits has been sorely missed.

Instead the pond has had to turn to lesser lights of the prime Angus beef kind, figures fiddler extraordinaire, and his extraordinary comedy stylings …

Last year ended badly for Taylor and 2020 isn’t starting off any better after it was discovered that the calendar he released to constituents has the wrong start and end dates for July. I’ve believed for some time that Angus Taylor’s days are numbered. Now it turns out they’re also numbered incorrectly. (here).

The pond is always up for a joke, but though the figures fiddler tries hard, is there any better joke than a Caterist in full flight?

Say what? We all need to gather around and sing a verse of how it's unfair, SloMo is all out of luck, and Trudeau gets more than his fair share, and that's the best that the lizard Oz reptiles can do?

What happened to personal responsibility, to tend your own yard, to showing leadership that might inspire the world?

Described by the IPCC as alarming?

Since when has the Caterist taken to quoting the IPCC? (here)

Yes, in the old days, the Caterist was a full-blown sceptic, code for climate science denialist, with the label offering flexibility and plausible deniability, while giving vent to the usual full-blown denialist guff.

There's a sample back in 2015 in Does climate science denialist Nick Cater know the difference between an ice sheet and sea ice?

How times have changed …but not the heart of the denialist paranoia that litters his scribbling ...

Shocking stuff, though suggesting air pollution as the primary cause of death might have come a tad late, given the impact of the Great Smog of London in 1952 …

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air-pollution event that affected the British capital of London in early December 1952. A period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, and then dispersed quickly when the weather changed. It caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events experienced in the past, called "pea-soupers". Government medical reports in the following weeks, however, estimated that up until 8 December, 4,000 people had died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. More recent research suggests that the total number of fatalities may have been considerably greater, one paper suggesting about 6,000 more died in the following months as a result of the event. (wiki here for footnotes)

Good old coal, is there anything it can't do by way of killing people?

Of course there have been many more such events - just visit Beijing or Delhi on some days to feel yourself dying - but this has taken the pond away from the Caterist's siren song …

And now - Adani be praised - coal has returned to work its magic, and so the Caterist is needed to do his usual conflations and obfuscations … but relax, the Caterist is up to the job. This is a man who can track flood waters and attract libel suits like flies ...

Indeed, indeed, when from the get go, the Caterist established that the real victim, the real sufferer of slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune was the hapless SloMo … doing his level best to dump the blame on others … (here)

The pond never for a moment thought it would ever scribble "poor old Gladys", but while SloMo fiddled and Rome burned, she was out and about, doing what politicians are supposed to do in moments of crisis.

But you can't expect decent behaviour from rats on a sinking ship … or should that be a sinking island?

And yet the Pacific islands have made offers to help, even though they're hardly the richest countries in the world. It makes the relentless whining of the Caterists all the harder to bear ...

Forgive the pond, it just loved those last lines so much, it wanted to roll them over the tongue another time …

No,  the pond won't dwell on the whine about climate science being complicated - denialism has never been complicated for the Caterists - not when it can taste this bit of prime blather on the tip of the tongue's taste buds, with a deep finish on the rear palate...

A pragmatic government, systematically reducing its emissions as fast as the technology allows, can feasibly meet its international commitments with more honour than most. But if the Prime Minister thinks it will win him the keys to Cobargo, he should forget it.

Oh heck, forgive the pond, it's up there with talk of the movements of flood waters in quarries …

A pragmatic government, systematically reducing its emissions as fast as the technology allows …

All that doubt, scepticism and denialism swept away and reduced to ash in an instant.

And yet … and yet … there are some who stay true to the Caterist course …who don't retreat, but go boldly and bravely into the world, to espouse the old Caterist truths … (children, avoid repeating this experiment, even in your room at home) ...

When a complete prat like Piers Morgan can turn you into a car crash, maybe you should give up driving …

Has there ever been such a craven retreat by so many in such a short time? Is Craig Kelly the only one to remember the old reptile talking points? How soon before the Caterists can forget their talk of pragmatic governments, and their attempt to do a Gladys on Justin, and usual programming will return?

No doubt it will all become clear as soon as those who have suffered can be decently ignored, so that things can get back to normal ...

Meanwhile, on another planet, and in a country run by the denialist in chief …