Leyland joins the über cranks: signs up with serial liar O’Sullivan’s vanity “science” group

Bryan “the cooling is comingLeyland, energy and economics spokesman for the NZ Climate “Science” Coalition, affiliate of various other coalitions, and a man with a penchant for writing to the UN Secretary General ((As I suggested, his fingerprints were all over the text.)), has joined Principia Scientific International, the internet home for the bewildered and deluded set up by John O’Sullivan, and chaired by Canadian crank Tim Ball. Vincent Gray, another NZ C”S”C luminary, has also joined the group.

Regular readers will recall that O’Sullivan has a long track record ((His PSI bio still includes the claim that he has written for the National Review, China Daily, and India Times, despite my pointing out this was a lie 18 months ago.)) of misrepresenting his background and making stupid errors of fact in his blog posts, so it is at least within the bounds of possibility that he is making all this up — but if we take what O’Sullivan writes at face value, then Leyland is now a member of an organisation that exists to deny the greenhouse effect. Just look at the titles of the two most recent articles posted to the PSI web site: Greenhouse Effect Refutation, and Absence of a Measurable Greenhouse Effect. But then as Leyland’s web site includes this chilling little observation

The last sunspot cycle was 12.5 years and the previous one was 9.5 years. The evidence tells us that a 3 year increase in cycle length will result in cooling of at least 1°C. As the total amount of warming that has occurred since the early 1900s is 0.7°C, this is potentially very serious. We could be returning to the conditions in the little ice age.

…perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he has chosen to throw in his lot with the physics deniers O’Sullivan has gathered around himself. Not a good look, however, for someone who still pretends to have a grasp on reality. I wonder if the NZ media, ever prone to giving Leyland’s thoughts on climate an airing, will notice his retreat from the real world?

10 thoughts on “Leyland joins the über cranks: signs up with serial liar O’Sullivan’s vanity “science” group”

  1. Whilst Bryan Leyland might make for an interesting article or two on the psychopathology of denial, his opinions on climate change have been consistently proved wrong for decades.

    He has also accepted pollutocrat cash channeled through the Heartland Foundation in the US.

    it is a mystery to me why anyone would still be interested in what this clown thinks.

  2. 1° of cooling imminent? Actually, he and his cronies might yet provide us with some more inadvertent entertainment, along the lines of this chart (Ah, McLean, you’ve done it again!)

    Science? Not so much. Well, not any, really…

    Thought I’d put this link in, too. Should keep that one for future generations, so they know what their inheritance was squandered on…

  3. Hi Gareth,

    Here’s hoping that you had a great Xmas day.

    You say that “ .. Bryan .. Leyland .. has joined Principia Scientific International, the internet home for the bewildered and deluded set up by John O’Sullivan, and chaired by Canadian crank Tim Ball. Vincent Gray, another NZ C”S”C luminary, has also joined the group. Vincent Gray, another NZ C”S”C luminary, has also joined the group .. ”.

    The day after you posted your article here Vincent stated categorically that he is not a member of PSI QUOTE: From: Vincent Gray … To: Andrew Skolnick … peterridley… Cc: john0sullivan@…
    Sent: Tuesday, 4 December 2012, 20:21
    Subject: Re: Claims about membership of PSI

    Dear Andrew. Peter. I am unclear whether there is “Membership” of PSI and I have certainly not joined them. I have written to them to say so. I attach my newsletter that gave my views before it started .. UNQUOTE.

    I would have to hear from Bryan Leyland himself that he was a member of PSI because I am as sceptical about what John O’Sullivan says as I am about what the IPCC says about the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change (CACC) hypothesis.

    It seems to me that John O’ will add the name of anyone who comes anywhere near PSI as being a member, so watch out Gareth, because John might soon add you to his list of “ .. biographies of a selection of our valued members .. ” (http://www.principia-scientific.org/about/why-psi-is-a-private-assoc.html).

    You and I may be poles apart as far as the CACC hypothesis is concerned but seem to be in agreement over fantasist (and Narcissist?) John O’Sullivan. He has a vision of himself as the paid “CEO & Legal Consultant” for an internationally renowned science publishing company and research association with thousands of paying members. The reality is rather different.

    According to reports in the UK’s National and local press in early 2004 this high-school teacher’s patchy 18-career came to an abrupt end around March 2003. On 28th Feb. 2004 The Daily Express reported in “Girl snares sex-pest teacher by txt msg” that “ .. High school supply teacher John O’Sullivan, 43, set up an Internet account in the name of “sexy hunk” so that he could send indecent messages to the 16-year-old girl, it was alleged.. O’Sullivan who teaches art, physical education and information technology, was heard swearing repeatedly at the girl and accusing her of being a prostitute when the secret recording was played in court .. O’Sullivan changed his story in court and claimed that the majority of messages had been sent to the girl by a teenager she knew .. ”.

    That report was posted on the final day of the trial before the evidence of that day and the local papers provided the rest of the trial story. On 5th March 2004 The Journal reported in “Teacher cleared over lewd material” said “ .. John O’Sullivan was acquitted after another teenager was flown in especially from New York and told Lowestoft magistrates that she had sent the explicit material, not the 43-year old O’Sullivan .. she had sent 33 of the 36 messages, which offered money for sex, to ‘get back’ at her former friend .. ”.

    According to the information that I have the girl who made the allegations had been in the care of John O’s second wife and the girl who took the blame for sending most of the text messages is his step-daughter. QUOTE: .. After deliberating for 90 minutes, magistrates said they were not convinced beyond reasonable doubt that O’Sullivan had been sending the messages .. or had assaulted her when they met at Airedale Park .. O’Sullivan, of .. claimed he had wanted to help the girl by being a friend and father figure .. After the hearing .. O’Sullivan said that he would try to return to teaching and a normal life .. “I’m more relieved that anything .. ” he said .. “I really thing this is the end of my teaching career in this area .. ” .. UNQUOTE.

    So, after a patchy career extending over a period of about 18 years teaching art, PE and IT John has tried to be an author, a journalist and now a publisher. I wonder what he’ll dream up next!

    Much more about John O’ and his group of bloggers at Principia Scientific International can be found at Global Political Shenanigans (http://globalpoliticalshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk/). With all of the information that is readily available I would be very very surprised if more that a handful of the “ .. 200-strong Principia Scientific International .. ” membership claimed by John O’ on 20th Dec. (http://johnosullivan.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/breaking-u-s-national-academies-find-greenhouse-effect-doesnt-exist/) remain faithful to him. All that they have to do is their own due diligence research and any clear-thinking person will do what Professor Myron Evans and his associates at the Alpha Institute of Advanced Physics did very quickly – immediately sever any unwise affiliation with PSI (see Section 4.2 Alpha Institute of Advanced Studies of http://globalpoliticalshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/spotlighton-principia-scientific.html).

    Best wishes for 2013,
    Pete Ridley

    PS: Please don’t put this comment into your “Twilight Zone” thread”.

    1. Thanks Pete. Your comment is on topic and very informative, and runs no risk of banishment. As you say, O’Sullivan is an egregious fantasist, and it’s a mystery to me that he is still regarded as credible by anyone on the sceptic side of this issue.

      I hope you have escaped Britain’s Christmas floods, and that you have a good New Year.

  4. Hi Gareth,

    No problem here with those floods. Mother Nature frequently drenches folks in the West of the UK but here in the East we more often suffer water shortages (like the “drought that never was” declared by our Wet-Office in the Spring)..

    The Daily Mirror’s account of John O’Sullivan’s acquittal of the charges brought in 2001 included QUOTE: .. Magistrate Gerry Sutton in Lowestoft, Suffolk, told him: “Because of the variance in the evidence we are unable to be … absolutely sure that you were responsible.” .. UNQUOTE. According to the local (Beccles, Suffolk) newspaper, referring to the evidence given by John O’s step-daughter “ .. Prosecuting counsel Matthew McNiff said that the last-minute evidence had ‘ambushed’ his case .. ”.

    John O’s version of events is frequently different from that of lesser mortals and this was no exception. This is John’s interpretation “ .. I am a retired academic and I have litigated personally or assisted others in pro se litigation at every level of court there is in New York State as well as Federal level, for over a decade and never lost. Am I licensed to practice law in the US or UK? No, sir- self taught and proud! I think that makes my achievements even more extraordinary, don’t you?
    I’m just some Brit with a brain who can .. kick ass big time around a courtroom. I’ve also even done it, too, in criminal court back in the UK where I wiped the floor with the Crown Prosecution Service and corrupt police who tried to frame me on trumped up criminal charges in what’s euphemistically called ‘police noble cause corruption.’ I won by a canter- acquitted on all counts and it made the national news, too! .. ” by John O’Sullivan 13th and 31st Jan. 2010 (http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/deep-black-hide-the-decline/#comment-19731).

    Well, having “ .. wiped the floor with the Crown Prosecution Servise and corrupt police .. ” the Mirror reported that QUOTE: .. Mr O’Sullivan, of Beccles, Suffolk, stood with wife Barbara and said he may sue for malicious prosecution. He said: “I have been without pay for a year, living on the charity of my family. It has been financially and emotionally devastating and I think it is fair that someone should compensate me. .. UNQUOTE.

    That was another of John O’s ambitious money-raising fantasies that came to nought. I wonder what he’ll try next – real work?

    Is there a stronger word than “fantacist”?

    As you will be aware Andrew Skolnick has made some interesting observations about John O’ but you may not have seen these “John O’Sullivan: My Hidden Muse” (http://whatsupwiththatwatts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/john-osullivan-my-hidden-muse.html).

    Best regards, Pete Ridley

  5. Regarding Bryan Leyland’s membership of PSI, I had forgotten that he confirmed this to me in an E-mail on 5th December QUOTE: ..

    From: Bryan Leyland … To: peterridley… CC: timothyball@…; omatumr@…; piers@…; bastardi@…; Nils-Axel.Morner@…; john0sullivan@…; houston2000@…; PF.SMP@…; hiya@…; curryja@…; rupertwyndham@…; askolnick@…; afjacobs@…; kalhnd@…
    Sent: Wed, 5 Dec 2012 3:50 Subject: Re: PSI and “ .. 9 leading scientists .. ”
    Peter, I belong to PSI and I believe I have qualifications relevant to climate science. I have a Masters degree in power system analysis which involves computer modelling of very complex power systems in steady-state and in transient situations.
    All computer models must be an accurate representation of the system that they are modelling, they must have accurate input data and they must have been demonstrated to produce correct answers. As climate science is largely about computer modelling rather than climate itself, I do feel qualified to comment.
    What I do know is that no climate model is an accurate representation of the system simply because we do not understand how the climate works.) For instance, none of the climate models can predict El Niño events which are the major periodic climate disturbance. Therefore, we have proof that they cannot accurately represent the system.
    In addition, the climate models predict that increasing carbon dioxide will cause warming simply because they are programmed with a “climate sensitivity factor” (in engineering parlance a positive feedback factor) of between two and three. Therefore, the prediction of warming is not because the model has determined that this would happen but it is simply because this is built in to the program code.
    How anyone with a knowledge of computer modelling can believe that they can give accurate results is totally beyond me.
    Kind regards, Bryan Leyland …..
    UNQUOTE.

    Being a CACC sceptic I agree with much of what Bryan said but why he has chosen to jump into bed with people like John O’, Oliver Manuel, etc. is beyond me. In that same thread of E-mails Piers Corbyn of Weather Action advised that “ .. I am not a member of PSI and understand my listing error there will be rectified .. ” – in my opinion he’s a wise fellow.

    In that thread Andrew Skolnick raised an interesting point about John O’s claim to have been a lecturer at the University of Northampton for 12 years “ .. You might also call the head of records at the University of Northampton to verify, as I did, that they have no record of O’Sullivan ever teaching there (when it was known as Nene College.) In his resume and bios, O’Sullivan claims he taught law there as a lecturer for 12 years from 1987 to 1999.
    As I said, I’ve never encountered bigger liar and fraud in more than 20 years of investigative reporting .. ”.

    John O’ removed that claim from his LinkedIn profile some time after 22nd Dec. and replaced it with a slightly more truthful entry saying simply “Nene College (University of Northampton) Lecturer .. ” (http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=64434874&authType=name&authToken=0rq9&locale=en_US&pvs=pp&trk=ppro_viewmore). In my opinion a more accurate picture is painted in “Curriculum Vitae for John O’Sullivan (2010)” (http://globalpoliticalshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/curriculum-vitae-for-john-osullivan-2010.html) but due consideration should be given to the notes.

    I must get that thread posted on my Global Political Shenigans blog (http://globalpoliticalshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk/).

    Best regards, Pete Ridley

    1. Well, that does at least confirm that Leyland suffers from DK syndrome. He clearly cannot tell the difference between an input and an output, which is a pretty basic requirement for understanding computer modelling. It’s also a very basic requirement for anything to do with electricity, so I would run a million miles from any house where Leyland has been doing the wiring.

  6. Hi CTG,

    You appear to have spotted something on this thread that I have missed. Perhaps you’d be kind enough to expand on the evidence that led you to your opinion that ” .. Leyland .. clearly cannot tell the difference between an input and an output .. “.

    Best regards, Pete Ridley

  7. Hi again Colin,

    I took a look at that “ .. nifty little gadget ..” of yours that Gavin talked about in October 2009 (http://hot-topic.co.nz/keep-out-of-the-kitchen/). Have you tried running it with raw global temperature data rather than the statistically manipulated (adjusted) stuff made available with GISS/GHCN (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/station_data/) and HadCRU (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/land-and-atmosphere/surface-station-records)? I’m wondering what effect the various algorithms that they use have on the picture that your gadget generates.

    It seems that I am not the only one to be unconvinced by what passes for data coming out of HadCRU and GISS (e.g. see http://rankexploits.com/musings/2010/new-hadcru-whos-funding-it/).

    Best regards, Pete Ridley

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