To boldly go where others can only dream of going. And say they can't.

Another 'message vs. messenger' rant.

And again courtesy of our national broadcaster. This time with a near irony-free series between the national and local news.

Still not quite even 'on message' by still using global warming as the rallying cry, I was treated to a positive throng of folk in Antarctica 'seeing for themselves' by 'studying' for oh, all of a day a truly stunning icy wilderness. There may well have been a serious point in there, as it was environment ministers and media 'reporters' in a huddle with some scientists, but to me the imagery was all wrong. Hundreds of folk in orange jump suits being taxied in and out on dirty great C-130s just didn't look right. Or convince me they really cared. Better, IMHO, to have not reported it at all, at least in such a fashion. And, with luck, let any serious science work its way into the collective political consciousness such that sensible, coordinated policy is developed, which can then be brought to the public objectively in concert with a well-informed, supportive but still challenging media.

As opposed to Midlands Today. Some bloke and his mates working for an energy company have done something to 'help' with making the company look a bit greener... I think. Anyway, lots of pictures of them in their office where the film crew has been dispatched. And their reward? Yup, you guessed it. They are being 'sent', somehow, to 'study the effects of global warming in the Antarctic'. It's a wonder there is room there for any scientists, what with all the competition winners and media types up there helping making us aware of how they are there and we are not.

Ch 4 email (no link) - AND FROM MORE4 NEWS WITH KEME NZEREM - You've seen those pictures of massive sheets of ice calving off the Antarctica land mass. Scary, isn't it? But what does that really tell us about the effects of man-made global warming? There's always ice falling off one bit of Antarctica and forming in another, but scientists are still trying to work out just how bad things are.

The environment minister, Hilary Benn, is on his way back from a fact-finding trip with some of his European counterparts, while the veteran environmentalist and polar explorer Robert Swan is on his way there this evening and he's told us that there's been too much climate alarmism about Antarctica in recent reports.

Observer - NEW - Antarctic cruise tourists lose out as soaring numbers alarm scientists