JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Trump Criticises UK–California Net-Zero Pact, warning Britain against partnering with the state’s Anti-Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. The agreement, signed by Newsom and British Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, in London, is intended to “tackle the climate and nature crisis”.
The president said the British climate pact with the California governor, Gavin Newsom, is “the very worst thing the UK can do,” “The UK’s got enough trouble without getting involved with Gavin Newscum,” Trump said, “His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster,” “People are leaving [California]. The worst thing that the UK can do is get involved in Gavin. If they did to the UK what he did to California, this will not be a very successful venture.”
Trump has said that he would like to see oil drilling restart in the UK. “I strongly recommend to them that, in order to get their energy costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social on May 23, 2025.
He said that the UK should “incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken” and that the country’s energy costs “would go way down—and fast.” Trump described Aberdeen, Scotland, as the “hub” of a region with “a century of drilling left” and criticised the UK’s “old-fashioned tax system” for pushing away investors.
The Tory government closed 25 unprofitable coal mines in 1985, and by 1992 a total of 97 mines had been closed; those that remained were privatised in 1994. The resulting closure of 150 coal mines, some of which were not losing money, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and had the effect of devastating entire communities. Strikes had helped bring down Heath’s government, and Thatcher was determined to succeed where he had failed. Her strategy of preparing fuel stocks, appointing hardliner Ian MacGregor as NCB leader and ensuring that police were adequately trained and equipped with riot gear contributed to her triumph over the striking miners. In support of Thatcherism the UK’s ruling Labour Party will not issue any new coal licenses. This follows from the previous Conservative administration’s Climate Change Act 2008, which legally commits the UK to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Sir Francis Drake claimed California for England in 1579, landing at Drake’s Cove near Point Reyes, naming the area as New Albion. He found it on 17 June 1579, when he and his crew landed on the Pacific coast at Drakes Bay in Northern California. He claimed sovereignty of the area for Queen Elizabeth I. The British claim ended with the Oregon Treaty, signed with the United States on June 15, 1846.
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Ironically the Oregon Petition in 1997 stated
“There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.”
It was signed by 31,000 documented people, 9,000 with PhD in response to the Kyoto treaty, the same treaty which underpins endless Australia and the UK climate laws and taxes.
And somehow it remains ignored. This was only the first demonstration that scientists were going to be utterly ignored in favor of leftists, activists, politicians and the science ignorant. But I repeat myself.
National science bodies had been taken over by political activists, as around the world.
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Venus, with a quarter of a million times more carbon dioxide than the Earth’s atmosphere, provides the best answer to the problem, by showing that carbon dioxide produces ‘zero’ warming above the lapse rate. Theory of Heat (1871) by James Clerk Maxwell, showed that warming is by molar mass not radiative forcing. But Maxwell only had data for the Earth. Then 140 years later, Maxwell was dead, so Ned Nikolov & Karl Zeller helped complete Maxwell’s work by using NASA data from the Magellan probe, to show that radiative warming of a gas and carbon dioxide warming, can both be scientifically defined as a fraudulent ‘hoax’. The worlds top living expert on the subject, retired MIT Professor of Atmospheric Physics, Dr. Richard Lindzen, said that “Man-made Climate Change” is a quasi-religious movement predicated on an absurd scientific narrative.
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I believe that Prof. William Happer should also be regarded as a very significant expert in atmospheric physics. He was selected to head the Star Wars project because of his knowledge.
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My wife and I signed the Oregon Petition.
The organizer, Arthur Robinson, was not a computer savvy person and the software at the time was not up to the task of handling the thousands of people. This allowed numerous ne’er-do-wells to sign, thereby tainting the project. Note that one of the frequent WUWT posters, Linnea Lueken, is a Research Fellow with the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute.
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One Nations Malcolm Roberts challenges Dr. Karl in Senate estimates. Dr.K. trots out that old, disproven red herring about 99.9999% of scientists agree on global warming. Despite the mockery Malcom Roberts holds his own. Now it so happens that I have worked with scientists all my life, across a wide range of specialities, chemists, biologists , a nuclear physicist, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers and a mathematician. None of these people were asked by who ever ran the “survey”, the very same survey that at best was just a dubious set of controls and I think from memory about 1000 scientists questioned and only about 66% bothered to respond. If this is the best argument Dr.K. has got it leaves a lot to be desired.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/dr-karl-clashes-with-malcolm-roberts-over-climate-change/video/f7e767be3df163c972504e5ddb58dc59&ved=2ahUKEwjz8oGr5uOSAxXe5DQHHdnXONYQuAJ6BAgaEAw&usg=AOvVaw3BcpzI0EvtdlKeBxsW-ayi
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I have discussed the official narratives on climate change (as it existed from time to time) with other scientists over the last 20 years.
Not one of them agreed with it. Many of them had strong objections. Others shrugged it off as a waste of their time to get involved, better things to do. The official tactics of gatekeeping dissenting studies submitted for formal publication, open denigration of scientists by non-scientists, rewarding a docile press etc have worked and continue to work. It is frustrating and sad to see official support for quite poor standards of science.
Geoff S
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Can you imagine a ship, captained by Bob Keeshan [See: Captain Kangaroo] sailing to Plymouth – southwest England – planting a flag and claiming sovereignty of the area for a future president of the USA, say Kamala H. or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
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In October last year, I was in the Untidy Kingdom, as a tourist.
Visiting a preserved piece of railway, I asked the volunteer crew how they were getting on for coal for their lovingly-restored locomotives..Basically, since the effective demise of British coal-mining, they import it from COLUMBIA.
“Coals to Newcastle” is the new Pommystan reality.
And the Columbian cola does NOT burn as efficiently or cleanly as the “traditional” recipe.
Once more, per George Washington:
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master”.
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On a vaguely related topic the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad in Colorado fairly recently converted their steam locomotives from coal to oil.
On an even more vaguely related topic there appears to be a minor trend toward powering miniature steam locomotives with propane rather than coal.
The times they are a changin’
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depends…. would you like to cruise around the track sitting on a propane cylinder that feeds a fire just in front of your legs..
Then again, we’ve probably all had the children we needed to.
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Study finds four Australian regions with little COVID and brief lockdowns saw excess deaths surge after 90%+ COVID “vaccine” uptake in 2021. Raphael Lataster published an ecological analysis in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine examining excess mortality in Australia during 2021. 98% of Excess Deaths in Highly Vaccinated Australian Regions Were NOT From COVID-19: dailysceptic . org/2026/02/16/proof-at-last-that-excess-deaths-are-caused-by-covid-vaccines/
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Video.
Why modern domestic appliances like fridges and dishwashers only last five years or so when old ones might have lasted 30 years or more.
It’s substantially due to woke energy efficiency and water efficiency laws. E.g. energy efficient but short-lived linear rather than rotary compressors in fridges.
What’s the net energy consumption including energy for manufacture of a fridge that lasts five years as compared to a less efficient fridge that lasted thirty years?
I think the older-style fridge would be way in front if manufacturing energy were included.
https://youtu.be/ULuj2BWgf7I
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FWIW: My refrigerator, manufactured in Canada, was built in May 2014.
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We married in 1970 and were gifted from a relative, an old “Silent Knight” refrigerator built some time in the 1950’s. ( Back in the days when people started married life with very little). After several years we subsequently regifted this fridge to another couple just starting out, who then regifted it when they could afford a newer type. It was a topic of conversation for decades amongst the cohort as to who had the “Silent Knight”. Last heard of around 2010, still chugging away in someone’s garage, just down to a beer fridge but still working. Some of the owners of this fridge have gone to the other side, I wonder if the fridge is still alive and well.
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Also have my mother’s old fridge in my garage. With its thermostat turned up to its highest temp setting, it makes an excellent and cheap wine fridge, as all my wine uses screw tops. Its only failure was when its label fell off the front.
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We have an old Frigidaire, inherited with a house we bought in 1993. It was old then and had no working thermostat. We just put the ‘fridge on while we were staying there. Later, in 1997, we moved to our present place and eventually treated the ‘fridge to a new thermostat. It lives on in the workshop, still working well although a bit cold for fruit and veg. Ideal for storing back up meat and cheese, after visiting Aldi, not to mention beer!
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Without a doubt.
I’ve a got a 1970s fridge in my garage to hold beer/game, and a washer and dryer from the same time period that I keep out there to wash REALLY dirty stuff (bloody/greasy clothes/rags from cleaning game or working on the car) that I don’t want mixed in with normal laundry. They were hand-me-downs from my dad when I bought my first house in the 1980s. They have broken down a few times, but since they are entirely mechanical, I was able to open them up and fix them myself with the only cost being parts. Meanwhile, since retiring them to the garage about 25 years ago, I’ve gone through three nice/modern fridges and two nice/modern washers and dryers, and had multiple repair bills on each.
You tell me which is ‘greener’ … my old fridge/washer/dryer in the garage which have lasted 50+ years and are still going strong, or my ‘indoor’ appliances which get replaced every 8-12 years? I have a hard time believing a little bit more efficiency and five fridges/washers/dryers in the landfill is ‘greener’ than a slightly less efficient fridge/washer/dryer and zero in the landfill. But one thing I know for sure is that me buying three fridges over 25 years for indoor use is more profitable for manufacturers than the 50+ year old fridge still chugging away in my garage.
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Slightly related: Plumbers like replacing hot-water systems: usually an easy job, and good money. To keep the work coming, they don’t spread it around that, for decades, water heaters have come with a sacrificial anode. This is usually a magnesium rod down the centre of the tank. The rod oxidises so that the tank won’t. The anode costs ~$40 and is often a pretty easy DIY job. Replace it every half-dozen years, and the tank should last indefinitely.
Doing my bit for the sustainability of JoNovians.
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Modern refrigerators/freezers do not braze connections to evaporators. They embed the refrigerant lines into aluminum evaporators using epoxy adhesives/sealants.
Previous to this “improvement”, copper or copper plated refrigerant lines were brazed using 6% to 15% silver alloys on copper tubing into copper evaporators.
If the original systems were purged properly with inert gas (N2, Ar, CO2) and then brazed, followed by deep vacuum, then charged, the units would last 30 to 50 years.
Epoxy sealed refrigerant lines might last 5 to 10 years, then it is game over. No adhesive/epoxy joint is superior to a high silver content brazed copper joint. The former is prone to leakage, the latter is a hermetic joint that is fatigue/fracture/porosity resistant in the extreme.
There ought be a financial penalty placed upon manufacturing methods that engender obsolescence. Sustainability? Leakage? Disposal?
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Wasn’t Ralph Nader onto that?
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Video:
A look at Einstein’s PhD thesis.
https://youtu.be/nYGL9eN9U6s
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Videos:
Using AI to turn the 1960’s cartoon series Jonny Quest into live action.
https://youtu.be/a0d3kKo6OJA
https://youtu.be/AY78wUrXkoU
20
Epstein and 330 gallons of acid.
He bought it on the same day in 2018 that the authorities opened a new investigation into his activities… he obviously wasn’t tipped off because that would be illegal, so it was just a coincidence.
Was the stuff just for cleaning his Reverse Osmosis filter?
What was his history of buying acid and what were the normal quantities?
They say hydrochloric acid is better for cleaning filters, and sulphuric acid better for disposing of biological matter? He bought the latter.
Any experts out there?
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We’ll never know, and it’s not worth spending money to investigate because the villain is dead and beyond our ability to punish.
That said, I don’t think the Epstein stuff is malevolently evil as some make it out to be. I don’t think it was a child sex slavery ring where inconvenient slaves were murdered and dissolved in acid. I think it was a political influence operation that used underage prostitutes to collect ‘kompromat’ on predatory people in power with a predilection for pubescent flesh. Get one of the Bills (Clinton, Gates) in the pool with a frolicking nymph, snap a few photos, and then keep them buried in a safe in case you ever need a ‘favor’ from one of the Bills and he balks at delivering. I also assume multiple western intelligence agencies used Epstein’s little honey pot to their advantage, which is why he was able to get away it for so long and only a got slap on the wrist in his initial trial. Still quite evil and grotesque, but not as fantastical as some of the Marquis de Sade type stuff dreamed up on the interwebs.
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Agreed except for the scale of the whole operation. My guess is that Epstein was a figurehead. Otherwise he was a very busy beaver indeed.
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I wonder if next released batch will include Mother Theresa email address.
Diana’s was listed, was she not?
What I saw myself over lifetime in both systems just confirmed the nature : both men and women do it, rich and poor do it, but most of all – the ones who talk about morals and virtues….
00
“but most of all – the ones who talk about morals and virtues….”
Ah, like sending illegal immigrants to Mathas Vineyard.. They couldn’t get rid of them soon enough!
Hypocrisy is always a fun thing to see in action!
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There are many here with better math and stats skills than I, so I pose a question:
The odds (expectations?) on the US midterms are 83% democrat. Clearly this doesn’t mean (D)s will get 83% of the vote. What does it mean, if anything?
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Some early bets on the outcome of the election.
Doesn’t take much when earlier, and might fool the stupid.
00
I assume those are the odds they will flip the House, and they look pretty reasonable to me. Not an absolute lock, but pretty darn close to it at the moment.
I’d say their odds of flipping the Senate are closer to 33%. Doable, but not likely.
That said, a lot can change in nine months. The Democrats are on a rage-high right now due to ICE having to resort to heavy-handed tactics to meet their deportation goals, but will that same level of anger/enthusiasm last until November? Or will it peter out as Trump brings blue state sanctuary policies to heel and ICE can conduct it’s operations quietly at prisons and courthouses rather than having to chase down illegal aliens in the streets?
IMO, no matter what happens it is likely the Democrats will flip the house. The party in power almost always loses seats in midterm elections, and the Republican advantage in the House is wafer-thin. But flipping the Senate would require the Democrats to flip some seats in very unfriendly territory, which seems unlikely in our current partisan environment. But I could be wrong. I often am when it comes to predicting midterms due to their low turnout. Whichever side is most motivated usually wins, and right now, the Democrat base is a rabid donkeys while the Republicans are a bunch of fat and happy elephants.
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The general feeling is that the Dems will recapture the house, but status quo in the senate.
I don’t accept this, the turmoil created by Trumpism will only get progressively worse, so I see a complete wipeout in the house and senate.
04
When is a decrease in electricity prices actually an increase?
At the last Budget the UK gov. said energy bills would drop £150 (average use variable tariff) by trickery, shifting some green costs to general taxation from April.
They are now expected to drop by as little as £117 as other increasing costs have eaten in already. And this is Spring, when the price usually tends to drop. Netzero dreams just keep piling on the costs.
20
I wonder if they use they same random number generator as AlBowen? At today’s exchange rate those numbers are oddly close to the $275 reduction we never saw.
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Animal of the day.
The red-lipped batfish which walks on its fins.
https://youtube.com/shorts/U9fzWeuQW6U
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Yeah but do they taste any good / battered / breadcrumbed / we love our fush’n’chups over here, except they resemble a certain ex-PM-ess we suffered under during zee ©️19 Incarceration Operation a few years back [hint: lippy on a pig].
A new saying for 2026? Batfish Crazy!
20
More articles on tax increases for Aussies as Govt admit they can’t stop deficits. We can’t afford European-style welfare apparently, although it didn’t point out the Euros are broke from trying it!
Productivity down in mining, hospitality, construction & manufacturing. Productivity was up in farming, forestry and fishing, and if you believe it is important, or even can be measured… in arts and recreation!
“a renewed focus on efficiency in state service delivery” no doubt means talking to an LLM computer when you phone a Govt Dept and then getting stuck in a conversational loop based on the Telco model!
Basically, taxes up, more committees, and nothing changes!
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nation-s-taxpayers-not-enough-to-pay-for-ballooning-deficits-20260218-p5o38l.html
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Also in there, some public airing of the dirty laundry in the doctor’s club, the RACP. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), the body responsible for training and accrediting about 32,000 doctors across 33 specialties in Australia and New Zealand.
“The incoming president of one of Australia’s largest medical colleges has cast doubt on its long-term survival due to concerns over a $40 million IT overhaul, a dysfunctional board, and an external investigation into bullying allegations against the outgoing president.”
Intelligent, educated adults end up behaving like teenagers… These are the people who will decide if you live or die.
But wait! There’s more, an article on how cheap, plentiful and wonderful renewables are and warning us not to ‘get gaslit’ by Trump’s move away from them. Of course its a puff-piece written by those making their living from it!
“Rebecca Burdon is the CEO of Climate Resource. Rod Sims is Chair of the Superpower Institute. He is also Enterprise Professor at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at Melbourne University.”
“There’s no going back on this energy transition…You will hear, for example, that a focus on net zero is the cause of Australia’s high electricity prices, which is not true. …The world has an enormous amount to do to avoid the worst effects of climate change, and the risks remain serious. The energy transition is well under way, however, and politicians need to be honest with the public about this.”
…doesn’t mention the current snow situation, that stuff that was going to vanish!
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OK, KP, I’ll admit it, it’s my fault: every February I make a wish it’s going to snow somewhere in NZ so I can claim a ‘wh!te b!rthday’ during our hottest weeks of the year (two snowy, white birthdays in February up at 9,600 ft in Colorado inspired my novel, if somewhat odd, summer snow wish.
This year it’s worked too well: four (4) snowfalls this month have been observed & recorded via webcams and the fifth (5) is forecast for this weekend (my big day) for 10-25cm from Fiordland, the Southern Alps (Mt Cook) even inland Otago, of impossible no longer existing never to be seen again vanished snow, in high summer, during the soon-to-be announced Hottest Year (N)ever!
NB. CA’s Sierra Nevadas have been getting hammered by blizzards with yet more backcountry skiers being swept away, similar to Italy and other alpine regions: The End Of Snow? No.
50
FWIW
“NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Best Cars That Still Offer a Manual Transmission in 2026, Ranked.”
“The Best Cars That Still Offer a Manual Transmission in 2026, Ranked”
https://www.roadandtrack.com/rankings/g6427/best-cars-manual-transmission/
Via https://instapundit.com/777073/#disqus_thread
IIRC the manual transmission was consigned to the dust bin of automotive history about the 1960’s too
20
The sweetest manual I ever had was a Rover 416i, a four door version of a Honda Integra. Prolly the only car I wish I’d kept. That little engine would wind out to 7k revs. Mrs H drove it into the nineties. The dog could hear her change gears turning into our street.
It’s sad Honda has lost it’s mojo.
00
Watt’s Up With That, WUWT blog, yesterday kindly accepted my article “Australia’s Problem Child – The BOM”. It was a tough call, to send it to WUWT or to the Jo Nova blog, so I tossed a coin.
There are many detailed links in the article to uncertainties about Australian warming and cooling that the BOM have failed to address to the public. In summary, BOM have presented little solid public evidence whether Australia is warming at all because there is a very broad uncertainty envelope that they decline to discuss properly. Geoff S
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Nice work Geoff!
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“Was Climate Change the Greatest Financial Scam in History?”
“Environmental scholar Bjorn Lomborg recently calculated that across the globe, governments have spent at least $16 trillion feeding the climate change industrial complex. And for what?”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/02/18/was_climate_change_the_greatest_financial_scam_in_history_153854.html
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Although Lomborg is a warmist, he does produce a lot of good solid data and excellent logical thinking.
10
From last week’s free* local rag (I always grab a few for wrapping rubbish) under ‘Health’:
“The Northern Hemisphere is dubbing this winter’s flu as the ‘Super Flu’ because it’s unusually contagious, with US cases now at their highest in a decade”.
Why am I not shocked. The info-advert continues:
“The Pfizer rep* has just been in store and confirmed that the updated strain of the vaccine will be released around March 2. That means if it has been six months or longer since your last vaccine, it is time to get yourself vaccinated again…”
And again… and again… and again… booster #72 (?)
40
Note to TonyfromOz
Yesterday you asked about medications.
Have a word with your doc on these lines:
The class of blood pressure meds known as calcium channel blockers (CCB) are ‘well known’ for causing edema (swelling, eg. ankle/feet).
The worst CCBs are amlodipine and felodur.
Two types that you may be able to tolerate are cilnidipine and lercanidipine.
There are other types of blood pressure medication that may suit.
Food, vitamins, garlic. Are probably safe and cheap, effectiveness more variable than pharmaceuticals.
Recommendation, buy your own BP monitor.
20
I have similar heart problems to the what Tony posted about, I have been on beta blocker prescription tablets since 2022 and progressively developing Bradycardia and Irregular Heartbeat. In December 2025 the two a day 50mg were discontinued and one a day thereafter, and then half a tablet a day and recently zero under doctor’s instructions.
My heartbeat is increasing from a low 30-40 and now 40-50 which is still a bit too low but it takes a month or so for our system to adjust.
Blood Pressure is rising but so far within the recommended maximum.
20
I decided In didn’t know enough about it, and found this interesting.
Strait of Hormuz :
My reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Hormuz
00
A climate activists grows up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OybheweZGxw
It gives some insight into the mind of young people aiming to save the planet. And what has caused the turn around.
I figure it is much harder for the people scamming a living from the climate movement.
00
Appealing vote catcher.
‘New opposition defence spokesman James Paterson has called for a shift to a ‘pre-conflict mindset’, warning the government can’t ‘flick a switch’ in a crisis.’ (Oz)
00
Well, that’s his job and he’s got to be seen to be doing something… War war! Go to war!
At least Trump was more honest and changed the name to Dept of War.
00
FWIW – for the covid record
““Unexpected” Massive Surge in Vaccine Harm Claims” (UK)
https://dailysceptic.org/2026/02/18/unexpected-massive-surge-in-vaccine-harm-claims/
00
FWIW – no link so text from image
“Science girl
A nanobot helping a sperm with motility issues along towards an egg.
These metal helixes are so small they can completely wrap around the tail of
a single sperm and assist it along its journey
•o
Mindy MF Robinson
Pretty sure the last thing this world needs….is people from dumber sperm.”
01
Found it
https://x.com/sciencegirl/status/1558474490044207104
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Coal is king again.
https://notrickszone.com/2026/02/18/coal-power-back-in-trend-as-globe-tries-to-keep-pace-with-growing-demand-for-power/
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