Ep. 533: Quentin Letts on “Patronizing Bastards” & Dr Karl on Nuclear Weapons & Coffee

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In this episode, we speak to Daily Mail sketch writer, Quentin Letts. Dr Karl, one of the greatest science communicators of our age, on some of humanity's greatest questions. Plus, we review this week’s headlines!

BBC Statement:

“The BBC hasn’t had Governors for more than a decade, but is overseen by a single board, made up of Executive and Non-Executive Members. Some of these non-executive appointments were made by the BBC, following an open advertisement and interview process, and include people with a range of skills and experiences from a variety of backgrounds. Others, representing the UK nations, were made in accordance with public appointments guidelines in a process run by DCMS, in which they were advertised publicly, with the final appointment made by the Secretary of State and Prime Minister and approved by the nations’ Governments”.

David King Statement:

"First the issue of my advice. I joined Govt in October 2000; and in February 2001 we had a vast animal epidemic in the UK, foot-and- mouth, and for the next 6 months I was working 24/7 on helping to bring it under control and eradicating it. Very few other jobs crossed my path then, although there were 120 staff in my office and they continued to deal with a wide range of issues. Some time later I found myself advising a ministerial/official meeting dealing with the transition to low carbon transport, in the department of transport. Then I did what I usually do, bring in experts from academe and industry, to bring me up to date.

On the particular issue of NOx and diesel usage in cars, I also visited the Johnson Matthey laboratories in Royston, (I spent 40 years in research labs studying surfaces, and had published peer-reviewed papers on car exhaust catalysis, so this is, as correctly stated, a subject rather close to my interests.) I studied the JM reports on their breakthrough development of car exhaust catalyst-traps, specifically designed for diesel cars to remove CO, NOx and hydrocarbons, but in addition the carbon particulate matter which is a specific problem of diesel as distinct from petrol. The trap was the new development. The performance on a range of cars with diesel was very good, and I was satisfied that the tests were well conducted. JM’s reputation in this area is second to none - they were responsible for developing the first successful petrol car exhaust catalysts, in the early 70s, for the California market, and then the world.

I have no record of when I took this information to the Dept of Transport Ministerial Committee. I was simply informing myself so that I could if necessary put a British brake on the Euro-diesel regulations. Which I did not believe I needed to do, given what I had discovered at JM. I was convinced that the technology was available to meet the standards set by Europe. Otherwise I would have stepped in to ask for changes in the legislation. But the problem is that when you put a plug in a car’s exhaust system - silencer or catalyst-trap - the performance of the car is adversely affected. This I am sure is the reason why the car manufacturers were motivated to find ways to by-pass the regulation.

The problem lies very squarely with the car manufacturers - not only VW, who were heavily fined in the USA for deliberately cheating on the testing procedure for car exhaust. And now the question needs to be directed at the key governments of the EU, who have chosen to take no action against the car manufacturers."

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