'Beneath the Wistertians' gather for the first time this year on Saturday

“Beneath the Wisterians” gather again on Saturday, January 27, for the first time this year.

We will meet at the northern end of Shepparton’s Maude St Mall at 11:00: it’s free, all are welcome and although some public seating exists, those attending are advised to bring a folding chair.

And what will we discuss? Well, the year that was and the year ahead.

The aim has always been to ensure Beneath the Wisteria was politically neutral, but that has become rather difficult as our political classes have made it so, encouraged all along by those who dispute climate science.

Sadly, few of those who gather in Canberra, or Melbourne’s Spring St, or even in the chambers at Shepparton’s Welsford St, appear to take climate change seriously other than to make the occasional proclamation, which is little more than a fiction designed to appease those vaguely aware of climate change and convinced that we need to do something, and declarations by the PM to save the Great Barrier Reef is often enough, although everyone who really understands what is really happening sees what is planned as abject failure, and little more than a distraction.

Please join me on Saturday as despondency can only be repaired by optimistic friends.

The predicted temperature on Saturday is 39 degrees, but as the maximum usually arrives about mid-afternoon, I’m expecting about 37 degrees at 11:00 am. 

We meet in the middle of winter, let’s meet in the middle of summer.

Any questions call me, Robert McLean, at 0400 502 199.

Media outlets doing society a disservice in providing 'balanced' reports

Some media outlets are doing society a decided disservice.

Adherence to balanced reporting is to be lauded, but the complications of climate change appear beyond the grasp of some and so in the name of “balance” they give exposure to doubters who warrant a paragraph and not an entire story.

In the “Climate Consensus” blog published by The Guardian a story headed: “Conservative media outlets found guilty of biased global warming coverage”, tells how new studies show how conservative and political neutral media outlets are creating a false balance in climate change reporting.