I support the postal strike, but it's good to receive parcels…

I've ordered a lot of books and music recently, and they're starting to trickle through (today: new trousers, Julie Fowlis's Uam and Nancy Elizabeth's Battle and Victory. Yesterday I received James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore's Climate Cover-up: the crusade to deny global warming.

What can I say other than this is a shockingly important book? Like many of you, probably, I vaguely knew that various corporate interests were rigging the 'debate' through front groups, astroturfing and lobbying. What Hoggan and Littlemore have done is fill in the speculation with solid, old-fashioned detective work. They name names, follow the money and delve into the darker arts of corporate image management. It's essential for environmentalists, political scientist and students of the media because it exposes, in detail, the machinations of élites with no interest in a) reality, b) democracy and mostly shockingly, c) actual science.

It isn't a rant: it's a careful dissection of an organised campaign of disinformation which has poisoned the public sphere. You need to read it.