text: In the introduction of his most recent book, Lawson discusses the peculiar atmosphere of our time, of a time of threat to reason, if not of a time of unreason, when he tells us that, despite the fact that his previous three books didn?t have the slightest problem in finding a publisher (they even had one before they were written), this book was rejected by every British publisher it was offered to. The issue was finally resolved by Peter Mayer, the owner of The Overlook Press in New York who also owns Duckworth Publishers in London, who had the courage to publish the book. Lawson makes an additional important remark (p. 105) when he says that the situation was so bad that ? I quote ? ?I was able to write this book only because my own career is behind me.? (By the way, also the quite youthful and ?fresh? professor Kut lek is already 81 years old.) In the currently prevailing atmosphere, Nigel Lawson sees in the global warming hysteria ?the most oppressive and intolerant form of political correctness in the western world today.?