Christopher Booker

{{denialism|1}}{{cquote|Does Christopher Booker exist? Or is he simply a device invented to waste as much of other people's time as possible? Might he in fact be a computer programme randomly generating nonsense in order to keep scientists, environmentalists and public health campaigners so busy refuting it that they can't get on with what they ought to be doing? I ask because it seems almost impossible that one man could make so many superhuman cock-ups.|||[[George Monbiot]]<ref name=monbiotsuperhuman>[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/oct/13/christopher-booker The superhuman cock-ups of Christopher Booker], George Monbiot, ''The Guardian'', 13 Oct 2011</ref>}}
'''Christopher Booker''' (1937-2019) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] journalist and [[author]].<ref name=guardianobit>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jul/04/christopher-booker-obituary Christopher Booker obituary], The Guardian, July 4, 2019</ref> He was a columnist for the ''[[Daily Telegraph|Sunday Telegraph]]'' in the UK between 1990 and 2019. He also wrote regular columns for ''[[The Spectator]]'' and was a long-standing contributor to ''[[Private Eye]]'', where he penned the poems of E.J. Thribb (aged 17 1/2) and the columns of leftie ranter Dave Spart.<ref name=guardianobit/> He published ''The Seven Basic Plots'' (2004), a controversial book on storytelling from a [[Jungian]] perspective, which took him 35 years to write.<ref>[http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2017-07-26/seven-basic-plots-christopher-booker The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker]</ref>

On the other hand, he was also an [[anti-science]] [[crank]] with a range and depth quite astonishing for a [[journalist]] of such eminence. Possibly, his long association with ''Private Eye'', which habitually pokes fun at The Great And Good clouded his judgement. In seeing scientists as "[[Conspiracy theory|establishment]]" figures, with their obscure language and [[ivory tower]]s, he mistrusted them as a reflex reaction. While it is possible to hold plausible opinions on politics without much expert knowledge, the same is not true of science. Many deniers and cranks do not appear to appreciate this difference &mdash; Booker was certainly among them.

==Climate change denial==
{{main|Global warming}}
Climate change was one of Booker's signature campaigns. He wrote a book on the global warming "hoax" that a review in the ''[[The Guardian|Observer]]'' described as "the definitive climate sceptics' manual".<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/15/real-global-warming-christopher-booker The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker], Philip Ball (formerly an editor at [[Nature (journal)|Nature]]) demolishes the book</ref>

The book is in fact well argued, well written and thoroughly referenced. It is also complete [[bollocks]] from start to finish. His favoured tactic is to misunderstand (being charitable) or misrepresent the sources he quotes. As with creationists, it's only if you check what the references say that the deceit becomes plain.

==Creationism==
{{main|Creationism}}
Booker was a creationist of the [[intelligent design]] variety. He was not particularly interesting or original in his claims; he merely regurgitated a selection of favourite creationist tropes such as [[Eye|Darwin's "eye problem"]], the [[transitional fossil|fossil record]], etc. As usual, he reconciled this with his [[worldview]] by blaming the scientific establishment that insists on the Darwinian orthodoxy and resists any challenges to its authority.

His hook for a story in ''[[The Spectator|The Spectator]]''<ref>[http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/6273393/scientists-in-hiding.thtml Scientists In Hiding], Christopher Booker</ref> was a conference that he attended on intelligent design. This was held at a secret location, with participants that were (seemingly) there by invitation only. The meeting was bankrolled by an unnamed billionaire.<ref group=note>The sleuths at Pharyngula point the finger at Walt Ruloff, the main backer for the "documentary" ''[[Expelled]]''. No proof, but it ticks the boxes.</ref> Booker seemed unaware that the heroes of his article represented the kind of [[conspiracy]] that he habitually condemns. The scientific bodies that make up "the establishment" can at least be named and are not secretive (at least, not in the way he implies).

==Asbestos==
{{main|Asbestos}}
Denying the health risks posed by asbestos is a fringe activity, even for hardcore cranks. Booker rose to the occasion. Indeed, one of his most famous claims was that asbestos "is chemically identical to [[Talc|talcum powder]]".<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1381270/Christopher-Bookers-Notebook.html Christopher Booker's Notebook: Billions to be spent on nonexistent risk], 13 January 2002 (he's serious)</ref> It isn't, of course, but this information did not lead him to a retraction or even an acknowledgement of his nonsense. Talc and some forms of asbestos are both magnesium silicates, but since there have been persistent worries about asbestos contamination in talc, it should be obvious they are not the same.<ref>[https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/talcum-powder-and-cancer.html Talcum Powder and Cancer], American Cancer Society</ref>

Most people would trust a professor of [[chemistry]] to know such things as chemical structure. As a member of the scientific establishment, professors are not to be trusted. Instead, Booker turned to John Bridle, who claims an honorary doctorate from the Russian National Academy of Science and a position at the University of Glamorgan, for his information. In reality, Bridle has no connection to either academic institution: he simply says he has, and he is a known fraudster.<ref name='monbiot-patron'>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/23/controversiesinscience.health The patron saint of charlatans is again spreading dangerous misinformation], George Monbiot on Booker</ref>

The dubious qualifications of his source were pointed out to Booker. Facts appeared to have little impact.<ref>[http://richardwilsonauthor.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/bookers-38-bogus-claims-about-white-asbestos/ Booker’s false claims (42 articles and counting) downplaying the risks of white asbestos], Richard Wilson</ref> Presumably, he either thought that a proven liar is a reliable source or he regarded this as an attempt by the scientific establishment to discredit him and his source.

==Second-hand smoke==
{{main|Second-hand smoke}}
Pretty much what you would expect. No evidence that it causes [[cancer]], a [[cover up]] to hide the evidence, blah, blah.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1556118/Christopher-Bookers-notebook.html Christopher Booker's notebook: All done with passive smoke and mirrors], 1 July 2007</ref>

Oh, and he was a [[DDT]] nut as well.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1522845/Christopher-Bookers-notebook.html Christopher Booker's notebook: EU bars a malaria life-saver], 2 July 2006 (many of the common themes here, as a bonus he gets to blame the [[EU]] &mdash; another pet hate)</ref>

==Euroscepticism==
{{main|Brexit}}
Booker was, unsurprisingly, a [[euroscepticism|eurosceptic]]. He believed that the UK's European integration was [[New World Order|a slow-motion coup d'etat with an agenda of subordination]] to invasive centralised regulation that could be economically harmful to the country. He and his partner-in-crime Richard North published a couple of books shitting on the [[EU]], including ''The Castle of Lies: Why Britain Must Get Out of Europe'' (1996) and ''The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive?'' (2005).<ref>http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/euroscepticbutsane Eurosceptic, but sane], Prospect Magazine</ref><ref name=guardianobit/>

Ironically, he was opposed to [[Brexit]] when it finally happened.<ref>[http://reaction.life/strange-case-bregretter-christopher-booker/ The strange case of “Bregretter” Christopher Booker]</ref>

==Crusading journalism==
Booker was a persistent and tenacious campaigner for victims of stupidity caused by government and other forms of officialdom and bureaucracy. This is a very worthy aim and he ought to be applauded for it. However, it appears he was just as incompetent and oblivious to [[reality]] as with his [[anti-science]] crusades. In his summing up on a case where a child was taken into care, Judge Bellamy singled out Booker for criticism:<ref>[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2011/B8.html Court decision]</ref>

{{quotebox|Mr Booker's articles contain significant factual errors and omissions. […] this underlines the dangers inherent in journalists relying on partisan and invariably tendentious reporting by family members and their supporters rather than being present in court to hear the evidence which the court itself hears.}}

He also got into bother while a jazz reviewer for the ''Sunday Telegraph'' by producing an enthusiastic review of a concert that had actually been cancelled.<ref name=guardianobit/>

==Criticism==
[[George Monbiot]] has been a persistent critic of Booker's nonsense.<ref name='monbiot-patron'/><ref>[http://www.monbiot.com/2011/05/13/for-how-much-longer-can-this-go-on/ For How Much Longer Can This Go On?], monbiot.com</ref><ref name=monbiotsuperhuman/> In response, Booker offered a [[bullshit|robust]] defence of his claims, wheeling out a set of  unreliable and discredited sources in his defence.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/3562445/Carbon-capture-is-not-here-yet.html Carbon capture is not here yet / The Great Moonbat is the one who's spreading 'misinformation' about asbestos], 28 September 2008</ref>

==Retraction==
An article written by Booker with Richard North about the IPCC chief Rajendra K. Pachauri was retracted by ''The Sunday Telegraph'' on the grounds that it was a pack of lies.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7957631/Dr-Pachauri-Apology.html Dr Pachauri &mdash; Apology]</ref> This seemed to be part of a general attack on Pachauri by climate change deniers.<ref>See, for example [http://climateaudit.org/2011/06/18/pachauri-no-conflict-of-interest-policy-for-ar5/ Climate Audit] on this in a post by [[Steve McIntyre]]</ref> The retraction was highly unusual given virtually everything else Booker wrote for the ''Sunday Telegraph'' was ''also'' a pack of lies that never got retracted.

==See also==
*[[Climategate]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booker, Christopher}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Brexit]]
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Crank magnetism]]
[[Category:Creationists]]
[[Category:Denialists]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Media]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]

Categories: Authors, Brexit, British people, Conspiracy theorists, Crank magnetism, Creationists, Denialists, Global warming denialists, Homophobes, Journalists, Media, Pseudoscience promoters