Met Office head faced 'Climategate' threats
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The head of the Met Office has said that he received death threats from climate-change sceptics. John Hirst, chief executive of the organisation, said the threats were made after the "Climategate" data-fixing controversy and the much derided "barbecue summer" prediction made by the Met Office in 2009.
In a talk to climate scientists he spoke of the problems faced by the climate-change sceptic Johnny Ball, the former children's TV presenter, who said in February that he had been the subject of a hate campaign.
"I wrote to Johnny Ball because he had received death threats and it might not surprise you that I get some death threats as well," he told the audience at the University of Exeter. "So I wrote to him and said: 'I get death threats too, it's crazy'."
The Met Office confirmed that Mr Hirst had received death threats by email: "Last year, tensions were running high on both ends of the debate. These kinds of things are not widespread or endemic, but they are certainly not unusual."
The "isolated" threats were investigated by a Met Office security team and not reported to police.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments