Gove seems confident…

Last night, Andrew Neil took Extinction Rebellion spokesman Zion Lights to task over her organisation’s alarmist claims and anti-scientific arguments. Lights was taken to task over the Extinction Rebellion claim that “billions of people will die over the next few decades”, eventually admitting that what they were saying did not fall within the scientific mainstream and disclosing that “unfortunately alarmist language works.”

Extraordinarily for people who use soundbites like “listen to the scientists”, Lights ended up arguing against the scientific mainstream IPCC report, attacking it as presenting “very conservative numbers… using pre-industrial levels of data.” That’s undermining 6,000 scientific references, 91 authors, representing a global consensus with review editors from 40 countries. Lights ended up sounding like the people she purports to argue against, cherry-picking one or two eccentric researchers, against the vast scientific consensus…

Extinction Rebellion continually says “listen to the experts” but their demand of net zero emissions by 2025 directly contradicts the 2050 target that the experts are recommending.

When Neil posed the reality that in order to achieve Extinction Rebellion’s six year target, all flying would have to come to an end; all cars would have to be confiscated; meat would have to be rationed by the state; and all gas boilers and cookers would have to be removed from every home; Lights did not deny it, merely responding with the platitudinous comparison “we put a man on the moon.” The entire excruciating interview is worth watching in full.

Extinction Rebellion have escaped proper scrutiny for months, despite receiving blanket news coverage. Other broadcasters and journalists should watch this interview and take note…

Was it as a result of Neil’s interview that Corbyn deleted his tweet calling for a net zero target of just 2030? He replaced it with a tweet committing to everything the previous one did, save for that extreme 2030 pledge…

It was cringe-making at times, it was devastating at times, it was much loved by political obsessives and it was a ratings success. That was This Week that was. Andrew Neil long complained about the late night scheduling, which gave it a slightly alcohol glazed tinge for many viewers. All part of the charm…

As Guido readers are well aware, the new set of EU leaders thrust upon us following days of secret backroom Brussels horse-trading aren’t exactly the most illustrious bunch – from the Karen Bradley of German politics to the deeply unpleasant Spanish Foreign Minister convicted of insider trading just last year. Safe to say Andrew Neil is not impressed. The poor pro-EU journalist doesn’t stand a chance…

Andrew Neil was a stickler for historical accuracy on today’s PoliticsLive…

“The American War of Independence, or more accurately the British Civil War of North America.”

TalkRadio are showing off their shiny new studios in the shadow of the Shard. What you will notice from this clip is how well equipped they are for video, with multiple cameras, proper studio lighting and video backdrop screens. Which seems like a lot of expensive kit for a radio broadcaster. That’s because it will morph into a television broadcaster…

Sources have been telling Guido for months that Rupert Murdoch, now shorn of loss-making Sky News, is convinced that where he went wrong with the channel was that it was too middle of the road and boring. Why, he asks, did he lose £20 million-a-year with Sky News UK and make billions-a-year with Fox USA? See Murdoch-owned Sky News Australia to get an idea of the more opinionated news channel he perhaps has in mind. A more lively broadcaster would do much better than the old Sky News, especially in the age of Brexit, and TalkRadio looks very much like the prototype…

John Malone of Liberty Media features in some of the speculation, so the new station won’t just be a social media / internet-only operation, it will be a broadcast channel on digital TV. Sources say they are looking for a heavyweight anchor and are willing to pay big money to secure the right person to bring the channel credibility. Coincidentally Andrew Neil becomes available after the summer…