M. Bassey’s letter, Backing Up Climate Views, is based on a well-known style of argument called ‘appeal to authority’. The motto of the Royal Society is ‘nullus in verba’ but it does not seem to follow its own dictum because there is no direct evidence that human activities are changing the climate. There are only strident voices shouting about a perceived correlation between increased CO2 and a slight change in the temperatures shown by recent satellite measurements. If the Royal Society is prepared to take the word of activist advocates, perhaps we should look further afield in society and s…