词条 | Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education and Skills |
释义 |
Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education and Skills was a case heard in September–October 2007 in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, concerning the permissibility of the government providing Al Gore's climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth to English state schools as a teaching aid. The case was brought by Stewart Dimmock, a lorry (HGV) driver and school governor from Kent, England, a father of two sons who attend a state school. Dimmock has twice stood as a local election candidate[1] for the New Party and received backing for the case from Viscount Monckton, the author of the New Party's manifesto.[2] Monckton, one of the UK's most prominent climate change sceptics, launched an advertising campaign against Al Gore in March 2007 challenging Gore to a public debate on climate change.[3] Monckton has received funding from a Washington-based conservative think tank of which he is chief policy adviser, the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI), to create a film, Apocalypse No, which will parody Gore, showing Monckton presenting a slide show making an attack on climate change science.[2] The plaintiff sought to prevent the educational use of An Inconvenient Truth on the grounds that schools are legally required to provide a balanced presentation of political issues. The court ruled that the film was substantially founded upon scientific research and fact and could continue to be shown, but it had a degree of political bias such that teachers would be required to explain the context via guidance notes issued to schools along with the film. The court also identified nine of what the plaintiff called 'errors' in the film which were departures from the scientific mainstream, and ruled that the guidance notes must address these items specifically. Background to the caseIn October 2006, the Government announced that the academic year 2006/07 would be a "Sustainable Schools Year of Action" to promote sustainable development and environmental consciousness. This followed an earlier public consultation on a Sustainable Schools Strategy. As part of the strategy, schools throughout the UK were to be given guidance and educational material on current environmental issues.[4] Ross Finnie, the Environment Minister of the Scottish Executive, announced on 16 January 2007 that An Inconvenient Truth would be shown to all secondary school pupils in Scotland, with the costs being underwritten by the energy company ScottishPower.[5] The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) followed suit on 2 February with an announcement that a copy of the film would be sent to all 3,385 secondary schools in England.[6] A month later, the Welsh Assembly Government likewise announced that schools and colleges in Wales would receive a copy of the film. In all three countries, the distribution of the film was accompanied by guidance notes and resources on how climate change fits into the context of the National Curriculum[7] and the Sustainable Schools Year of Action programme.[8] The DVD was also accompanied in English schools by a multimedia CD produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which included two short films about climate change and an animation about the carbon cycle.[9]The move was opposed by a group of parents in the New Forest region of Hampshire, who argued that the film was "inaccurate and politically motivated" and threatened to take legal action against the Government.[10] The parents' spokesman, Conservative councillor Derek Tipp,[11] asserted that the circulation of the film by the Government amounted to political indoctrination and was in breach of the Education Act 2002.[10] The court caseThe film's distribution was also opposed by Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, a prominent British sceptic of the theory of anthropogenic global warming. According to Monckton, he "identified three dozen scientific errors in it" and prompted an unnamed wealthy friend "to do something to fight back against this tide of unscientific freedom-destroying nonsense".[12] Funding for litigation was provided by the friend, and when the government "didn't reply satisfactorily", Monckton and his colleagues served papers on the government.[12] The case was brought in May 2007 in the name of Stewart Dimmock, a truck driver and governor at a school in Dover, Kent, who was also a member of the same small political party for which Monckton had written a manifesto.[2] In papers lodged at the High Court in London, the plaintiffs argued that showing the film would violate section 406(1)(b) of the Education Act 1996. The Act requires that local education authorities, school governing bodies and head teachers "shall forbid... the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school". Alternatively, the plaintiffs submitted, showing the film was unlawful because it did not provide "a balanced presentation of opposing views" as required by section 407. Dimmock petitioned the court to enjoin the Government from showing An Inconvenient Truth in English schools. Although he did not publicly explain his motivation, he was reported to feel "very strongly that this is an attempt to brainwash children with flawed science."[13][14] The behind-the-scenes role of Monckton and the other global warming sceptics was disclosed much later, in an interview given by Monckton to the conservative American talk show host Glenn Beck in March 2008.[12] The initial written application to challenge the Government was refused in July 2007.[14] On 27 September 2007, however, permission was granted at an oral hearing with a three-day judicial review before Justice Michael Burton following immediately thereafter. Dimmock's counsel asserted that the film was "partisan, aimed at influencing rather than informing, and lacked balance", and that it contained "serious scientific inaccuracies, political propaganda and sentimental mush."[15] The court was told that Dimmock had been widely supported by "[l]ots of parents [who] have written to him supporting his application. They do not want our children brainwashed in this way by the New Labour Thought Police."[16] In response, the Government's counsel said that the guidance notes that accompanied the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth meant that the overall package was politically balanced. Teachers could present the film in any way they wished but could provide balance by explaining to pupils that some of Gore's views were political and asking them for their views.[17] The Government offered to modify the guidance notes to meet specific scientific concerns.[18] On the last day of the hearing, 2 October, the judge announced that he would be saying in his formal written judgment that the film did promote "partisan political views" and teachers would have to inform pupils that there were other opinions on global warming and they should not necessarily accept the views of the film. However, he stated that "I will be declaring that, with the guidance as now amended, it will not be unlawful for the film to be shown."[9] The judgmentJustice Burton's written judgment was released on 10 October 2007. He found that it was clear that the film "is substantially founded upon scientific research and fact, albeit that the science is used, in the hands of a talented politician and communicator, to make a political statement and to support a political programme." The necessary amendments made to the related guidance notes make it clear what the mainstream view is, insofar as the film departs from it. The notes also explain that there are views of sceptics who do not accept the consensus reached by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Given these amendments, the judge considered that the film was put in a context in which a balanced presentation of opposing views was offered and where it could be shown to students in compliance with the law. Given a proper context, the requirement for a balanced presentation did not warrant that equal weight be given to alternative views of a mainstream view. The judge concluded "I have no doubt that Dr Stott, the Defendant's expert, is right when he says that: 'Al Gore's presentation of the causes and likely effects of climate change in the film was broadly accurate.'" On the basis of testimony from Dr. Robert M. Carter and the arguments put forth by the claimant's lawyers, the judge also pointed to nine of the statements that Dimmock's counsel had described as "errors" as inaccuracies; i.e, that were not representative of the mainstream. He also found that some of these statements arose in the context of supporting Al Gore's political thesis. The judge required that the guidance notes should address these statements.[19] The nine inaccuraciesThe judge described nine statements by Gore as departures from the scientific mainstream. However, Al Gore's spokesman has disputed this characterisation of the nine statements, which were as follows:
Responses to the judgmentThe Minister of Children, Young People and Families, Kevin Brennan, declared the outcome a victory for the government, stating: "We have updated the accompanying guidance, as requested by the judge to make it clearer for teachers as to the stated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change position on a number of scientific points raised in the film." Stewart Dimmock also declared victory but expressed dissatisfaction at the verdict, saying that "no amount of turgid guidance" could change his view that the film was unsuitable for the classroom.[9] Mr Justice Burton declared the case a victory for the claimant stating "I conclude that the claimant substantially won this case by virtue of my finding that, but for the new guidance note, the film would have been distributed in breach of sections 406 and 407 of the 1996 Education Act".[29] A spokesman for Al Gore stated that, "Of the thousands of facts in the film, the judge only took issue with just a handful. And of that handful, we have the studies to back those pieces up."[30] The verdict was criticised by the National Union of Teachers, which stated that it was "inappropriate for a judge to dictate how films or other creative work was taught in schools."[31] Viscount Monckton criticised the judge, whom he claimed had been "a Labour [Party] candidate before", and asserted that the Government had "decided that for the sake of retaining what little scientific credibility the office still has, they better admit this were errors and once they admitted them, the judge, even though he wanted to, couldn't find that Gore's film was accurate."[12] In July 2009, Gore was interviewed by Heather Ewart of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the interview, Gore was questioned about Justice Burton's ruling that there were "nine errors" in the film. Gore commented that "the ruling was in my favour."[32] Costs and fundingDimmock's legal costs were said to be around £200,000.[33] He was awarded only two-thirds of his costs and is reported to have received a bill of more than £60,000 for the remainder.[2] The question of the lawsuit's funding was raised in September 2007, even before the case had concluded, by a report in The Daily Telegraph which wondered "Where will the money come from?". According to Stewart Dimmock's solicitor, it was "a private matter for him". However, the Telegraph noted that Dimmock was a member of the New Party, a small right-wing party with a record of climate change scepticism. The party declares that "political opportunism and alarmism have combined in seizing [the IPCC's] conclusions to push forward an agenda of taxation and controls that may ultimately be ineffective in tackling climate change, but will certainly be damaging to our economy and society".[14] The New Party was reported to be backing Dimmock.[34] It issued a press release on 1 October 2007 in which it publicised the case and declared, somewhat prematurely, that "it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the film will ever be shown as intended."[35] In March 2008, the New Party's manifesto-writer Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley acknowledged he had prompted an unnamed wealthy friend to fund the case and that he had himself been heavily involved in the litigation. The Observer reported at the time that Dimmock's backers were "a powerful network of business interests with close links to the fuel and mining lobbies." The chairman of the New Party, Robert Durward, has been described as "a long-time critic of environmentalists" who established a climate change sceptic group called the Scientific Alliance. The alliance publicised Dimmock's case on its website and was also involved in advising Channel 4 on the controversial documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle,[11] which Viscount Monckton is distributing to schools as a riposte to An Inconvenient Truth.[2] See also
References1. ^"News from the New Party", 5 May 2007, New Party website 2. ^1 2 3 4 "Please, sir – Gore's got warming wrong", Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor, Sunday Times, 14 October 2007 3. ^"Monckton saves the day!", 6 May 2007, The Observer 4. ^"Sustainable Schools Year of Action". Teachernet, 3 October 2006 5. ^Johnston, Ian. "Man who wants to turn every Scots child into an environment evangelist". The Scotsman, 17 January 2007. 6. ^Boone, Jon. "Lessons plan may be undermined". Financial Times, 3 February 2007 7. ^"Schools to be given copies of Gore film". South Wales Echo, 13 March 2007 8. ^"Climate change packs given warm welcome". Western Daily Press, 7 May 2007 9. ^1 2 Camber, Rebecca. "Schools must warn of Gore climate film bias". Daily Mail, 3 October 2007 10. ^1 Lightfoot, Liz. "[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/17/nuni117.xml School row over Al Gore film]". 19 April 2007 11. ^1 Doward, Jamie. "The man behind court attack on Gore film". The Observer, 14 October 2007 12. ^1 2 3 {{cite news | url=http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/6783/ | title=Glenn talks with Lord Monckton | publisher=Glenn Beck | date=4 March 2008}} 13. ^Watts, Robert. "Father fights showing of Gore film in schools". The Sunday Telegraph, 6 May 2007 14. ^1 2 Rozenberg, Joshua. "[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/20/nlaw120.xml Lorry driver in challenge to Gore school film]". The Daily Telegraph, 21 September 2007 15. ^"[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/28/eagore128.xml Al Gore's climate change film 'is propaganda']." The Daily Telegraph, 28 September 2007 16. ^"Labour 'is brainwashing pupils with Al Gore climate change film' says father in court". Evening Standard, 28 September 2007 17. ^"[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/02/eagore102.xml Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' can be shown to schools]". The Daily Telegraph, 2 October 2007 18. ^Prigg, Mark. "Inconvenient rewrite for Gore film". Evening Standard, 3 October 2007 19. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 {{cite BAILII |country=ew |litigants=Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education & Skills |court=EWHC |division=Admin |year=2007 |num=2288 |para= |date=10 October 2007}} 20. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth. 2006 21. ^1 2 3 4 5 Brahic, Catherine. "[https://www.newscientist.com/blog/environment/2007/10/al-gores-inconvenient-truth.html Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: unscientific?]". New Scientist Environment Blog, 12 October 2007 22. ^Vidal, John. "[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/nov/25/science.climatechange Pacific Atlantis: first climate change refugees]". The Guardian, 25 November 2005 23. ^Sydney Morning Herald – Islanders face rising seas with nowhere to go 24. ^{{Cite journal|first1=Kirsten |last1=Zickfeld |first2=Anders M. |last2=Levermann |first3=Granger |last3=Morgan |first4=Till |last4=Kuhlbrodt |first5=Stefan |last5=Rahmstorf |first6=David W. |last6=Keith |title=Expert judgements on the response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to climate change |url=http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~anders/publications/expert_elicitation.pdf |publisher=Climatic Change |volume=82 |issue=3–4 |year=2007 |pages=235–265 |doi=10.1007/s10584-007-9246-3 |journal=Climatic Change |format= |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128074419/http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~anders/publications/expert_elicitation.pdf |archivedate=28 November 2007 }} 25. ^Cullen, N. J., T. Mölg, G. Kaser, K. Hussein, K. Steffen, and D. R. Hardy (2006), "Kilimanjaro Glaciers: Recent areal extent from satellite data and new interpretation of observed 20th century retreat rates", Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L16502, {{doi|10.1029/2006GL027084}}. 26. ^Chandler, Lynn. "Africa's Lake Chad shrinks by 20 times due to irrigation demands, climate change". NASA News, 27 February 2001 27. ^1 {{cite press release |title=Summary Statement on Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change |publisher=World Meteorological Organization |date=4 December 2006 |url=http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/press_releases/2006/pdf/iwtc_summary.pdf |format=PDF |language= |accessdate= |quote= |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325193707/http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/press_releases/2006/pdf/iwtc_summary.pdf |archivedate=25 March 2009 |df=dmy-all }} 28. ^{{cite journal |last=Monnett |first=C. |authorlink= |author2=Gleason, J. S. |year=2006 |title=Observations of mortality associated with extended open-water swimming by polar bears in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea |journal=Polar Biology |volume=29 |issue=8 |pages=681–687 |doi=10.1007/s00300-005-0105-2 |url= |accessdate= |quote= }} 29. ^{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7037671.stm |title=Gore climate film's nine 'errors' |date=11 October 2007 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=14 December 2007}} 30. ^{{cite news |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Breaking_News_US/0,,6990521,00.html |title=U.K. Judge Finds Problems in Gore Film |date=12 October 2007 |publisher=Associated Press/Guardian |accessdate=15 October 2007}} 31. ^Wightwick, Abbie. "Teaching union slams Gore film ruling". Western Mail, 12 October 2007 32. ^Heather Ewart, "the 7:30 Report." Al Gore urges Australia to move on carbon emissions trading. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 July 2009 33. ^"Inconvenient verdict delivered on Gore's climate change film". The Independent, 11 October 2007 34. ^Bond, Sam. "Father challenges plan to show climate film in schools". Environmental Data Interactive, 1 October 2007 35. ^"Government forced to work overtime on Al Gore "health warning". The New Party, 1 October 2007 External links
|country=ew |litigants=Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education & Skills |court=EWHC |division=Admin |year=2007 |num=2288 |para= |date=10 October 2007 }} – full text of judgment
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