The composite global temperature for 2001 was 0.06 degrees C (about 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the 20-year (1979-to-1998) average, says a report from the University of Alabama. Sounds like normal variances for a stable planet to me. Elsewhere I have learnt that although a lot of human activity warms the planet up, the biggest culprits are forest fires and cows farting. And human activity can cool things down due to sulfur emissions (although they give us acid rain).

And Nature magazine is telling us that Antarctica is getting colder by 0.7C a decade. But then a week later we are told it is warming up again