Cool It, By Bjorn Lomborg

Although in smart-alec fashion he slams this newspaper for alleged "hypocrisy" (because it carries adverts for long-haul air travel), Denmark's arch eco-sceptic deserves a fair hearing.

Lomborg, so ironically based in Copenhagen, disputes not so much the science that underlies climate-change predictions as the drastic policy demands that often result.

He wants our resources channelled into improving the lives of the global poor here and now – from HIV prevention to food production – rather than spent in countless billions on measures that depend on worst-case warming scenarios.

"I would like to see college drives for mosquito nets against malaria," runs a typical suggestion, "before drives for universities to adopt Kyoto". Lomborg's critics rebut the "either/or" tenor of this case, but his rejection of "choreographed screaming" should guide all sides.