{"id":296007,"date":"2024-01-16T09:59:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T08:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=296007"},"modified":"2024-01-16T09:59:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T08:59:38","slug":"potholes-to-be-made-worse-by-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=296007","title":{"rendered":"Potholes to be made worse by climate\u00a0change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the wind will blow or something<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Scepticism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY\u00a0JIT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today the BBC came out with a story that was so very stupid I actually felt insulted by it \u2013 insulted that the BBC thinks so little of its viewers that it is prepared to serve up so much ordure and call it news, call it information, call it truth. My poor old TV got a right earful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The occasion was the 1 o\u2019clock news on BBC1, and the story was about potholes. Now what could be more prosaic than that? Unfortunately the BBC was not content with telling me how terrible the state of the nation\u2019s roads are. They also made the utterly risible claim that climate change was making the pothole situation worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Brown in the intro: \u201cWell scientists warn that climate change could make the problem even worse\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can that be, you liars, when it is frost that causes the road surface to crack? How stupid do you think I am?\u201d was my first yell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026because of more wet weather, but scientists think that new technology could be part of the solution. Here\u2019s Harriet Bradshaw\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So: scientists warn that climate change could make things worse but scientists (the same ones?) think that there is a tech answer. There isn\u2019t. You already know that. I know that. Everyone up and down the country watching the news knows it. That won\u2019t stop the BBC from trying it on. And as for Brown\u2019s script: some scripts are so bad that I would be embarrassed to read them out. Other scripts are so bad that I\u2019m embarrassed hearing someone else<\/em> read them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intrepid reporter interviews a cyclist who had an unpleasant interaction with a pothole leading to a titanium donation from the NHS. So far so normal. But then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harriet Bradshaw: \u201c\u2026but looking into the issue of potholes, there\u2019s a problem which scientists say will only get worse with the effects of climate change\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She doesn\u2019t say what the problem is, but segues into the universities that are bringing engineering solutions to the whatever-it-is problem. Because, it is implied, we don\u2019t know how to make a road yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitumen\u2026 concrete\u2026 cracks\u2026 the cracks are caused by freeze-thaw cycles\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting warmer, or it\u2019s supposed to be!\u201d bellows your hero at his long-suffering TV, which shrugs broadly. \u201cHow do you propose that these freeze-thaw cycles are going to be worsened by climate change, exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The universities are working on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensors in the road [a waste of time and money].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3d printed fixes [a waste of time and money].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The materials that can adapt to temperature changes by adding fibres or making them self heal [yes, you guessed it].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There follows a bit of wholly unnecessary VR headset rubbish, and someone punts the idea of using cars to collect data on where the potholes are [not from my car, you won\u2019t].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s send robots to fix the roads when the cars have automagically told us where the holes are [no, it won\u2019t work, get out of here you idiot].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harriet Bradshaw: \u201cBUT IS IT ENOUGH?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[She didn\u2019t yell. I yelled for her.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Kristen MacAskill: \u201cWith climate change, we\u2019re expecting more extreme weather events, whether that\u2019s freeze-thaw cycles, wind events and rainfall events. These can have an impact at the rate at which our roads deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No they can\u2019t. Don\u2019t be so stupid. And I couldn\u2019t help but notice that nowhere was mentioned that a key reason for wear and tear is because vehicles drive up and down the roads. And just maybe the higher torque of EVs might have a role to play one day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, don\u2019t worry about that. The WIND is going to blow. It\u2019s going to rip up the damn road by main force. It is, dammit! Don\u2019t you laugh at me! I\u2019ll complain to somebody!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No doubt, if by chance the pollutant of the hour was an aerosol, not a greenhouse gas, and temperatures were going down, not up, then this selfsame story could easily have been wheeled out, and have had more truth about it. That, folks, is the topsy-turvy world we live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC. Unique, thanks to the way it\u2019s funded by you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The News at 1<\/a> (scroll forwards to about 15 minutes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0accompanying web story<\/a>, from which the featured image is drawn. Notice how there\u2019s only one tag? Yes, it\u2019s climate. What else did you think it would be tagged? Get serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because the wind will blow or something<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":296009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Because the wind will blow or something","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818389,691819134,691818056,691819743,691821977],"class_list":{"0":"post-296007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-climate-alarmism","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-climate-propaganda","12":"tag-electric-vehicles-evs","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GCOabqyXoAAI55y.jpeg?fit=1080%2C1119&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1f0j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":225921,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=225921","url_meta":{"origin":296007,"position":0},"title":"Wind farm in Germany is being dismantled to expand coal mine","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Am I the only one to feel insulted by the BBC, Committee on Climate Change, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and the rest of the green mafia, who constantly tell us that Britain is lagging behind the rest of the world in fighting climate change?","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1272.png?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1272.png?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1272.png?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-1272.png?fit=1024%2C697&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":254291,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254291","url_meta":{"origin":296007,"position":1},"title":"How (Not) to talk with children about climate change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It is not clear who the video is aimed at, but given the babyish cartoons it certainly is not adults. And if it is kids, then the BBC is insulting their intelligence be presuming that they are incapable of being given the facts.","rel":"","context":"In \"BBC\"","block_context":{"text":"BBC","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bbc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Indoctrination-1536x1041-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Indoctrination-1536x1041-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Indoctrination-1536x1041-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Indoctrination-1536x1041-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Indoctrination-1536x1041-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C813&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":263144,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=263144","url_meta":{"origin":296007,"position":2},"title":"BBC Learning English\u2013How To Talk To A Climate\u00a0Denier","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Quite what a naive propaganda piece has to do with teaching people English eludes me","rel":"","context":"In \"BBC\"","block_context":{"text":"BBC","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bbc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-truth-1984.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-truth-1984.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-truth-1984.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-truth-1984.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0-truth-1984.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":413118,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=413118","url_meta":{"origin":296007,"position":3},"title":"Decades of Crying \u2018Fire!\u2019 in the Climate Theatre Have Left the BBC with Net Zero Credibility","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Let us travel back to April 2012 and revisit an important milestone in BBC climate reporting \u2013 what is thought to be the last recorded sighting of genuine journalistic inquiry. Richard Knight noted an extremist claim that up to 150 mostly animal species are lost every day, but then went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Attribution studies\"","block_context":{"text":"Attribution studies","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=attribution-studies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMn853GbdjAJDnwtuuoEcAFo9mHR8OIMBesMxDVGe0MTcoY1uwfNItC3tsY_IOE6cqqEavwKYokwJPq0B4MnV7QcFolJDpFOqg0modj0jXX6cvRYjluRf6zxkH4B1t61xfaWpdeay9l1MirldCBio9dyUx_vg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMn853GbdjAJDnwtuuoEcAFo9mHR8OIMBesMxDVGe0MTcoY1uwfNItC3tsY_IOE6cqqEavwKYokwJPq0B4MnV7QcFolJDpFOqg0modj0jXX6cvRYjluRf6zxkH4B1t61xfaWpdeay9l1MirldCBio9dyUx_vg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMn853GbdjAJDnwtuuoEcAFo9mHR8OIMBesMxDVGe0MTcoY1uwfNItC3tsY_IOE6cqqEavwKYokwJPq0B4MnV7QcFolJDpFOqg0modj0jXX6cvRYjluRf6zxkH4B1t61xfaWpdeay9l1MirldCBio9dyUx_vg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMn853GbdjAJDnwtuuoEcAFo9mHR8OIMBesMxDVGe0MTcoY1uwfNItC3tsY_IOE6cqqEavwKYokwJPq0B4MnV7QcFolJDpFOqg0modj0jXX6cvRYjluRf6zxkH4B1t61xfaWpdeay9l1MirldCBio9dyUx_vg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMn853GbdjAJDnwtuuoEcAFo9mHR8OIMBesMxDVGe0MTcoY1uwfNItC3tsY_IOE6cqqEavwKYokwJPq0B4MnV7QcFolJDpFOqg0modj0jXX6cvRYjluRf6zxkH4B1t61xfaWpdeay9l1MirldCBio9dyUx_vg.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":204173,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=204173","url_meta":{"origin":296007,"position":4},"title":"\u2018Institutionally alarmist\u2019 BBC\u2019s stream of fake news on climate change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Paul Homewood THE BBC has been accused of institutional alarmism about climate change in a\u00a0report\u00a0published by Net Zero Watch.\u00a0It reveals the BBC\u2019s persistent exaggeration and false information when it comes to climate and weather-related news. The study, written by me, reveals that the BBC has been forced to correct\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0BBC1.jpg?fit=1200%2C591&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0BBC1.jpg?fit=1200%2C591&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0BBC1.jpg?fit=1200%2C591&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0BBC1.jpg?fit=1200%2C591&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0BBC1.jpg?fit=1200%2C591&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":204201,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=204201","url_meta":{"origin":296007,"position":5},"title":"BBC\u2019s Institutional Alarmism","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Paul Homewood I\u2019ve now had a chance to write a fuller account of my new paper on the BBC: The BBC has been accused of institutional alarmism in a new report published by Net Zero Watch. It reveals the BBC\u2019s persistent exaggeration and false information when it comes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Screen-Shot-2022-06-09-at-10.53.47-1.png?fit=821%2C430&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296007"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296011,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296007\/revisions\/296011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}