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'There's no global warming' - Leeds United chairman
Outspoken Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has sparked a heated row – by denying that climate change exists.
In his recent programme notes, Mr Bates described the issue as one of the "three big scams of the 21st century", likening the apparent crisis to the Millennium Bug scare and the threatened swine flu epidemic.
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He also controversially says that money is being wasted tackling Aids and improving water supplies in the developing world.
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Mr Bates wrote in his column for the Leeds v Brighton game on February 20: "Since the totally useless Copenhagen Conference we have had the coldest, wettest, snowiest winter on record, despite the best attempts by the emissions of delegates' private jets, some of which had to be parked in Oslo Airport because there was no room in Copenhagen.
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"We should be more worried about population growth. The fact of the matter is that Mother Earth cannot sustain such numbers and instead of wasting money in the Third World, on Aids, water and the like, we should be following the example of Singapore and concentrating our efforts on contraception.
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"Better seven billion people enjoying happy lives than 10 billion facing misery.
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"Global warming is bunk and promulgated by charlatans who cook the figures and suppress the facts."
His comments sparked a fierce response on fan websites like The Football Network.
And today, the charity Christian Aid, which works to support some of the world's poorest people, also criticised Mr Bates.
Alex Jones, the senior regional co-ordinator for Christian Aid's Yorkshire region – himself a Leeds United fan – said: "How disappointing that a man of Mr Bates' stature has used the Chairman's column in the match programme for Leeds vs Brighton to perpetuate the myth that climate change isn't happening.
"Each year climate change kills at least 300,000 people, most of these in poorer countries in the developing world."
Mr Bates is famous for pulling no punches in the column he writes in the programme for each Leeds home game.
* The Copenhagen summit last year was widely considered a failure. It drew 120 world leaders but failed to reach a binding global accord.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -9 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
