"Last year was the coldest winter in the UK for 30 years, this year it is worse, this doesn't really help the case for the global warming theorists."

You're talking about weather and not climate. Climate is the average weather of a region over a longish period. Remember that you can get bitterly cold winters in Greece - but they've got a warmer climate than we have.

The theory of global warming (a theory backed up by lots and lots of eveidence) suggests that as the climate of a region like the UK becomes warmer (and more disordered) we can expect more and more unusual weather events.

I thought that Johan Hari, a journalist on the 'Independent' newspaper put the global warming sceptics in their place the other day when he put forward the analogy of a family going on a long flight (say across the Atlantic). They are approached first by a group of flight engineers who tell them that they are not happy with aircraft and thinks that there's a good chance that it will crash. The family is next approached by the management of the airline, together with representatives of their marketing and PR departments, who tell them that there's absolutely nothing to worry about and that everything will be fine! Who should the family believe? I tell you now that I would be cancelling my ticket and asking for refund! The 'engineers' (scientists) have told us that the 'aircraft' (the planetary climate) is going to crash and the 'management and their flunkies' (ignorant, greedy bastards) have a vested interest in denying it.