Ignorance has never been an excuse in law, but politics clearly plays by different rules. By pretending that global warming simply isn't happening, President George W. Bush is clearly setting new standards for ostriches. Politicians all want to feature in the history books but Bush's ploy to be defender of the American people at all costs is positively breath-taking. Having provided lukewarm support for the Kyoto agreement before the election, to ensure he was not over-trumped by Al Gore, he has now apparently had a change of heart. It is hard to decide if this constitutes outright lying or simple everyday deceit. Apparently the 4000 scientists involved in the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and all those other countries that signed up to the Kyoto agreement must be wrong because the Bush advisors from the energy industry say that they are wrong. What world are these people living in?