John O’Sullivan: Tim Ball: Dr Tim Ball could be on the brink of a sensational courtroom victory over Michael Mann

It’s been an extraordinary week for PSI both in the news and behind the scenes. A dramatic twist in a high profile lawsuit, the publication of a new paper set to trigger a scientific paradigm shift, plus a membership surge bringing eminent scientists into the fold – including one Nobel Science Prize nominee.

The biggest media story concerns developments in the Climategate scandal involving disgraced Penn. State University researcher, Dr. Michael Mann and our very own chairman, Dr. Timothy Ball. It seems Ball is on the brink of a sensational courtroom victory over Mann, who first stole onto the world stage thanks to his ‘hockey stick’ graph trumpeted across the world in 2001 by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Mann’s graph was widely cited as the smoking gun proving catastrophic man-made global warming.

Temperatures boiled over when Ball fearlessly declared that Mann belongs “in the state pen, not Penn. State.” That quip incensed the thin-skinned Mann into filing a libel suit against Ball in the British Columbia Supreme Court, Canada.