The shrill cry from proponents of AGW has always been – the time for debate is over; the science is settled.
No it isn't. I've always strongly suspected that the CRU and the IPCC are no strangers to fraud and now these emails prove exactly that. For years, the 'top' scientists have been unwilling to take on the sceptics in a debate and now we can see why - their science doesn't stack up and they know it. It has become clear that important data has been manipulated and/or destroyed.
This is not how real science should work. All data should be available to any inquiring scientists who want to look.
This is a public disgrace and predictably, the mainstream media (the BBC in particular) are playing the story down as if it's not important.
The BBC clearly don't care about scientists who lie, cheat, commit fraud and violate the Data Protection Act (it is illegal to destroy data following a 'freedom of information' request – but that is precisely what has happened), deliberately withhold information from other scientists and attempt to block contrary evidence from getting into the public domain.
Here's a searchable database so you can see for yourselves what the scientists have been discussing...
http://www.eastangliaemails.com/index.php