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Welcome to the latest round up of news and views on UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles, ghosts, the paranormal, the unexplained, the weird and the wonderful.
MoD UFO Project Update
The 1st December termination of MoD's UFO project continues to attract comment and criticism. But in response to a query from a journalist, the MoD press office made an interesting comment. The quote was published in The Sun on 22nd January in a story that ends with the following:
The MoD defended its decision to shut the UFO division. A spokesman said: "We do not feel there is any military value in reviewing the public's sightings". The key point is that the quote didn't say there was no military value in reviewing UFO sightings - only that there was no military value in reviewing the public's UFO sightings. Where evidence suggests that UK airspace has been penetrated by an unidentified object, this must automatically be of defence interest and should be investigated properly, not least because such activity may be espionage or terrorism related. Indeed, I am sure that sightings from pilots and uncorrelated targets tracked on radar will continue to be looked at, albeit outside of a formally constituted UFO project. That's the implication of the comment from the MoD press office. On the one hand, this is understandable and it's clear that the vast majority of sightings reported by the public were misidentifications of ordinary phenomena or objects - largely, in recent years, Chinese lanterns. On the other hand, it's patronising to assume that no useful information could ever come from the public and it's unscientific to ignore data.
Royal Society Meeting on Extraterrestrial Life
On 25th and 26th January the Royal Society in London held a conference discussing the search for alien life and the implications for the world if we find it. I attended on both days, heard a series of fascinating presentations and had the chance to have some private discussions with many of the key figures. The full title of the event was “The detection of extraterrestrial life and the consequences for science and society” and the event included representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency and the UN Office for Outer Space affairs. Physicists, chemists, biologists, astronomers, anthropologists and even theologians came together to discuss a subject which, a few years ago, would have been regarded at best as fringe science. I was subsequently commissioned by The Sun to write a major feature on the conference, which was published on 28th January. Click here www.thesun.co.uk to read the article, which was published under the title "If the cosmic phone rings ... don't answer".
The Sun X-Files
Britain's best-selling national daily newspaper, The Sun, has started its own UFO project. The idea is to take over the baton from the MoD by acting as a focal point for people's sighting reports, photos and videos - the best ones of which will be published. The Sun will also publish other data on UFO sightings, e.g. statistics concerning numbers of UFO reports. The Sun has championed the UFO issue in recent years, keeping the subject in the public eye and even running a UFO story as their front page headline on two occasions. I support The Sun's X-Files and will be working with them on this.
Spectacular UFO Video
The Sun launched their X-Files UFO project by highlighting a spectacular video, apparently shot on camcorder, through night vision goggles. It appears to show a structured craft with an unusual light configuration. It's causing massive controversy on the internet: is it real or fake? Was it taken this year in Ireland, or in America in 2008? If it's not a hoax, what does it show - a secret prototype aircraft or drone? Part of the 'secret space program' that many people believe NASA operate, separate from the publicly-acknowledged on? Or something more exotic? You can watch the video here www.thesun.co.uk and decide for yourself.
2009 UFO Sighting Figures
The Ministry of Defence revealed that in 2009 it received 643 UFO reports. This is the second highest figure on record, second only to 1978, when 750 reports were received. Sightings have been increasing steadily over recent years, with 285 reports in 2008, 135 in 2007 and 97 in 2006. It may seem strange for MoD to have terminated its UFO project when sightings are at near-record level, but ironically, this was one of the reasons MoD made the decision! The administrative burden of dealing with hundreds of sighting reports - many of which were misidentifications of Chinese lanterns, was becoming overly burdensome and the decision was taken to no longer investigate or even accept UFO reports from members of the public. Details of the sightings, including a brief description of what was seen, can be found in the FOI section of the MoD website. Click on www.mod.uk for details. Many sightings are clearly caused by Chinese lanterns, but there are some more interesting cases, including instances where UFOs were seen by military personnel, police officers and air traffic controllers.
Nick Pope Website
The update of my website that I mentioned previously has now been completed, with various stylistic improvements and some new content. I hope this will be of interest to those who follow my work, so please check out www.nickpope.net and have a browse. There are several new articles, together with new pages on MoD UFO Files, Rendlesham Forest, Conspiracy Theories, 9/11 and 2012. There's also a new section where I've posted a selection of TV interviews.
Monsters vs. Aliens
On Saturday 6th March there will be a fascinating and fun conference in London, looking at UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch. I'll be speaking about the ongoing programme to declassify and release the British government's UFO files, and the recent termination of the MoD's UFO project. I'll also discuss the Royal Society conference on the detection of extraterrestrial life, with particular reference to the consequences for society. The other speakers are Adrian Shine, head of the Loch Ness Monster Project, and Paul Vella, Britain's leading expert on Sasquatch. The event is being organised by the Centre for Inquiry and takes place at Conway Hall in Holborn. Check out www.cfilondon.org for details of this event.Biography:
Author, journalist and TV personality Nick Pope used to run the British Government's UFO Project and is now recognised as one of the world's leading experts on UFOs, the unexplained and conspiracy theories.
Check out www.nickpope.net for more information about Nick. |
