By insisting that man-made global warming is either a "myth" or not worth tackling, Exxon Mobile and Philip Morris through Julian Morris of IPN has given the media and politicians the excuses for inaction they wanted.

As a result, these companies and Morris have helped to delay attempts to tackle the world's most important problem by a decade or more.

The story begins with a body called the International Policy Network (IPN). Like many other organisations that have received money from Exxon, it describes itself as a think-tank or an independent educational charity, but a more accurate description, it seems to me, would be "lobby group".

IPN's executive director, Julian Morris, has so far received $295,000 from Exxon's corporate headquarters in the US.

Morris acts like a whore for pollution and he runs his US office "solely for funding purposes".