AN icebreaker arrived at the North Pole this week and found no ice to break. It had all melted.

Even the polar bears are getting worried - shouldn't we humans be as well?

There are many who do not believe in global warming. They say there are no reliable records of weather from even the 19th Century so how can we draw sensible comparisons with the 21st Century.

They also say that these current changes are a mere blip in the Earth's history, that Ice Ages come and go and that this is a natural, temporary change.

Science is not as stupid as these people. Science knows that the Earth's natural cycle does not allow for the Arctic ice to be melting so dramatically. Science knows that something strange is happening to our weather patterns.

However, science's problem is that it comes to contradictory conclusions, which gives strength to those who dismiss it. For example, some scientists say that global warming will bring Mediterranean temperatures to England with vineyards growing in the dales of Yorkshire. Other scientists, though, say that the cold melted water from the polar caps will cause the Gulf Stream to stop flowing and Britain will be plunged into a mini-Ice Age with glaciers forming in Northumbria.

The truth is out there somewhere, and in many ways I hope that the melting ice at the North Pole can be proven beyond doubt to be a result of global warming.

We need something incontrovertible and dramatic like this to shake us from our lethargy. It may even be a good publicity stunt for polar bears to start to dying because their ice is melting. Then, as a nation which worships cuddly animals, we'd really awaken to what we are doing to our planet.

Tragically, though, it may already be too late.

THE loss of the Kursk submarine has all the hallmarks of an environmental catastrophe. If the Russians can't get their own men out alive, what chances have they of dredging up a nuclear reactor from the seabed?

One of the most striking aspects of the tragedy has been the role of President Vladimir Putin. It is hard to believe that if he were fully aware of the fate awaiting 118 of his men, he would have remained on holiday.

Now he is reaping the whirlwind of that decision. He is being hammered both at home and abroad.

Given the way the Russian navy deliberately leaked wrong information to the media - that the sub had been involved in a collision, that they had heard tapping from inside, that they had successfully got oxygen on board - it is possible that it kept its own President in the dark. The last thing the navy would have wanted was a President breaking off his holiday to personally oversee a rescue operation. That would have made the situation look like an international disaster, when the navy wanted it quietly hushed up.

THREE months ago I used this column to pull Carol Vorderman to pieces. I felt she was on television too much.

I have received a stinging rebuke from a lady in Billingham. She said I shouldn't use my privileged position to ridicule individuals.

Perhaps I am getting used to her, but Ms Vorderman does seem to be getting better as a TV presenter. So I would like to thank the lady in Billingham for pricking my conscience.

However, nothing anybody says will convince me that Big Brother is not a complete waste of time. I cannot believe millions watch a group of bored people discussing the loss of a cigarette lighter.

Big Brother is such a waste of airtime that I am not going to waste any more of my time - or my readers' - on it.