As Bush and Blair pour streams of sweet words over the assembled media pack, marking the outgoing prime minister's final farewell to Washington, the skies opened Down Under, dumping up to 70 millimetres in some areas. It won't break the drought, farmers say, and "much more" rain is needed. But there were quite a few smiles in the bush today.

Perhaps the deluge will quell the storm of panic that's been building since the last quarter of 2006, over carbon emissions and "climate change". Yesterday in New York we saw Clover Moore, Sydney's mayor, rubbing shoulders with colleagues from around the world, and spouting the "correct" line. She wants other cities to have an Earth Hour, the initiative of The Sydney Morning Herald and the World Wildlife Fund I posted about at the beginning of April.

And this week we also got Rupert Murdoch's new mission statement vis a vis climate change. Apparently, newly converted, he's keen to spread the dogma via his vast network of newspapers and TV stations. Evangelising the huddled masses.