Naturally enough Antarctic sea ice came up while sitting round a campfire in South Marlborough during the hols in the company of a NIWA scientist - who explained the link between the ozone hole and the polar vortex (a region of powerful stormy cyclone winds in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean) that has led to a massive increase in sea ice. There's a good explanation of this here:

http://frontierscientists.com/2013/11/antarctic-sea-ice-is-growing-heres-why/

The gist of it is:

Since 1980, the strength of the polar vortex has intensified by about 15 percent due to ozone depletion. The related storms and sustained freezing temperatures play havoc with Antarctic ice [and this could] explain up to 80 percent of the increase in Antarctic sea ice volume in the last three decades.

Note to media: this info ain't hard to find, just type "Antarctic ice pack buildup" into a search engine.

I'd like to think Lou would have given Mr de Fresne and other detractors a riposte similar to the one quoted in The Guardian yesterday, from an interview shortly before he died:

"I am what I am, it is what it is. And," he added, "fuck you."

Kelsey is too strident and, dare I say it, academic. Hickey will do a good job.

I like 'refudiate', but my vote goes to 'shellacking' , given currency by Obama after the mid-terms, and a portent of conservative political madness to come.