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« Spain suspends solar subsidy | Main | New...scientist, did you say? »
Thursday
Jun172010

MPs learn science

Newly elected MPs are to be given advice on science. This is because most of them can't tell a test tube from an experimental railway.

And who is going to teach them about this science stuff? Some familiar names:

1. Phil Willis (or Lord Willis as we must now call him) the man who ran applied the first coat of whitewash to CRU.

2. Lord Oxburgh, the man who applied the second coat of whitewash to CRU.

3. John Beddington (soon to be Sir John) the man who chose Lord Oxburgh to gloss over scientific matters

There were some others too - Lord Winston and David Willetts being the two best known names. Muir Russell was said to be otherwise engaged.*

[*I made this last bit up]

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Reader Comments (13)

You couldn't make it up!

Jun 17, 2010 at 10:44 PM | Unregistered CommenterAnoneumouse

Having said that, I do believe with sufficient pressure...."two brains" could be persuaded to explore the boundaries of the real wold.

Jun 17, 2010 at 10:48 PM | Unregistered CommenterAnoneumouse

Where's Professor Sir David King, the exemplary experimentalist? See him in action at

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/24/bbc-botches-grade-school-co2-science-experiment-on-live-tv-with-indepedent-lab-results-to-prove-it/

Scientific talent like that should not go unrewarded.

Jun 17, 2010 at 11:17 PM | Unregistered CommenterAllen Ford

What happened to Geoffrey "UK Govt’s Chief Adviser on Climate Change" Boulton?

Too busy selling carbonated sugar water to the nation's youth:
http://climateaudit.org/2010/02/20/uk-govts-chief-adviser-on-climate-change/

Telegraphing Phil the inquiry's questions:
http://climateaudit.org/2010/02/15/who-wrote-the-issues-paper/

Pontificating about ethics in science:
http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/reports/Ethics_transcripts.pdf

?

Etc. etc.

Jun 17, 2010 at 11:53 PM | Unregistered CommenterZT

I am surprised that they didn't resurrect Trofim Denisovich Lysenko. He would have fit right in, he would.

Jun 18, 2010 at 2:07 AM | Unregistered CommenterDon Pablo de la Sierra

So ... which MPs would you like to see on BBC Questiontime on Thursday night after the Independent Email Inquiry Report is published in July?

My own vote goes to Peter Lilley http://www.peterlilley.co.uk/article.aspx?id=10&ref=1421

Jun 18, 2010 at 6:55 AM | Unregistered Commentermatthu

You'd have thought they might have learned just a tiny bit of science at school, wouldn't you? Well wouldn't you? We have a marvellous education system; or we should have from the amount of money spent on it.

I wonder how many lessons they will need to become scientifically literate. And at what cost?

Jun 18, 2010 at 7:23 AM | Unregistered CommenterPhillip Bratby

How many more Lysenkos can we endure? They have certainly penetrated the political establishment, as did Lysenko himself. In fact, I believe he was swept up by it once they saw advantage in his views. So following the old leftie-adage attributed to Lenin, cui bono in the UK political class? Just about all of them, I'd guess, given the vote on the climate bill for example.

Jun 18, 2010 at 8:04 AM | Unregistered CommenterJohn Shade

Dam good student teacher ratio. I suppose it is voluntary work, isn’t it, apart from perhaps the overnight expenses and travelling costs oh yes and meals. I’m sure those 9 politicians who actually attended picked up a lot of useful advice in that 45 minutes or was it an hour when they were not actually out voting in the chamber. Makes you wonder who actually benefited.

Jun 18, 2010 at 8:34 AM | Unregistered Commentermartyn

I'll be contacting my new MP about this and I shall attempt to correct the indoctrination both before and after the brainwashing session. She claimed to be somewhat sceptical prior to being elected. Whether that has changed over the last few weeks will be interesting to discover.

Jun 18, 2010 at 9:21 AM | Unregistered CommenterJonathan Drake

Allen Ford: "Where's Professor Sir David King, the exemplary experimentalist?"

He's now making his fortune as Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/ , a propagandist, climate alarmist, policy-directing advocacy group bankrolled by Martin and Elise Smith that states that "Climate change is clearly the most significant development challenge of the 21st century" and which hires charlatans like Al Gore and President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives as speakers. This year they have Mikhail Gorbachev and Steven Chu.


'Smith School Director, Sir David King, who hailed the World Forum a triumph and said Mr Gore had left delegates “totally energised” '

Main emphasis is on 'governance' - how to nobble the up-and-coming generation of graduates and politicians to serve and enact their world order.

Oxford University press release by affirms that "The School has the aim of ‘normalizing’ green consciousness"

See here:

http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/climate-change-is-a-problem-of-consciousness/
http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/climate-progress-despite-dubious-g8-pledge/
http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/islands-shun-deal/
http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/why-we-must-switch-to-a-low-carbon-economy/

Jun 18, 2010 at 11:40 AM | Unregistered CommenterScientistForTruth

I wonder if Josh will come up with something about this group.

Phillip Bratby

I wonder how many lessons they will need to become scientifically literate. And at what cost?

Too many and too much. But I think you were being tongue in cheek again. :)

Jun 18, 2010 at 2:27 PM | Unregistered CommenterDon Pablo de la Sierra

Another failing of democracy, that any old fool who flap his gums with sufficient flannel can get elected.

You'd think, with the importance of science and technology, that an A-level , if not a degree, in a scientific subject would be a necessary qualification.

Jun 19, 2010 at 10:36 AM | Unregistered CommenterBrian Williams

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