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UK Government 'Muzzling' Scientists

Posted by Soulskill on from the information-wants-to-be-free-just-shut-up-for-a-couple-weeks-first dept.

taikedz writes "Fiona Fox, chief executive of the Science Media Center, has claimed that leading scientists independently advising the UK government are being actively prevented from speaking to the public and media, especially in times of crisis when scientific evidence is necessary for a fully open and educated public debate, such as the current badger culling policy, and the past volcanic eruptions and ash fallout and their effects. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whom many of these scientists are advising, denies any such practices."

11 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Badgers? by zeroryoko1974 · · Score: 5, Funny

    We don't need no stinkin badger's

    1. Re:Badgers? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

      When badger culling is outlawed, only outlaws will be culling badgers!

    2. Re:Badgers? by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

      What about mushrooms?

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  2. Fear my laugh by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Requests for interviews with scientists working for the Canadian federal government have frequently been turned down as a consequence of a media protocol introduced in 2008.
    This directive explicitly states that press officers should ensure that the minister is not embarrassed and that the interview is "along approved lines".

    Any time you see "Don't embarrass the minister", read: This is why freedom of speech is enshrined.

    "The dictator fears the laugh more than the assassin's bullet.". -- Robert A. Heinlein

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    1. Re:Fear my laugh by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      We need separation of science and state.

      You've already got it, it's called...private enterprise.

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      Om, nomnomnom...
  3. david nutt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nutt would be another example of the UK government not wanting to hear from scientists.

    1. Re:David Nutt by BasilBrush · · Score: 2

      The fundamental problem is that drugs policy is one of those areas that's driven by the Murdoch press. No UK politician dare to be seen as soft on drugs any more than soft on other kinds of crime. It would be electorally damaging.

      Tories are if anything more war-on-drugs types, even given the scientific facts. So it's not a Labour thing.

  4. Putting PR Men in Charge by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is what happens when you put professional spinmeisters in charge of professional workers: Dysfunction.

    Imagine putting a PR team in charge of the Doctors dealing with an epidemic. A doctor would like to announce quarantine measure, or tell people the full risks, or advise those who are sick, etc. If you had a PR man in charge, the whole epidemic would be treated as a mild flu, no-one would be informed, contagion would spread rapidly and thousands would die. "No matter", says the PR man, "We can spin that too.". But this misses the point.

    If you allow spin and the press office to dictate the running of an organisation, then the organisation effectively will not run at all. No professional can work properly with an unrelated lay person getting in his way 24/7.

    It's time to call PR men what they really are: Political Officers.

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    May the Maths Be with you!
    1. Re:Putting PR Men in Charge by TWiTfan · · Score: 2

      Most hospitals and public health organizations *do* have public relations people. And they usually oversee any public announcements.

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    2. Re:Putting PR Men in Charge by Hatta · · Score: 2

      It's time to call PR men what they really are: Political Officers.

      I would have gone with worthless lying sacks of shit who do more to hurt society than everyone in prison combined.

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  5. David Nutt by gallondr00nk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The article fails to mention the treatment given to David Nutt by the last Labour government in 2009. At the time, he worked on the Advisory Council on the Misuse Of Drugs, which was meant to be independent of government. Based on their findings, Nutt pushed for the classification of illegal drugs based on actual harm, rather than arbitrarily as it still is now. The ACMD also published about the relative harmlessness of ecstasy and cannabis.

    For this heinous crime he was sacked by the then Home Secretary, who said "he was asked to go because he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy."

    Not long later, Cannabis was back to being a class B drug after only a few years at class C.

    It seems that all governments are anti-scientific when the science contradicts their ridiculous ideologies, especially when it comes to drug policy.

    An an aside, I remember the Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, went on a morning talk show and said, with a straight face, that some strains of cannabis killed people.