Why I’m not spoofing Jenks

In a way, I’m a fan of Simon Jenkins’ work- it always provides easy blog fodder whenever he ventures into science commentary. His latest piece on the BBC’s Reith lectures painted a patently ludicrous comparison with a Soviet Academy, while the safety fears over flying through the Icelandic ash cloud were reminiscent of a McCarthyism [...]

In Brian we trust

It’s totally depressing that so much mainstream science coverage at the moment is about this crisis of trust in science. It’s  a positive feedback loop: reporting on lack of trust reinforces the original story. Reporting on public opinion is a nonsense that diverts attention from the actual issues. In the case of climate science, the [...]

Trust me, I’m a doctor (of philosophy)

2020Science this week posted a poll asking whether trust in science needs to be restored. It’s a bit of a simplistic question (as acknowledged by the author), you might get different answers by differentiating fields of science, but an interesting question nonetheless. From my own experience, I’ve had mixed reactions when I’ve told people I work [...]