The Litmus Test: Science policy at the general election

... by Martin

All this week, I'll be running a series of six articles and a podcast at The Guardian examining the science policies of the various parties contesting the imminent General Election. We've put a series of questions to eight of the parties, and we'll be reviewing their answers as well as posting them in full on our special microsite: The Litmus Test: Science...

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Homeopathy: Useless, Dishonest and Unethical

... by Martin
In the words of one blogger, “the Select Committee was biased - biased by the evidence.” Today the Science and Technology Select Committee delivered their verdict on homeopathy, and it was devastating. The committee have called for the complete withdrawal of NHS...
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BCA v Singh: Did the Skeptics *really* make a difference?

... by Anonymousity
"Jack of Kent, pleased to meet you, love your writing." And with that introduction, I am tossed into Nick Cohen's wonderful and heart-warming article today, agreeably titled: "Now charlatans will know to beware the geeks". At least I am presented as having some social...
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BP doctored photos....hilarity

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 22:01

It's pretty easy to attack BP these days--with hundreds of millions of gallons of oil floating around in the Gulf of Mexico, faulty traps and caps, and lousy attempts at compensation.

The BP photoshop mini-scandal is just one of the twigs branching off this tree of disaster. But, a funny one. Basically, BP put up a fake picture of it's 'Crisis Command Center' for the oil spill. Here's a summary in links, for those of you who haven't followed:

Your rating: None Average: 3.6 (8 votes)

Philipines establishes text message system for farmers

Fri, 07/09/2010 - 23:30


The Philippines has been described as the "text messaging capitol of the world" (perhaps a little over-zealous, but you get the point.) While only 60% of the Filipino population owns a cell phone (compared to over 100% in the UK,) those who do, text about twice as often as users in the US, for example.

The country is taking advantage of the prevalence of text messaging in a new initiative to improve efficiency of rice farming. Funny, I think of farmers as such a non-technological lot.

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Evidence based policy: what are we really talking about?

Thu, 05/06/2010 - 00:51

Anyone reading this post will probably have seen Martin Robbins' litmus test series for The Guardian, in which the respective political parties were asked a series of specific questions on science policy.

A running theme is that of evidence-based policy. Though Ben Goldacre has been a vociferous supporter of evidence-based health policy for a number of years, it's become a deeply important issue in the wider scientific blog-o-circle in the run up to this election.

Your rating: None Average: 3.8 (5 votes)

The Pod Delusion #44

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 13:33
Your rating: None Average: 2.3 (12 votes)

Space and dinosaurs - David Willets' first speech

Mon, 07/12/2010 - 17:04
‘The best way of getting kids into science are space and dinosaurs. So that’s what I intend to focus on.’

The words of David Willets (pictured above), newbee conservative Minister for Universities and Science during his major speech on science policy yesterday at the Royal Institution.

Well, Mr Willets, your first speech has worried me. Can this really be what a government minister is saying?!

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The Pod Delusion #41

Sun, 07/11/2010 - 17:02
Your rating: None Average: 2.4 (5 votes)

Josh's handy guide to lobbying parliamentarians

Mon, 05/31/2010 - 15:40
Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others which have been tried.

And given that fact, it’s probably about time scientists started engaging in it so that this important voice is heard. In fact we have been already to some extent; but perhaps it’s time to get serious.

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Playing Dirty Politics - Attacks on Dr Evan Harris

Thu, 04/29/2010 - 19:30

There are very few scientifically literate, evidence-based and openly secular MPs in parliament. Dr Evan Harris has been the LibDem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon since May 1997 and is standing again at this election. I've never voted LibDem but I do support him for his work on scientific research, medicine, free speech, equality and secularism. He backed Simon Singh in his libel case and has actively supported Skeptics in the Pub, a group I belong to - most recently in our 1023 homeopathy campaign. He is the LibDem spokesman for science and serves on Parliament's Human Rights Select Committee.

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The Litmus Test: Science policy at the general election

Mon, 04/26/2010 - 21:51

All this week, I'll be running a series of six articles and a podcast at The Guardian examining the science policies of the various parties contesting the imminent General Election. We've put a series of questions to eight of the parties, and we'll be reviewing their answers as well as posting them in full on our special microsite:

The Litmus Test: Science policy at the general election

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Science and the General Election - An Analysis Begins

Thu, 04/22/2010 - 00:12

Last year, Frank Swain of SciencePunk and I put a series of questions to various parties ahead of the European Election in an article that ended up creating a lot of debate, particularly in and around the Green Party.

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