science policy

SciDebate: a depressing night out for nerds

Sun, 01/17/2010 - 20:16

It has started. Last week we all went off to the Campaign for Science and Engineering at the Institute of Engineering and Technology for the debate between Lord Drayson, Dr Death, and the other guy -- that is, Baron Drayson of Kensington, the science minister; Dr Evan Harris MP, the Lib Dem science spokesman; and some other guy MP, the Tory shadow science minister (played here by Adam Afriyie). You can watch it yourself, here.

Is the Green Party anti-science?

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 13:10

Last week, Frank Swain and I wrote a piece for The Guardian in which we questioned the various parties on their science policies ahead of the elections. We heavily criticised the Green Party of England an Wales, in spite of their sparkling climate and environmental credentials, and in doing so kicked off a debate that ran for much of the week on blogs and in The Times. On one side, many people thanked us for exposing deeply troubling attitudes. On the other, Greens angrily claimed we had misrepresented their views. So are the Green Party anti-science; and if so what should they be doing to correct this?

Continue reading at Liberal Conspiracy

Peter Mandelson to run British Science

Sat, 06/06/2009 - 16:00

From the reshuffle that took place yesterday, one piece of news has slipped out under the radar. DIUS, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills currently responsible for the UK science funding councils, is apparently being disbanded just two years after its creation by Gordon Brown. As a result, responsibility for science will be propelled back across the alphabet soup of new government departments to the Dept. of Business, Enterprise, Regulation and something else beginning with R (BERR), formerly known as the Department of Trade and Industry, and now renamed again to become the Department of Business, Innovation, and Skills. This will be run by Peter Mandelson, when he's not busy being Gordon Brown's right-hand man (which in all fairness he probably won't be after about Tuesday).

Our Guardian Piece: Science and the European Elections

Mon, 06/01/2009 - 13:13

Here's my first ever piece for The Guardian, co-authored with Frank Swain.

On Thursday, millions of us will go to the polls to decide how Britain is represented in the European Parliament, but few will have the faintest idea where the candidates stand on issues that affect the food we eat, the air we breathe, the energy in our homes and the chemicals in our environment.

Continue reading at The Guardian.

For all the party responses we received, see here.

Find me on Twitter! @mjrobbins

Science and the European Elections

Sun, 05/31/2009 - 19:31

Myself and Frank Swain of Science Punk have questioned the leading parties ahead of the European Elections this week to find out more about their science policies. The results were interesting, and sometimes shocking. We've split our research into nine policy areas, listed below. Some are here, and some are over on Science Punk. Click on the index to take you to the policy area that interests you. (Now with full answers from the parties appended - apologies these weren't up sooner, but a few were missing still yesterday.).