Skip to main content
Can we really be ‘led by science?’
The government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance

WHEN politicians seek to use science as a facade of authority, scientists need to watch out for the backlash.

As the government has plunged Britain into the crisis of being among the worst-hit countries in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, its members have repeated the mantra again and again that they are being “led by science.” 

After the much feted turn away from experts, this change in the language of authority has been remarked upon as a change in public mood caused by the unprecedented crisis.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
UNRECOGNISED POTENTIA:L: Girl students conduct an experiment by throwing cotton balls to demonstrate the instinctive reaction of flinching at The Big Bang Fair 2025, for young scientists and engineers, at the NEC in Birmingham on June 18 2025
Science and Society / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society

POISON: Centivax workers study antivenom to counteract the bites of various snakes at the company lab in San Francisco
Science and Society / 7 May 2025
7 May 2025

A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY / 22 April 2025
22 April 2025

Science has always been mixed up with money and power, but as a decorative facade for megayachts, it risks leaving reality behind altogether, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS: AI Truth Machine / LIT Law Lab,
Features / 12 April 2025
12 April 2025
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape