Fiona Fox (SMC) blog: Research councils: Independence once lost, is hard to recover

Andy · Nov 27, 2017

I can't tell if she's being ironic or not, in blogging how important it is to have independence for researchers.

Michael Gove is shaping up to be an unlikely champion for the environment. Many scientists have welcomed his recent announcement that the UK government will support further restrictions on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides and his promise that the UK will seek higher, not lower environmental standards after Brexit. Gove has also promised a new statutory body whose job it will be to uphold environmental standards. So far so good. However, Gove’s promise that the quango would be ‘independent of government’ left me doubtful.

It’s interesting that Gove felt the need to assure us that the agency would be independent – that suggests that he thinks that independence from government is important. I think it’s fair to assume that the purpose of setting up a body outside the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is that it will be deemed more effective if it sits at arm’s length from government, that it’s free to scrutinise government policy and is able to speak out publically when promises are not being met. A similar sentiment informed the setting up of previous government agencies including the Food Standards Agency (FSA). With public trust in government at a low ebb after the BSE debacle, the FSA was in part an acknowledgement by government that some clear blue water was needed between expert advice and government.

Similarly, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) – now Public Health England (PHE) – emerged out of the ashes of the near collapse of a successful childhood vaccination campaign because many parents believed a maverick doctor over government public health messages. Both the FSA and the HPA were visibly independent in their early days. Sir John Krebs (now Lord), the first Chair of the FSA, was a well-respected and independent minded scientist, who has testified that he was able to resist attempts by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the Department of Health (DH) to interfere, because the agency’s independence was guaranteed by the Prime Minister. But few would describe either of these agencies as independent from government these days and their scientists are certainly not free to speak openly to the media when they are at odds with their government departments.
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http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/research-councils-independence-once-lost-is-hard-to-recover/

Esther12 · Nov 27, 2017

When I marched for science this year, I did so with a placard saying: “If it’s not open it’s not science”.
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LOL.

I know that is a principle that many in science subscribe to but we need to be more vigilant about changes that could compromise the openness and independence we all value.
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WTF?

Independence it seems is easy to lose, but once lost is hard to recover.
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Wibble-wibble...

Valentijn · Nov 27, 2017

Andy said: ↑

I can't tell if she's being ironic or not, in blogging how important it is to have independence for researchers.
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I think her gross hypocrisy is completely earnest

EzzieD · Nov 27, 2017

When I marched for science this year, I did so with a placard saying: “If it’s not open it’s not science”. I know that is a principle that many in science subscribe to but we need to be more vigilant about changes that could compromise the openness and independence we all value.
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The irony of this coming from the SMC is just staggering, LOL.

TiredSam · Nov 28, 2017

Andy said: ↑

I can't tell if she's being ironic or not
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She's being ironic without realising it. It happens a lot when anyone in her gang opens their mouth.

NelliePledge · Nov 28, 2017

Good grief it’s just name dropping/creeping up/self aggrandisement wrapped up as some kind of “insightful”media/political analysis.Even creeping up to Gove.
The SMCs younger selves would despise this.

No wonder the BPS crew get on so well with the SMC it’s all bullsh*t

Luther Blissett · Nov 28, 2017

Valentijn said: ↑

I think her gross hypocrisy is completely earnest
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It takes some skill to be part of a personality cult, and call yourselves Living Marxism while showing little sign of sentience (or marxism).

The same crowd also created a documentary called 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Global_Warming_Swindle#Reception_and_criticism which fell afoul of broadcast regulations.

Basically well paid career trolls.

TiredSam · Nov 28, 2017

NelliePledge said: ↑

The SMCs younger selves would despise this.
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Sounds like they'd be proud of themselves.

Sly Saint · Dec 19, 2018

I have been reading the testimony by Fiona Fox to the Leveson official inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press from 2012.
Interesting and in places funny.
In light of recent and past SMC press promotions it is worth a read. eg:

So we get our bearings right in our submission, if you go to 54260, please, you deal with the issue of headlines. It's a big point I know you make, Ms Fox, that you're concerned about sensational, misleading or sometimes down right inaccurate headlines as much as the underlying text.
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Mr Jay
I have been asked you to slow down.

Ms Fiona Fox
You can ask. I shall try.

........
Lord Justice Leveson
Please slow down..............

Mr Jay
Ms Fox, towards the bottom of 54260, you offer a gentle bouquet to the Guardian newspaper, which you say is the first paper ever to appoint a news editor and three subeditors with specialisms in science and environment, and by implication you're hoping -- perhaps not expecting -- to see that pattern replicated elsewhere; is that right?

......................

Ms Fiona Fox
That's right. The example I give of the XMRV virus -- again, I don't know if you know anything about chronic fatigue syndrome or ME --

Lord Justice Leveson
For the purposes of everybody else, tell us.

.........................

Lord Justice Leveson
When Mr Dominic Mohan was here from the Sun, he spoke about having engaged a scientist to write science stories in a straightforward, user-friendly way. I can't remember the name of the scientist.

Ms Fiona Fox
I imagine it's Brian Cox.

..........................

Ms Fiona Fox
Oh, there are many, many columnists. We love columnists, we love opinionated people. We're quite opinionated at the Science Media Centre. Our beef with these columnists is that sometimes, much like the previous witness said, they are stating things that are blatantly inaccurate and we question whether newspapers can disregard accuracy when it comes to their columnists.

........................

Lord Justice Leveson
Don't feel you have to speak quickly because it's only half an hour. I can extend the time.

Ms Fiona Fox
Okay.

Lord Justice Leveson
I'm just concerned that smoke seems to be emanating from the shorthand writer.
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A couple of initiatives to improve accuracy of science reporting were supposedly in the pipeline at the time; they do not appear to have been implemented(?)

(she mentions ME and the XMRV episode).

https://leveson.sayit.mysociety.org/hearing-24-january-2012/ms-fiona-fox

rvallee · Dec 19, 2018

And Richard Horton writing about how much of published science is wrong and flawed while being a primary enabler, writing about how scientists sometimes get stuck believing their own hype and Michael Sharpe actually retweeting it. They are utterly blind to their own biases even as they write about the problem of bias being a large-scale problem. Even as their own biases have been pointed out specifically and explicitly.

It seems pretty clear that climbing the ladder in UK medicine is entirely about politics rather than science or skill. Mediocre people are in charge of everything. How did that even happen? Is it a larger problem within the society? When I look at the people running the country, even the people being lined up to take over, the pattern seems to be pretty widespread.

TiredSam · Dec 19, 2018

rvallee said: ↑

Mediocre people are in charge of everything. How did that even happen?
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Because they have more time to devote to politics than people who are busy getting on with something useful?

Andy · Dec 19, 2018

rvallee said: ↑

Mediocre people are in charge of everything. How did that even happen?
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'Self-promoters' do nothing but still get ahead at work
You might have seen their strategically self-regarding emails or watched their self-inflating egos in work meetings. But business school researchers have identified a type of employee who manages to look busy and successful, without actually doing anything useful.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46608818

Trish · Dec 19, 2018

I saw it happening time after time where I worked as a teacher/lecturer. Subject heads were usually competent, but above that level incompetents were often put in charge. The first thing they would do would be a 'reorganisation' of all the departments, which gave them the perfect excuse to make the competent ones beneath them redundant. You could tell the ones angling for promotion by the way they dressed.

EzzieD · Dec 20, 2018

Sly Saint said: ↑

I have been reading the testimony by Fiona Fox to the Leveson official inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press from 2012.
Interesting and in places funny.
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Yes, this bit had me in stitches:

Fiona Fox said:

We're quite opinionated at the Science Media Centre.
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LOL, opinionated science reporters. So, from the horse's mouth, an explanation as to why their science coverage is so cringemakingly biased!

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Fiona Fox (SMC) blog: Research councils: Independence once lost, is hard to recover

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