Science and Politics

Ian Boyd was chief scientific adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) from 2012 to 2019. In this book he shares his wide-ranging analysis of what he experienced and puts forward his suggestions for “taming the beast” of the politics factory.

Although Boyd is positive about the importance of scientists in politics, he also has alarming stories to share. As chief scientific adviser, he had responsibility for almost 30 science advisory committees, few of which did anything useful or had any influence – one of them had never met and didn’t even have any members. However, the Government had to be seen to be taking science seriously, so it was in its interest to maintain the committees.

Boyd has a huge amount of knowledge beyond science, enabling him to bring a wealth of historic information into the text, and is also forthright about his own views. Readers will no doubt differ in their response to his use of language such as “hocus pocus” and to the strength of his criticism of “priests, shamans and princes” as charlatans who have dominant voices within the politics factory. However, many of his insights will be of broad interest. No scientists are impartial, so he calls on them all to take responsibility for what they produce, stewarding it through the moral hazards of society. Research isn’t automatically a universal good, so we can’t ignore the ethics of what we are doing.

Rebecca Nesbit

Reviewed by writer, artist and ecologist Dr Rebecca Nesbit