It is widely known that right-wing people of a conservative disposition do not trust the government, however much they wish to control it.
There is also a lot of evidence that they do not trust science. In both cases, the motivation is similar. They seem to think both act against the interests of the supposed free markets with which they are obsessed. Bizarrely, in both cases that is not true. Government is essential to provide the regulated spaces without which free markets can't exist. Science has underpinned a massive, supposedly free market. But, because many of the pharmaceutical sector's products need government licencing, they are treated as akin in the right-wing sceptics' mind, and so to be equally loathed.
This matters when someone like Trump comes to power.
As the New York Times reported a couple of says ago that:
The Trump administration, moving quickly to clamp down on health and science agencies, has canceled a string of scientific meetings and instructed federal health officials to refrain from all public communications, including upcoming reports focused on the nation's escalating bird flu crisis.
Experts who serve on outside advisory panels on a range of topics, from antibiotic resistance to deafness, received emails on Wednesday telling them their meetings had been canceled.
Bird flu is a current crisis. More than one hundred million birds have been killed. Seventy humans have had it in the USA. Cows are infected. It is being spread through raw milk - of which new US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jnr is a big fan - and the risks are high. And US health officials have been banned from communicating about it. How that is supposed to help solve this problem is very hard to work out. My suspicion is that those imposing the ban know that. They do not care. Support for raw mile is more important than the spread of disease is the likely reasoning for this. It is madness.
And then came news yesterday that the Trump administration has gone further. This comes from Science.org:
President Donald Trump's return to the White House is already having a big impact at the $47.4 billion U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), with the new administration imposing a wide range of restrictions, including the abrupt cancellation of meetings such as grant review panels. Officials have also ordered a communications pause, a freeze on hiring, and an indefinite ban on travel.
The moves have generated extensive confusion and uncertainty at the nation's largest research agency, which has become a target for Trump's political allies. “The impact of the collective executive orders and directives appears devastating,” one senior NIH employee says.
Amongst the programmes impacted are those on cancer research.
Anti-intellectualism, which often manifests in attacks on modern culture and science, is a key characteristic of fascism, of course. It seems that the Trump administration is, in that case, playing exactly by the fascist rule book on this issue. Not only is it intent on attacking medical science worldwide, as it is by seeking to undermine the World Health Organisation, but it is also seeking to do so within the US itself.
How will this play out? I really do not know. I hope that rational Americans will react with horror to what is happening. The trouble is, we know that there are a very great many irrational Americans who might well express delight at this action, although why would be really hard to tell.
What I do know is that this administration is now intent on being worse than I feared and that too many UK politicians will be sucked along in its wake and will offer copycat programmes here in the UK.
We have already seen the utter irrationality of Reform on economic issues.
I am aware that the Green Party's grasp of economic reality remains very weak.
As I explained in a recent video, the household analogy is still widely believed by politicians.
If simple things, like the true nature of money and the fact that the macro economy is not like a household, are beyond the grasp of our politicians, then what hope do we have when it comes to science?
We need to worry. These people are threatening our well-being.
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It’s tempting to think about boycotting all products and services associated with the US, isn’t it? Trouble is, there’s so much US private equity pouring into every nook and cranny of the UK economy that you’d have to give up pretty much everything. Welcome to the 51st State.
This book by Angus Hanton might be of interest in relation to the capture of our economy by the US: https://vassalstate.co.uk/
‘51st Fiefdom’ is a better description, if Trump’s phone call to the Danish PM telling her to hand over Greenland is anything to go by. He could make the same sort of call to any head of state in Europe, & what could they do? All our ‘defences’ are inextricably dependent on American technology, now controlled by the Orange Dicktator. There’s probably a kill-switch…
As someone with a scientific background, I trust science.
What I don’t trust is a small proportion of people who use science to mislead.
I can find scientific studies purporting to show
+ that frosted shreddies is one of the top “healthy” breakfast foods.
+ that smoking is healthy
+ the benefits of red wine
+ lots of misleading reports on diet
Then there are those studies which set out to investigate, but are buried, because they question the status quo.
The politics in science has tarnished its reputation.
It is worth mentioning why there are some people who make science untrustworthy.
“same rich backers also underwrote academic departments in universities, such as the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia. Again, these departments presented themselves as independent and objective, but the main effect of their work was to propagate and amplify the ideology. The University of Chicago in particular, thanks to this generous patronage, established itself as a laboratory for the extension of neoliberal ideas, and remains a crucible of the doctrine to this day” — The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (2024) by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison.
University economics departments have been captured. “The problem we face is the total dominance of one way of teaching, which promotes the marketisation of society, leading to increased inequality, injustice and significant harm to the natural world.” https://www.rethinkeconomics.org/
And it’s not just economics, but also the pharmaceutical industry (Big Pham), and the food industry (Big Food).
See also:
“First Do No Pharm” https://nopharmfilm.com/
“How Big Pharma Keeps You Sick” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUH4Co2wE-I
“How Big Oil Conquered the World (Documentary)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6r8nkxCKO4
Thanks
Thanks for the link to Monbiot book.
Apologies if what follows seems a bit odd. Terry Jones did a series and book called “Barabrians” – it demolished the “what did the Romans ever do for us” myth (that they did lots). What was very interesting is that the Romans stopped Greek science dead in its tracks. Indeed, the Roman mentality (all left brain driven) seems very similar to what we witness now compounded by a remarkable lack of curiosity – “does it have to be like this?” or “why is this do?”. Is history this tiem with the Mango Mussolinio & the neolibtards repeating itself? Obvs it is not the same – but there are plenty of similarities – immigrants as the new slaves on US latifundi (oh hang on – didn’t they try that in the 18th & 19th cent?). etc
The only “science” you find claiming these is industry funded. Obviously a massive conflict of interest.
And of course politicians are “funded” by industry “donations”.
And the mainstream media is “funded” by industry advertising.
I’m sure they’ll never be unduly influenced. /end sarcasm
It feels like we’re only in a better place than the US because we’re on average better educated, but that still leaves a significant proportion (particularly older voters) who have limited education and who simply don’t know how. Some of the answer may be better education, although it does also need to have the right focus.
It’s disappointing that people leave education knowing more about foreign languages, dinosaurs, plate tectonics and so on than they do about any financial or legal matters that pertain to themselves.
People support such damaging policies in part because they simply lack any education in understanding these matters. Economics in part suffers from being seen as ‘too mathematical’ by the many who struggle with maths past the basics, and this results in even less knowledge and more skepticism about the understanding of the experts, particularly because of a complete lack of understanding about handling uncertain outcomes, probability and statistics.
One genuine question, then is this: Should Statistics, Economics and/or Law be mandatory subjects for all school students?
What do they give up?
Why give up anything?
I had classes in Statistics, Economics and basic Law at the High School Level and University Level.
In high school, I study British Common Law and Napoleonic Law as US Law is based on these two. It was part of civics class and Economics 102. In high school, Civics class was mandatory for all students and Econ 101 & Econ 102 were mandatory for the Advanced Placement diploma.
The timetable is already full…..
But I think the suggestion is important
Given that we’re ruled by people who are supposedly ‘experts’ in ‘statistics, economics &/or law’ & who have received the highest levels of education that money can buy, it’s hard to see how extending said ‘expertise’ & ‘education’ to the rest of the population, even if it were possible, would do much good….
The fact that left-wing thought is based on reason and evidence, the right on irrationalism, goes back to the origin of the political division between ‘left’ and ‘right’ – in the seating arrangements in the National Assembly in the French Revolution – those with power and privilege on the speaker’s right, commoners on the left. We should never forget the real basis of this division, which lies not in ideas or values, but in the reality of social class – but following hard on this reality is the fact that those on the left argued that people are capable of organising society on the basis of reason – the right relied on tradition, religion/superstition, force – ‘authority’ of various kinds, instead of reason.
Right-wing thought IS a rejection of reason and evidence – as Sartre puts it, a longing to stop thinking, ‘longing to become the stone’. This is why the Spanish fascists chanted ‘Death to Intelligence! Long Live Death!!’, why religious fundamentalists always tend to align with the extreme right, why Gove said ‘This country has had enough of experts’ during the brexit debates, and why a right-wing American politician, in a rare moment of honesty, recently said that he ‘doesn’t care about reality’.
Very difficult to have a democracy when a great many voters don’t want to make the effort to think about things in any depth and especially economic and monetary matters. Readers of this blog know they can have days when they can have days talking with a wide variety of individuals about the state of the country and the world and discover that even highly qualified people like medical consultants, for example, are unaware about economics and monetary system functioning. I am mindful of my secondary education years when a mock election was run and the sudden blossoming of interest in such matters in order to achieve victory for your particular candidate. It, therefore, makes the most sense I’m beginning to think for those who want a more rational world to focus on changing the education system in order to get more politicians literate in economics and monetary systems.
Might it be that education types may be reasonably, even helpfully, placed on a continuum or spectrum between two essential poles?
1) Controlling education
2) Enabling education
Might the concept, valuing and developing of enabling education synergistically provide economies of time, effort and attitudes which would help to accommodate the suggestions of David Burton and, possibly, more?
Might a foundation of enabling education be the learning of energetic and assertive learning attitudes and skills which welcomes students of all ages to go beyond, and deeper into, any set curriculum?
Might our current educational set up be nearer to the controlling pole than the enabling pole?
I like that idea
Re: your comments on Green economic policy/money.
Any more contacts/discussions?
With more Green councillors and councils around, maybe we should be challenging them, as they may be more accessible. Bristol, Brighton & elsewhere?
There are issues around this I am in discussion on. More in due course.
Is the Green Party economic policy that of the Positive Money organisation?
Their analysis has much to agree with but the remedy is flawed.
Sorry, their analysis is flawed too. As it stands they are unelectable.
That’s even worse. Oh, for some good news.
On a more hopeful note, perhaps – though I have my doubts – here’s Robert Reich on the way in which Trump is conning his MAGA people and all Americans that people like Musk are on their side. As Reich points out, this is pure oligarchy, but he thinks/hopes that US citizens will see through it.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/-trump-s-hoax-will-not-work-reich-says-trump-cozying-up-to-billionaires-will-expose-a-hidden-truth-230253125527
There are no words. Its worse than 1984 – banning bird flu monitoring despite risk of another much worse pandemic . Banning knowledge.
Christina Pagel wrote a chilling anticpatory piece a few weeks ago on Trump’s cabinet title ‘Evidence Abandoned’ ….
https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/evidence-abandoned-trumps-cabinet
”
President-Elect Trump’s cabinet picks are a horror show for science. People who minimise climate change and environmental protections at the environment, Putin & Assad apologists in Defence & intelligence, vaccine & 5G conspiracy theorists at health. This a potential cabinet full of people who don’t just ignore evidence, but actively reject it.
The potential consequences for US policy are dire. But the fundamental issue isn’t just the policy choices but how they are arrived at. Because even the more palatable touted policies (e.g. tackling the processed food industry) are based on ideology and/or self-enrichment and not evidence. “
Thanks
I will look out her Substack.
I have enough faith in America (are you reading Tampa Bay?) to know that it is not the Neo-liberal, mono-culture cornucopia that is is often presented as.
At university one of my lecturers was an American lesbian who was hard taskmaster who had a huge impact on how I think, and the quality of U.S social research we were exposed to was superb to be honest – and I was surprised that some Americans were even bothered about those issues as every American I’d met up to the point was pro-Reagan.
There are good people in America – ‘mensch’s’ – I remember the line in the Billy Wilder movie ‘ Apartment’ from the character Dr Dreyfuss to Jack Lemon I think – ‘Be a mensch!’ when he was asked to consider why he was lending his apartment to a married friend who was being unfaithful to his wife.
Not only that, America is a country based on being naughty and difficult particularly towards those who have monarchical ambitions. It’s in their blood and takes some reckoning with.
Money and a fair bit of political corruption has turbo-charged stupidity around the world.
Might it be America that weathers this better at the end of day? I hope so. But, it might not be pretty, all the same.
“there are a very great many irrational Americans” indeed & I console myself that natural selection is invulnerable to Trumpism.
Doubltess if bird flu gets legs Trumpists will be encouraged to do daft things (said daft things would not be done by those doing the encouraging).
“A sucker is born every minute” being played out in the USA, as I write.
If bird flue escalates among humans in the US, no doubt the pronouncement will come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that drinking bleach is a sure fire cure for it!
They are already developing a vaccine for bird flu. The scary part is when the government makes it mandatory.
I can recommend:
Dissolving Illusions: Disease , Vaccines, and Forgotten History (2024, 10th Anniversary edition) Roman Bystrianyk and Dr. Suzanne Humphries. https://amzn.eu/d/aRwFndx
I don’t disagree with you but there is an additional angle to this. De-funding science (or indeed any investment project) does not damage lives tomorrow, it takes time for the negative impacts to percolate through. So, on the surface, it will look like DOGE is a huge success in cutting expenditure… that will end up as further tax cuts.
Labour are seeing the results of this strategy. Not only does spending need to rise to run “day to day” services there is a huge backlog of important investment/maintenance left undone for a decade or more that is coming home to roost and needs tackling.
Our system is more subtle than Trump’s – but as was made clear at the covid inquiry , @UKHSA and top @NHS Infection Protection Unit have been denying the science on airborne transmission of Sars2covid , spreading disinformation, and hiding @WHO advice on clean air, vaccines etc.
And it has been lethal – people getting infected ill and dying.
So our institutions also deny the science – because they are infiltrated and tainted by the politicians who wanted people to ‘get back to work’ . And now @UKHSA’s ‘blood on her hands’ Jenny Harries is leaving – but guess what – Wes Streeting will appoint a replacement – no published criteria, no open competition, no independent appointment panel.
Our system of corruption is more hidden than the blatant Trump setup – , but maybe thats why its more dangerous.
It’s starting to look like Trump is going to do as much damage to America as the Cultural Revolution did to China. It’s hard to see where this will end. America as a competitor to North Korea?
I’ve been supporting University of California, Berkeley, for a few years now. So I get regular newsletters from them. Here’s their latest on Trump’s withdrawal from WHO.
https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/opinion/withdrawal-from-who-could-bring-tragedy
It’s also very worrying that he’s taking down the CDC, including their monthly mortality and sickness rates, which will no longer be published. Bird Flu anyone? No reports in future from what I can gather.
I take it that there will be no monitoring of human bird flu outbreaks and no notification to the World Health Organisation or other countries. Even worse than the slow reporting from China. Time to start a physical isolation of America / Americans and a block on all their foul and fowl food. Trump appears to be pulling the plug on all things American around the world, time for us all to reciprocate and help them in their desire to be isolated.
My instincts tell me that might be right
Shouldn’t this be a great opportunity for the Uk? US is stigmatizing the scientists. What can we do to bring that research here? With the US degrading it feels like a great opportunity for the UK.
This article may be of interest
https://www.technologynetworks.com/biopharma/news/scientists-blame-publish-or-perish-culture-for-reproducibility-crisis-395293?
I didn’t think the figure for irreproducibility was over 50%, but I can vouch for the “publish or perish” culture. The difference from politics is that deception is far more costly to a career.
I’d be very interested in why you think Green Party economic policy is adrift, Richard. As a member of aforesaid party and having watched a lot of your videos, I haven’t seen much to distinguish between the two. In fact, of all the parties it would seem we are the closest to the main principles you espouse. As you mentioned in the comments above, you say you are in discussion about these things. If so, I look forward to hearing what the outcome is.
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/07/07/the-green-partys-policy-on-money-and-so-on-the-economy-is-a-work-of-econimic-fantasy/
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of your previous post. There’s a lot to digest here, and I can see why you think it has been influenced by Positive Money theory. Indeed, a spokesperson for the non-aligned group commented back in 2012 that they approved of it. I also notice in your post that you have quoted the detailed policy documents that existed online before the last general election. These were taken down last year pending a thorough overhaul and the Positive Money-esque elements didn’t seem to feature in the 2024 manifesto. So, I wonder if in fact they still stand. Knowing something of how the Green Party of England and Wales policy development operates (it’s a bottom-up approach where members develop policy and key policies are debated twice a year), it may well have been superseded.
I must admit that there’s a lot for me to digest in your original post and it certainly gives me material to understand and broaden my understanding. In the meantime, I will suggest to any GPEW post-holders I meet that they consider seeking you out for advice. It would be a shame if an outdated policy position should eclipse what otherwise is a series of policies that I think you would generally agree with: non-GDP growth emphasis, investment in green infrastructure on a massive scale etc.
The policy has not been changed as yet.
I gather that the plan is for a vote on this later this year.
It’s the nature of the beast – this obsessive chimera of the Chicago School has only paranoia in its veins. It is not enough that profits must be made, nor that profits beat into submission all other considerations, but that the Mopsy-like growth in the rate of profiteering never fails, or else capitalism itself is perceived as in its death throes – which the whole edifice is.