The morning starts well, when we walk from the hotel to Westminster to get our security passes for the week, we discus brain imaging while the rain comes down. We are so involved in the discussion to notice the rain and as a result we loose our fellow scientists because of our walking speed.
I am still puzzled by a remark that I heard the evening before. It is 7-8-1, I have forgotten who is the 7 and who is the 8, but the 1 is for the Conservatives. There is only one Conservative MP participating in the scheme, while Labour and Lib Dem are with 7 and 8 (or the other way around). Some questioning here and this reveals me what probably most other people already knew, that Conservative MPs are generally not really interested in science. But with the election that would mean….. and the with all the cuts in the budget that would mean…… I haven’t spoken to anybody from the Conservative party yet neither have I read there official statements of that party so I am not sure if I am qualified to draw the any conclusions yet.
After we get our security passes we are toured through the Houses of Parliament. Very interesting and impressive, nice to see all these famous places, this is followed by lots of talks by different people who have to do with science and parliament or government. Prof John Beddington, who pictures us the perfect storm (water shortage, food and energy demand and global warming) and why science will be hugely important in the coming decades to keep humanity a float. The questions are big and the progress needed is enormous. I wonder if the science community as it is, will be able to help enough, maybe we need to hugely reform all science and start up groups that have much more freedom and long term funding to think outside the box for good solutions (even in such a busy day as we had, there is room for daydreaming).
The other talks are much more about how parliament and science interact. Science & Technology Select Committee, POST etc. There are short discussions on the balance between fundamental and applied research, innovation versus creativity. Discussions on what after the next election, those are even shorter, very, very short, basically two words “Who knows….”.
Thanks for the update, Albert. I looked up the Royal Society scheme you’re taking part in and I gather you will be in Westminster all this week? Do the reciprocal visits take place straight afterwards? This must be a great opportunity to build up a more informed relationship with your MP.
Hi Lou, Yes the MP I shadowed David Howarth will visit our lab in January. After that I will visit him again for a day when he is at work in his constituency. It is great way to learn about what science does in parliament but also that there are different ways to get your science to parliament if you want to. I will write something abouth this more later this week.