Nutt, Strictly and Crooked Timber

The gloriously named Professor David Nutt is still stomping around in a big huff, having been rather amusingly sacked (it can't have been Brown - it's too witty). Grumbling on the radio yesterday, he gave a clear impression that he seriously believed the country (and no doubt the entire known universe) should be ruled by 'good science', i.e. the latest thinking of the scientists, based on the latest research, of whatever quality. This was not questioned, nor was it pointed out that the 'best scientific advice' tends to swing about like a weathercock in a banging gale. Apply 'good science' and nothing else to Professor Nutt's field of expertise and you'd end up with booze and fags classed as controlled drugs, the pubs closed and ciggies on prescription (at best). Perhaps this is what he wants - I rather suspect it is - but it is not what any government with any kind of democratic mandate could or would ever dream of enacting. Policy can never be dictated by scientific advice, and there is such a thing as democracy - as the distinguished judges on Strictly Come Dancing are dismayed to learn afresh with each new series. As the results of last night's 'viewers' vote' came in, forcing two of the best contestants into a dance-off, the judges' jaws hung, their heads were in their hands, they could not believe what they were seeing. Well, that's democracy for you - and meanwhile, as Bryan reminds us, 15 million humanoid lifeforms were choosing to watch The X Factor instead. As Kant remarked, 'Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.'