The Boffin Community is confusing us with contradictions
>>THE ISSUES THAT MATTER, FROM THE PEOPLE INVOLVED
Don’t scientists, medical professionals and other media-hungry pointy heads have a lot to answer for?
This week they were telling us that soya should join the long list of products they have decided are bad for us, because it can harm a woman’s fertility. Now, that may well be absolutely right. But not that long ago, we were being bombarded with scientific messages about the many health benefits of soya. And only last week, another group of experts was telling us that red meat caused cancer. Before that there were those in the scientific community warning farmed salmon was dangerous and we should eat less, until others among them insisted it was not and we should eat more. Devour your greens, cries another group. Then their colleagues go ‘tsk, tsk,’ you must beware the veg you buy because it has been sprayed with poison. One week these people are telling you to eat more chocolate and swig more red wine; the next they are warning how the very fabric of society is being ripped apart by obesity and alcoholism.
Is it any wonder that most normal folk are now completely turned off by the, usually contradictory, messages and ‘insights’ put out by the boffin community?
You could argue that’s a good thing - that it may eventually encourage scientists to realise there are better things to do with their time than spend months poking around in the small intestine of the tsetse fly to tell us that lager gives you acne. Or cures it.
The thing is, the government wants to base so many important decisions on science. Everything from the way you make foods to the products you are allowed to advertise on TV to the food labelling you must use on packs. Am I alone in being petrified by that thought?
The other group of people who also need to think about shutting up are those who have been busily briefing against Sir Ken Morrison in what has turned into the ugliest boardroom battle we have seen for years. Sure, the retailer’s management team is being stretched as it struggles to get to grips with the massive integration issues arising from the Safeway deal. But the idea that the business would be better off without Sir Ken is as laughable as it is risible.
Beware the pointy heads
In defence of Sir Ken
>>THE ISSUES THAT MATTER, FROM THE PEOPLE INVOLVED
Don’t scientists, medical professionals and other media-hungry pointy heads have a lot to answer for?
This week they were telling us that soya should join the long list of products they have decided are bad for us, because it can harm a woman’s fertility. Now, that may well be absolutely right. But not that long ago, we were being bombarded with scientific messages about the many health benefits of soya. And only last week, another group of experts was telling us that red meat caused cancer. Before that there were those in the scientific community warning farmed salmon was dangerous and we should eat less, until others among them insisted it was not and we should eat more. Devour your greens, cries another group. Then their colleagues go ‘tsk, tsk,’ you must beware the veg you buy because it has been sprayed with poison. One week these people are telling you to eat more chocolate and swig more red wine; the next they are warning how the very fabric of society is being ripped apart by obesity and alcoholism.
Is it any wonder that most normal folk are now completely turned off by the, usually contradictory, messages and ‘insights’ put out by the boffin community?
You could argue that’s a good thing - that it may eventually encourage scientists to realise there are better things to do with their time than spend months poking around in the small intestine of the tsetse fly to tell us that lager gives you acne. Or cures it.
The thing is, the government wants to base so many important decisions on science. Everything from the way you make foods to the products you are allowed to advertise on TV to the food labelling you must use on packs. Am I alone in being petrified by that thought?
The other group of people who also need to think about shutting up are those who have been busily briefing against Sir Ken Morrison in what has turned into the ugliest boardroom battle we have seen for years. Sure, the retailer’s management team is being stretched as it struggles to get to grips with the massive integration issues arising from the Safeway deal. But the idea that the business would be better off without Sir Ken is as laughable as it is risible.
Beware the pointy heads
In defence of Sir Ken
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