Boris Johnson was ‘bamboozled’ by science during the pandemic, Patrick Vallance reveals
Sir Patrick Vallance’s bombshell diary entries revealed in excruciating detail how the former prime minister struggled to understand graphs and ‘just could not get’ some scientific concepts
Boris Johnson was “bamboozled” by the science during the pandemic and had to have details explained to him “repeatedly”, the Covid inquiry has heard.
Sir Patrick Vallance’s bombshell diary entries revealed in excruciating detail how the former prime minister struggled to understand graphs and “just could not get” some scientific concepts.
If Boris was bamboozled then he was bamboozled by people not science.
Our school physics teacher used to say something I've never forgotten - if you don't understand a scientific explanation, then the person giving the explanation doesn't understand it properly either. He went on to say that everything is reducible to terms which match the experience and capabilities of the listener, giving the theory of relativity as an example.
The pandemic point is obvious, it was Vallance's job to give understandable explanations to those making the political decisions. It was by far the most important aspect of his role. Why he apparently couldn't manage it is an interesting question, but not Boris Johnson's responsibility.
9 comments:
I agree. And the implication that people like Vallance were trying to clarify his understanding is ludicrous. Vallance and his cronies were trying to bamboozle Boris and they succeeded.
I shall die happy if Vallance and Co hang for their efforts.
Johnson and Cummings were bamboozled by the scientists Valance and Whitty who were bamboozled by the computer modellers like Ferguson, and they were all bamboozling the British public. I really must invent a cocktail, do you think it could contain GIGO?
Everyone was playing at science, except the scientists who were playing at politics.
“Why he apparently couldn't manage it is an interesting question.”
The critical question in fact.
dearieme - yes, the bamboozling had to be intentional. Vallance did not adapt his narrative to his political audience and cannot have been unaware of that because his diary effectively says he was aware of it.
Tammly - it certainly sounds like a suitable cocktail for the Covid inquiry.
DJ - yes they were playing at politics.
James - it is the critical question so presumably it won't be asked.
"If Boris was bamboozled then he was bamboozled by people not science.
Our school physics teacher used to say something I've never forgotten - if you don't understand a scientific explanation, then the person giving the explanation doesn't understand it properly either."
That cheered me up no end, and reconciled me to my abysmal scientific understanding. Mr Hill and Mr. Jones of Ashcroft High School Luton, you really were a pair of useless pillocks!
Sam - it does sound as if they were useless pillocks, because understanding the subject generates enthusiasm. I think our grandson has teachers like Mr Hill and Mr. Jones who appear to do little more than pass on texts.
I think one thing this all proves is that the claims of the university system to be inculcating learning and measuring intelligence are vastly overrated. If a person can be selected for one of the great university seats of learning (and thus be purported to be in the highest echelons of intelligence) and gain high recognition in their chosen field,
and still be so dim that they cannot pick up on the most basic issues with what they are being told, then its obvious that a university education is of no use whatsoever when determining a person's intelligence, or suitablity for high office of any kind.
We should ban the use of degrees as a qualifier for 90% of jobs. Indeed it might be sensible to assign a negative value to holding a degree when it comes to determining a persons intelligence level for all but the most specialised STEM-type degrees. An arts based degree should be a signifier of someone suitable to push trolleys round a supermarket car park, or work as a litter picker. When they have done that work satisfactorily for perhaps a decade, maybe they could be considered for more responsible work, such as dustman, lollypop person or care home worker.
Sobers - I agree, we need universities and university courses to be pared back to where they were fifty years ago. Even then they could be second-rate, but we have ended up qualifying far too many people for useless political, bureaucratic and essentially parasitic careers.
I read somewhere that 20% of MPs are professional politicians who have never worked outside the political bubble. They have never acquired a respect for veracity over rhetoric and it shows whenever they open their mouths.
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