NewScientist is plenty mad at the UK’s current government as described in the 7 November 2015 leader. After a lovely rant about some nonsensical proposed bill dubbed the “snooper’s charter”, as promoted by the Brits’ spooks, they turn to some other amateurish bills:
The government also seems to think it can legislate chemistry. Its Psychoactive Substances Bill proposes to ban any substance that alters mental state. Taken at face value, that’s everything from chocolate to flowers. As the deep absurdity of this has sunk in, the government has drafted a list of exempt substances. Homeopathic pills will be on it, we are assured: caffeine products are fine, too, as long as they contain both caffeine and, somehow, “no psychoactive substance”.
This pattern of ill-conceived pledges followed by impractical legislation looks ominously as though it will be repeated in energy and education. That suggests the government is either scientifically illiterate or believes it can get its way by assuming its citizens are. Perhaps it can. Its ideological stances on terrorism and drugs may win wide support even if they don’t make sense.
With a painful grin, we again encounter the conundrum of the amateur legislators – the immensely complex task of governance handed to those who have little training or experience. The sad part, of course, is that there’s plenty of scientific expertise available for issues such as those animating NewScientist is this editorial. The UK government should be bright enough to at least ask for help when confronted with very complex issues such as counter-espionage, regulation of new recreational drugs, and many other fundamentally technological issues.
As a non-Brit not living in the UK, I have to wonder if the governing Conservatives are permitting ideology to come before reality.
