Apparently we've still had enough of experts...
What bothers me is that when you're in charge of a significant area of policy-making, not just for an SME, but for a major world power, that you don't think it's important that you have a very firm grasp of the subject, or that if you don't (because if the scope is too broad you can't be an expert on everything) that your opinion shouldn't be to defer to the experts.
With all the talk from Gove about us having all had enough of experts and dismissive responses from this to ignoring the advice from their own experts on changing drugs policies, it's clear that many of the current politicians, however bright and well educated, don't have sufficient grasp of how much they don't know, or care more about winning votes and pushing populist policies regardless of mounting analysis indicating that their preferred policy is not in the best interests of society as a whole.
Clearly, I'm in favour of ensuring that our front bench politicians have some knowledge about the areas they're in charge of, but when that's not the case (i.e. most of the time), then they should be expected to set up expert groups with a specific agreement that they won't only listen when it fits their policies.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
