When Did Scientists Turn Into Lobbyists?
An analysis of the March 14th 'Open Letter' from U.K. scientists calling on the Government "to take stronger measures of social distancing" (i.e. Lockdown). Among various news outlets, the Guardian rapidly publicised the open letter by a group of "scientists" calling for a lockdown in an article on the March 14th. 245 UK scientists including those from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Sanger Institute, and the Francis Crick Institute, had signed; Including Professors, Lecturers and Researchers in the fields of Immunology, Biology, Medicine and Complex Systems. The resulting media frenzy, together with Imperial Colleges computer model predictions, appeared to have the desired effect of causing a Government U-turn and the first of many lockdowns. The letter appears to have originated from the School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary College London, and is posted on the Queen Mary server. On closer inspection the first 245 UK signatories are made up of the following: 54 (22%) from Queen Mary (of which 42 are from the School of Mathematical Sciences including the first nine signatories)* 41 from Cambridge University22 from Imperial College8 from the Sanger Institute4 from Oxford University2 from LSHTM (neither is a medical doctor. one is also a honorary Research Associate at Imperial)1 from Francis Crick Institute (Theoretical Physics of Biology Lab) The remaining ...