There are some common misunderstanding among scientists about how governments make their policy decisions.
When scientists moan about how little politicians know about science, I usually get annoyed. Such grouching is almost always counterproductive and more often than not betrays how little scientists know about the UK's governance structures, processes, culture and history. So when the Guardian reported on a Nature article that listed 20 things that politicians should know about science, I started reading it with apprehension, half expecting my head to explode within a few paragraphs. I needn't have worried. The authors, Professors William Sutherland, David Spiegelhalter and Mark Burgman, have produced a list that picks up on many of the challenges that scientists report when engaging with policy makers, and it does so in a constructive way. It has been printed out and stuck on my wall. It has been passed around the office. I am sure to reference it often. But the fact remains that all too often, scientists blame politicians for failures when science meets policy-making, when in truth the science community needs to do much more to engage productively with the people who actually make policy.
