I thought I ought to post a final message to round off the Geek the Vote campaign.
This campaign started because I felt that no party was courting the science and technology vote, but that the Liberal Democrat manifesto, plus their history on key issues put them head and shoulders above the other parties in representing us on so many important questions: research funding, independence of expert advisors, internet freedoms, libel reform and support for school and higher education in STEM subjects.
It’s been great to have been a small part of a campaign in which voters have been more interested and involved than in recent years, and in which the geek community has rallied around a number of central policy points and brought them out into the public consciousness. Though we have been arguing for the Liberal Democrats, we were pleased that science and technology issues hit the headlines with the campaigns by the Science Party, running against David Tredinnick, and the Pirate Party, raising awareness about internet freedoms. CaSE, the Vote Geek campaign, the Skeptical Voter campaign, the science debates run by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Eureka blog in the Times, the science survey put together by Martin Robbins et al. for the Guardian and the hugely active Twitter community have helped to clarify the positions on science and technology issues held by each party and by each candidate so that people can make informed decisions in the future and hold ruling parties to account on the promises made to those involved in science, technology and engineering.
It goes without saying that the result was a huge disappointment for the Liberal Democrats. It was even more so for the Lib Dem geeks because of the loss of Dr Evan Harris as MP for Oxford West and Abingdon. In fact supporters of all parties have expressed regret at the fact that the commons has lost such a capable and committed champion of science and evidence-based policy. Whether Cristina Odone will take out a centrefold spread in the Telegraph to rejoice at the news remains to be seen.
One heartening piece of news is the performance of the Liberal Democrats in Cambridge, who saw in computational biologist Julian Huppert as their MP and also took most of the seats in the City Council.
While it is easy to be disheartened by the outcome of the election last night, I think the grassroots skeptic/science/geek community has a lot to be proud of in how it has come together and brought minority issues into the mainstream. The result reminds us that we are a minority: that, while everyone we interact with on our social network appears to be singing from the same hymn sheet, that social network is a very narrowly self-selecting group of people. If we are to make a campaign for these issues work in future, the key will have to be reaching beyond the networks of people with similar views that we build around ourselves and putting real effort into outreach and communication programmes. The fact that Brian Cox has managed to make arguments for supporting funding for physics research in the Sun is a great start.
The result also demands that we don’t stop campaigning here. Without wanting to put too much pressure on Julian Huppert as “the only rationalist in the house”, lacking voices that we can depend on to speak up for geeks in the Commons means that the responsibility lies with us to write and ask that our MPs represent our views in debates and to engage with policy-making through pressure groups like CaSE, the Open Rights Group, the Libel Reform Campaign and the various learned societies. Why not start by joining CaSE right now?
Once again, thanks for supporting this campaign. Let’s make sure that geeks have a voice in the new parliament, whoever ends up in No 10.
After two weeks painstakingly examining all the parties’ policies and attitudes to science issues, Martin Robbins in the Guardian agrees with Geek the Vote that the Lib Dems are the party with the most credibility. He concludes:
If I were to cast my vote based purely on science, it would be for the Liberal Democrats, for Nick Clegg and for Evan Harris.
Liberal Democrats recognise that to recruit, retain and satisfy the career demands of a new generation of engineers, the UK must continue to invest in research and development. Without opportunities to build the new power stations, the next generation low-carbon transport networks, and to develop new bioengineering technologies, the genius of UK engineering will wane.
The Government target of 2.5 per cent of GDP spent on research and development is woefully unambitious. We believe we must - at least - match the ambitions of the US and the EU. Now that’s an engineering challenge for the future!
Dr Evan Harris, Lib Dem science spokesman, in a response to the Royal Academy of Engineering’s magazine Ingenia.
His full response, as well as those from the Labour and Conservative parties, are reproduced on New Scientist’s blog The S Word.
Parliament is woefully lacking in expertise on issues regarding science, technology, engineering and IT.
Help to redress that balance by supporting these 50 Lib Dem candidates all of whom have backgrounds in these key areas. If you know a geek in one of the constituencies listed below, make sure they know that not only are the Lib Dems the most geek-friendly party, but also that their local candidate can help to make the House of Commons more tech-literate.
The list is by no means complete and in no particular order …
1. Dr Evan Harris, Shadow Science Minister, Oxford West and Abingdon, degree in medicine from Oxford, formerly a specialist registrar in public health, Member of the British Medical Association
2. Dr Vince Cable, Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor, Twickenham, Natural Science and Economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, followed by a PhD at Glasgow University
3. Dr Julian Huppert, Cambridge, BA & MSci in Natural Sciences and PhD in Biological Chemistry, Trinity College, Cambridge
4. Dr Jackie Pearcey, Bolton West, Bristol University BSc, Manchester University, PhD Nuclear Physics
5. Dr Belinda Brooks-Gordon, West Suffolk, PhD from Cambridge, Reader in Psychology and Social Policy at Birkbeck
6. David Heath, Shadow Leader of the House, MA Physiological Sciences from Oxford
7. Don Foster, Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Bath, BA in Physics and Psychology from Keele University
8. Professor Bill Winlow, Fylde, degrees in neuroscience from the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and St Andrews, taught medical, dental and science students for 22 years at the University of Leeds
9. Godfrey Newman, Horsham, qualified industrial chemist, Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, PGCE with Science specialism
10. Sarah Teather, Brent East, Natural Sciences at Cambridge
11. John Ball, Ealing Central & Acton, BSc Computer Science
12. Simon Clement Jones, Sheffield Heeley, BEng Mechanical Engineering with Business Studies
13. Dr Aladdin Ayesh, South Leicestershire, Senior Lecturer, PhD in Computer Science; MA in Psychology; MSc in Computer Science; BSc in Computer Science
14. Russell Field, Coventry North East, DeMontford University: BSc Computer Science
15. Dr Brendan D’Cruz, Castle Point, BSc and PhD in Computing from Plymouth, Head of Department of Business & Computing at Newport Business School
16. Lucy Care, Derby North, Chartered Engineer
17. Paull Robathan, East Devon, MBA, London Business School; Fellow of the British Computer Society; Chartered IT Professional
18. Jonathan Harston, Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough, Computing Science BSc, Electrical Installation C&G
19. James Monaghan, Morley & Outwood, worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he conducted research into climate change, also studying a part time PhD in satellite archaeology at Bradford University
20. Allan Witherick, Broxbourne, BSc Physical Sciences, UCL
21. William Hobhouse, Blackley & Broughton, MA in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from Cambridge
22. Nigel Quinton, Hitchin & Harpenden, BA and MA Geological Sciences
23. Kieran Leach, Falkirk, Bsc in Computing Science, Msc System Design for Internet Applications
24. Julian Brazil, Totnes, Zoology degree, PGCE qualification
25. Kevin Lang, Edinburgh North & Leith, Chemistry Degree
26. Peter Andras, Washington & Sunderland West, computer science degree
27. Stephen Jenkins, Beckenham, BSc Environmental Studies & Science
28. Dr Martin Garnett, Erewash, BSc in Biochemistry (Swansea), PhD on Biochemical aspects of Chronic Hyperoxia (UCL)
29. Adam Symons, Torridge & West Devon, Human Sciences Degree from Oxford; Masters in Environmental Science from Nottingham
30. Heather Kidd, Chirbury & Worthen, BSc in Biology from QMUL, PGCE in Science Education
31. Bridget Fox, Islington South & Finsbury, post-graduate degree in Library Science
32. Gerry Jerome, Croydon North, BSc in Pharmacology; BA in Applied Computing, MSc in Computer Science; Postgraduate Certificate (Distinction) in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
33. Roger Williams, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales; Shadow Environment, Energy, Food and Rural Affair Minister, Natural Science degree from Cambridge
34. Alan Armitage, Wantage, BA in Maths and Computer Science from York
35. Dennis Healy, Hull North, Mechanical Engineering background
36. Nicholas Sandford, Peterborough, MA in Natural Sciences from Oxford
37. Pauline Jenkins, Newark, BSc in Liberal Studies in Science; MSc in Information Science; PGCE in Physical Sciences
38. Sanjay Samani, Angus, BA in Computer Science from Cambridge
39. Galen Milne, Banff & Buchan, 17 year experience as a science technician and 12 years working in laboratory equipment sales management
40. Nick Radford, Salisbury, BA Biological Sciences from Oxford
41. Simon Rix, Croydon South, BSc in Physics & Astronomy from UCL
42. Dr Richard Bull, North East Derbyshire, Medical degree and Masters degree in Medical Science; practising GP and GP trainer
43. John Hemming, Birmingham Yardley, Natural Sciences degree from Oxford specialising in Atomic, Nuclear and Theoretical Physics
44. Satnam Kaur Khalsa, Hayes & Harlington, Degree in Biological Sciences
45. Mark Clayton, Wigan, IT consultant
46. Dave Raval, Hackney South and Shoreditch, MEng in Engineering, Economics and Management from Oxford
47. Dr Dave Radcliffe, Birmingham Selly Oak, Chemistry degree from UMIST followed by a PhD, also worked at University of Birmingham
48. Layla Moran, Battersea, Physics degree from Imperial, PGCE from Brunel University
49. Tara Saville, Easington, Natural Sciences degree from Cambridge, currently head of science at a school in Bishop Auckland
50. Nicholas Lane, Redditch, BSc in Biochemistry from Bristol
Thanks to Chris Lomax for much of the information.
52% of Chemistry World readers think that the Liberal Democrats would give science the best deal after the general election (click title above for full poll results).
Click the title above to download the 2-sided flyer (700kB).
You can print one side, the other or even both!
There are just 3 days left until polling day - please hand these out or print them blown up and post them up and make sure all your friendly neighbourhood geeks know how many great reasons there are to Geek the Vote for the Lib Dems this Thursday.
Read the full article on Lib Dem Voice by Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder.
Fellow of the Royal Society and UCL Professor of Pharmacology David Colquhoun explains why, despite having voted Labour for most of his life, the Liberal Democrats are the only option in the 2010 election. (Click title above for full post).
Martin Robbins responds to Labour’s science survey answers in the Guardian, concluding:
The problem with Labour isn’t its previous record on science. We all make bad decisions, and so do governments, but the measure of a good government should be its ability to learn from its mistakes, and improve policy accordingly. The problem is, quite simply, that it hasn’t. And so, for many, science has become yet another reason to desert Labour.
Lib Dem incumbent for Bath, Don Foster, said that tax breaks for developers in the UK video game industry would be implemented as soon as possible.
The Times Higher Education supplement weigh up the promises of all the parties on science policy, finding that the Lib Dems make the strongest commitments on scientific advice to government, libel reform, protecting university departments and supporting female researchers.
YouTube and Facebook users submitted over 5000 questions to be put to the leaders of the three major parties. Of these, ten were selected and the responses of all the party leaders can be viewed and voted on on the YouTube micro-site (click on link above).
The results will be announced on May 3 but Clegg is in the lead so far, and leading especially strongly on subjects like the Digital Economy Bill, science funding and drug policy.
Nick Clegg on science funding. His response to this question, as with most of the questions on YouTube’s Digital Debate, was rated the highest by viewers compared with the responses of Brown and Cameron.
Nick Clegg on the Digital Economy Bill in a response on the Youtube Digital Debate. Cameron and Brown also responded to the same question but viewers rated Nick’s response the most highly by far of the three.
Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem incumbent MP for Hornsey and Wood Green discussing the flaws in the Digital Economy Bill.
