
Johnson listened to scientists on coronavirus – they were slow to sound alarm - DanBC
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-path-speci-idUSKBN21P1VF
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stupidcar
This bit got my attention:

"...scientific committees that advised Johnson didn’t study, until mid-March,
the option of the kind of stringent lockdown adopted early on in China [...]
_The scientists’ reasoning: Britons, many of them assumed, simply wouldn’t
accept such restrictions_."

In order words, the scientists self-censored themselves on the basis of a
_political_ judgement about what the population would or wouldn't accept. But
they weren't political experts, and weren't employed to be.

This seems like a big problem for basing policy on expert opinion. Most people
are inexpert on most subjects. How do you ensure expert advice and decisions
aren't contaminated by the expert's natural biases, and without it coming over
as "stay in your lane" hectoring?

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DanBC
This is an interesting article talking about the UK response to covid-19
pandemic and it explains some of the reason for the UK taking the actions it
has.

The full title (which is too long for HN) is: "Johnson listened to his
scientists about coronavirus - but they were slow to sound the alarm"

