Brian Cox considers becoming an mp

[NeurotrashWarrior]

cosmosmagazine.com/physics/brian-cox-contemplates-standing-for-parliament

Brilliant! And amusing given the D-REAM thing!

"Talking to Cosmos, Cox said he said he was prompted in his thinking by several factors, including rediscovering the political activism of Richard Feynman and Robert Oppenheimer, and “the failure of an entire generation of politicians” over the issue of Brexit.

He also remembered being on a television discussion program with Michael Portillo, a one-time UK Conservative cabinet minister. Cox had been lamenting the lack of intellectual rigour among serving parliamentarians, and Portillo suddenly took him to task.
“He said to me, well, just stand for parliament then,” Cox recalls."

Well, things can only get better

I've had worse earworms. But it'll be very old if it's still there by 7pm this evening.

We could do with some new types of MP.

I agree @JosephineDupont, we need MPs that are scientifically literate.

dammit frank if only I was more on the ball today!

Politics would be a waste of a great mind.

Politics is show business for...um...people who were in show business?

I hope he does.

Politics would be a waste of a great mind.

Totally disgareee. We need great minds to run the country - the best minds. Public service should be an honour and to some extent a duty. The press and career sharks politicians make it hideously undesirable, but we suffer for it.

Portillo is right. More people should stand, even if only for a 4 year term. I don't think the universe will collapse if Cox takes a break.

Politics is in dire need of some clever scientists. I hope he does it.

what party could he possibly ally himself with though? they're all frickin nutcases

Margaret Thatcher has a chemistry degree. I’m not sure to what extent it influenced her policies.

BC would be particularly good in parliament because he's also a musician. He understands how important the arts are for all industries, including science.

Creative / arts subjects are so important for so many reasons. The current policy makes don't recognise this. I don't have much time to explain why so I'll just leave some links.

www.theatlantic.com/video/index/502958/how-to-raise-creative-children/

V small study on positive impact of drama on pips scores.

www.dur.ac.uk/education/staff/profile/?mode=pdetail&id=620&sid=620&pdetail=22526

I’d vote for him. He could stand as an independent.

I'd definitely vote for him. And his wife!

Or he could support his wife to stand?

I met him once and was disappointed to find him super egotistical but I guess that goes with the tv celebrity and a bit too much hanging out with other selfimportant lefty blokes all valiantly attacking the devasting scourge foretelling the ruin of modern society that is homeopathy.

Can his wife stand or even vote as she's American?

Prediction: The rise of the independents is about to happen.

Whether it will be Brian who leads the charge I don't know. But party politics are done, and social media allows for a different and cheap way for candidates to reach the electorate.

People are fed up of the nonsense tribalism and broken trust.

A few more scientifically and medically literate people in parliament wouldn’t go amiss. Our current are woefully ignorant.

Part of the current problem is the rise of career politicians who have never done a real job and have neither a connection to real life not any real experience of the portfolio they hold. They have no industrial experience, no public duty experience and very little ability to understand anything technical or numerate.

There’s a lot to be said for a degree of technocracy. I remember even as a child being puzzled by cabinet reshuffles on the news - how could you be in charge of such a complicated thing one week then another the next? Didn’t you need to know at least something about it even if you have a load of people doing the real work?

In an ideal world no one who wanted power would be allowed near it
Our cabinet would be picked somehow from people with a combination of honesty, duty and skill and work on a 3-5 year public duty rotation (in fact, I think there’s a short sci fi story from the 50/60s where this happens and everyone lives in dread of them being called...)

Folding towels in selfridges and having contacts via school chums and your mum would not be a way in..,

We need more intelligent politicians. He would be perfect I think.

I think more scientists in Parliament would be a good idea. I'm not sure they should be celebrity ones.

It's nigh on impossible to win at MP level unless you are a member of a party. People still vote tribally and it's very hard to break that attitude.

Even at local level, it's very hard to break through as an independent. Believe me, we've been trying to build an independent presence on a local level for a number of years and there's always two wards on a borough that you cannot shake from voting for either Labour or Conservative (and you need their votes to win) no matter what you do.

But we desparately need to break up the party system. Part of the problem is the internal party politics over who is chosen as a prospective candidate. It's never people who can actually do the job properly.

I read that as Brian Cox wants to become an imp!

Totally agree that we want more scientists, doctors and researchers as politicians- I just want them to be the kind of principled ones who couldn’t give a shit about amassing likes and clicks and who won’t need to keep an eye on keeping the broadcasters happy and interested in them in future. Not saying Brian Cox isn’t principled as an individual however. I can imagine that the existing party system will try very hard to court someone like him though, because he brings celebrity status. I’m probably overly cynical these days though!