Me and my big mouth - and the New Scientist....

THERE is in our village a very nice lady who cuts out everything that appears in the Eastern Daily Press about Lyng.
As a result she has quite a few clippings of my letters. I do not.
Even cuttings from my three whole letters in the dear old Guardian. As a hack I was rubbish at keeping cuttings. All seemed so ephemeral to me.
But this week something happened that I must admit pleased me. I got a letter in the New Scientist. Phoar!
So here it is - front page left; letters page right and the text below. It has been neatly edited which is also pleasing since when I was hack you only edited the ones you really wanted to publish - the rest went on the spike!

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Asking the right question may lead to wisdom
From:Richard Woods,
Norfolk, UK
Your fascinating articles on knowledge referred to the prevailing problem of post-truth, fake news and antipathy towards "experts" (i April, p 5 and p36). The most frightening current effect is climate change denial.
We can all think of simplistic minds that deny the possibility of climate change because, in their world view, it is an inconvenient possible truth. They promote that position by decrying experts as not knowing facts, only guessing. They accuse anyone promoting the prediction of peddling "fake news". None of these steps can be easily countered by science since even the best climatologist can say only that "all the evidence we have suggests..."
But there is a question that can be effective and demonstrates that it is indeed knowledge that is the key. What does Donald Trump, for example, want on his tombstone: "The man who saved the world" or "The man who denied his great-grandchildren a future"? The point of knowledge and experts is that taking notice of what they say is wiser than ignoring or denying them.

NOW I strongly suggest that if you have never read the New Scientist you click through and have a look; great stuff. And if you like what you find then why not subscribe - Janet and I virtually fight for first sight and it gets read line by line by one or even both of us - every week.