Baroness Blackstone has ignored the advice that when you have got yourself into a hole it is best to stop digging. Why does she insist on taking a utilitarian view of science but not of other subjects?
How many historians, philosophers and social scientists do we need?
The greatest intellectual achievements over the past 100 years have been in theoretical physics, quantum theory and relativity. Some would argue that molecular biology and genetics are equally worthy of being considered.
Baroness Blackstone should be addressing the issue of why people do not wish to get to grips with these great ideas rather than dismissing them as being the preserve of the few, a new priesthood perhaps.
Alan Camina. School of Mathematics. University of East Anglia