A welcome moment of sanity. No gagging threat for government-funded British scientists, hurrah ! There was quite a surge in the recent poll of ~10,000 signatures in the last two days, so maybe there's hope for democracy yet.
Though I won't be satisfied until the Boaty McBoatface sets sail.
The government has bowed to intense behind-the-scenes pressure from the science community and will exempt some researchers from a controversial "anti-lobbying clause". Universities and royal colleges have been raising questions since the clause, which aims to stop organisations – primarily charities – using taxpayer-funded grants to lobby the government or parliament, was announced in February. Charities have told BuzzFeed News it is an ideological attack on a problem that "doesn't exist" and will actually cost the government money in the long run.
Bob Ward, the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, has written to the Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock to say universities will be affected and has told BuzzFeed News the clause is an "extreme restriction on academic freedom will be bad for policy-making, bad for the public interest and bad for democracy".
In a statement he said: "I am very glad that the Government has today announced its intention to create this exemption for university researchers. I do not believe that the Government meant for the 'anti-lobbying' clause to apply to grants for researchers in universities and research institutes, and I am glad that the Cabinet Office has today indicated that it will do the right thing.
"I hope that the exemption will apply not just to grants from the higher education funding councils and research councils, but also to grants from Government Departments for research. Without the exemption, the clause would forbid researchers from using Government grants to attempt to influence policy-making. Such a restriction would be bad for policy-making, bad for the public interest and bad for democracy."
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/government-exempts-some-scientific-researchers-from-gagging?utm_term=.hi9Bwq8Ap#.gu6vEPJ7x
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