The death of the expert

Dr Muiris Houston explores how the demise of the expert in public office and media reports spells trouble for everyone, leading to emotion trumping reason and the rise of harmful medical scaremongering It was probably coming anyway, but it’s amazing how Donald Trump’s rise to the US presidency has abruptly marked the decimation of the expert. By selecting cabinet members like Scott Pruitt and Rick Perry, who are known to be completely hostile to the agencies they now oversee, and by rejecting a role for acknowledged experts in a particular field, he clearly has little or no regard for policy…