Gove might have had enough of experts – but we certainly haven’t

At a time when global events appear to be driven more by ideology than evidence, the work of academics is more important than ever

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Back in June 2016, Michael Gove got a lot of grief for saying we had all had enough of experts. That intervention was more nuanced than it seemed, but it did usefully capture a mood of gung-ho patriotism that helped deliver victory for Leave in the referendum.

Gove might have aimed his barb at IMF economists and the like, but there was collateral damage. It meant that anyone with an intriguing, original insight into political events or social policy had their motives questioned.

That scrutiny probably wasn’t all bad, but it did mean that an academic describing the interconnectedness of trade across the EU, and the difficulties that presents, would be dragged into a partisan battle, their words used out of context and their message blurred.

At The Independent we do not think our readers have had enough of experts, and the Voices comment desk sees huge value in giving academics and others a platform where they can have space to present their thoughts and evidence.

Sometimes we have to hunt them down. University professors and lecturers can be notoriously shy, happy to keep their research and findings within academic circles. But that is changing. The LSE’s blogs are a great outlet for posts about research and, in these days of tuition fees, most universities now pay more attention to promoting the work their staff create.

Perhaps most notable has been the arrival of The Conversation, a universities-funded website which launched in 2013 and aims to get academics writing about breaking stories and analysing the major themes of the day. Sometimes we republish pieces which we think our readers will be excited to see. But perhaps most useful is how this has brought more and more academics into public view, open to commissions and ready to write.

It means we have been able to find columnists with deep, empirical knowledge of current events. Recently that has included analysis of the diplomatic tensions between the US and North Korea, the political tug of war in Venezuela and, of course, the parliamentary meltdown around Brexit.

Our goal is to deliver thought-provoking commentary with genuine heft – it is clearly useful when an academic can bring that to readers, backed up by years of study. At a time when global events appear to be driven more by ideology than evidence, surely even Michael Gove would agree it’s a good thing to bring these voices to centre stage.

Yours,

Joel Dimmock

Deputy Voices editor