Why does Osborne want to kill UK science?

A physicist on the post below asks why Osbore is so intent on his madness in eating - or in fact, burning - the scientific seedcorn.

Good question. In this case, madness = detachment from reality. Probably Osbore does not experience auditory hallucinations, ideas of reference etc, although the Market he is such awe of does have bipolar features.

The political equivalent of psychosis is idealism - in the philosophical sense, which sets up a single idea as a reference point of all existence and experience. For the Tories, the ideal is of the free market. They are Free Market Fundamentalists, and they are Individualists.

These paired ideas lead them to distrust any collective ("State") activity. If the "state" is taking money off individual tax payers and giving it to scientists, they are opposed to it.

Another motive is that to a great extent the Tories are ruled by the tabloids - Murdoch and the Mail. These have a huge influence on Tory voters and therefore Tory party thinking. The tabloids are salted occasionally with research that is daft, or presented as daft. It is motivated by the desire of the thick to believe themselves to be cleverer than smart people.


Third, Osbore does not understand investment because it involves multiplication and stuff, not to mention systems analysis. He only does adding up and taking away.

That's my feeble attempt to answer the "why".