Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
COVID Variants – Time to Stop Jumping at Shadows
When variant forms of COVID appear, argues Robert Dingwall, we must, then, learn not to jump at shadows. No-one can ever say there will never be a risk – but everyday life is full of much more common risks that we tolerate because of the benefits that they deliver.
The Insufferable Smugness of Working from Home
Back in the day, I attended one of those schools where male character was thought to be formed by endless afternoons of […]
COVID-19: Blood on Whose Hands?
Lessons will be learned from this pandemic and it is right that there should be inquiries to spell them out. It will not, however, be helpful to see this as a partisan exercise in blaming individuals for acting within the limits of what was possible in systems that others had designed for very different purposes.
Resisting the Biosecurity State
These are extraordinary times, and not just because we are coming through the greatest national trauma since the Second World War. The […]
Vaccine Passports, Governments, and Adult Movies
Immunity certification for adult movies developed in California during the late 1990s, after a serious outbreak of HIV among the performers. Robert Dingwall examines the model in light of calls for a coronavirus passport system for the vaccinated.
Opinion: We Must Resist the Powerful Voices Arguing for Zero COVID
Do we treat the coronavirus as an ordinary risk of life, much as we do with the other 30 respiratory viruses that have infected humans throughout history? Or do we try to eliminate the virus from the UK altogether – the so-called Zero COVID approach?
No One Can Ensure Total Safety… We Must Fight Pandemic of FEAR
With this pandemic, argues Robert Dingwall, fear amplification has been policy, based on the advice of a particular group of behavioral scientists advising the United Kingdom’s government.
Start Talking Now About Life After Jabs Make COVID Less Deadly Than the Flu
The reports from Britain’s hospitals in the last few days have been truly worrying. No one should doubt the reality of what […]
