Fourth Part

0:09:07 Science policy meetings started with a conversation with Alan Hughes shortly after the 1997 elections; he said that L.S.E. had arranged a programme of seminars for Ministers on matters to do with government; these did not actually happen but wondered whether we should put the experience of Cambridge in science and technology at the disposal of the Government; never crossed my mind that I should approach the chief scientific advisor but instead wrote to the Vice-Chancellor, Alec Broers; sent a copy to John Eatwell who had just come to Queens and was a member of the Upper House; failed to get a reply from Broers but when pressed said it was not possible; John Eatwell said it was possible; Cambridge is a devolved system where one can do this without the University; invited Dave King, Master of Downing and head of chemistry, Bob Hepple, Master of Clare and professor of English law to join us; at that time great interest in the press in cloning which prompted intense moral, religious and ethical debate; I drafted an abstract on cloning; John Eatwell contacted David Milliband who was head of the Prime Minister's policy group; later learnt that Milliband took it to Richard Wilson who was then Cabinet Secretary who took it to the Prime Minister; they all thought this a good idea; that was how the seminars started; we were able to do this independently of the University; all we had to supply were sandwiches as we got local people to speak; Martin Evans and Anne McLaren spoke among others; Richard Wilson came as did the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and a minister; later other Permanent Secretaries came as did Alec Broers; paid for food and non-alcoholic drink from our college entertainment allowances; have been roughly two seminars a year on topics to do with science and society; they have been very successful; the Scottish Government has become interested in having them there and I took one seminar group to Scotland to show how it was done; have also taken a group to China; it is beginning to fan out as a means of bringing scientists together with those who take government decisions for the later to understand the nature of science; about halfway through David King said he thought he had got the Prime Minister interested and would I get a group together to go to Number 10 and make a presentation; took four outstanding speakers on a variety of topics: Andy Hopper on computer science, Trevor Robbins on drugs of addiction, Sir Richard Friend on physics and Katy Core on epidemiology; before we have our seminars we will have got the speakers to meet and discuss their abstracts so the thing fits together; they communicate on a level that a non-technical person can understand; we do a dry run the day before; I went with the four to Number 10 and sat beside the Prime Minister for three hours; the four talked for half an hour each; the Prime Minister was enraptured and I was very impressed by his summary of the talks at the end; David King had warned me that if it failed then the Prime Minister would not have gone along the scientific route; clearly it didn't fail and the Prime Minister gave a speech supporting science; Gordon Brown is also strongly in favour; in part I feel it derives from this programme where we not only look at science but its ethical, social and moral implications; foresight programmes where the Government look at future developments in science and decide expenditure are based on our seminars; did one on migration last Friday where I argued there was science in migration for which we had the largest turnout of Permanent Secretaries ever, eight out of fifteen; getting very positive responses with requests for materials for their departments; the Minister responsible chaired the general discussion and promised to take forward to Government policy the outcomes of what had been said that day; on this topic needed to convince the speakers on migration in animals that they are uncovering general rules that are applicable to humans; does entail an enormous amount of work but will continue if there is pressure from the Government to do so

19:09:15 The Chief Scientific Advisor when this started was Bob May; he was very put out as he thought it undermined his position with the Government; some weeks later he apologised and said that in fact I had strengthened his position; he then always came to every seminar both as scientific advisor and later as President of the Royal Society; all Presidents since have come

21:39:16 Received a letter from Keith Peters saying that the Government had been looking at the output of a substantial review on brain science, addiction and drugs; the field was so important, the developments so nascent, that they wished for a committee to be established to look into the implications and to carry this foresight project forward; to make recommendations to the Government on development in brain sciences, addiction, medicines for mental health and all implications; Government had decided the lead department should be the Department of Health; gave the investigation to the Academy of Medical Sciences; Keith Peters asked me to chair a working group which I agreed to do so long as I could appoint whom I liked; that went well and we have been going now for a year and a quarter; hoping we will be able to report by the end of the year but may be difficult; looking at the development of brain sciences and how they are likely to impinge on the development of medicines for the treatment of addictions; however, the brief goes beyond that; the benefit of having read medicine meant that I saw the approach to this as one of public health; rather than see addiction as something that is essentially criminological, although there is a huge criminological component, as a public health problem you ask what are the causes and how could you prevent it; got a child psychiatrist and child psychologist on my committee and they have been reviewing the risk factors for the later addictive behaviour; I am sure it will have implications right the way through Government policy; I have already submitted an interim report and I gave a talk to a cross Government meeting last December; the Minister who chaired it wanted my report so that she could act on it; I said she could not as the report was not due for another year; big problem arose as there are clear implication from what we have done so far for the wellbeing of children and care of pregnant women; Minister sat up when I got round to public health and what the Government could do apart from becoming more efficient on the legal side by way of prevention; Dave King asked for an interim report which I agreed to, subject to modification; have noticed in the Chancellor's budget a massive increase in expenditure on the welfare of children although I do not know whether my document fed into that level although it may well have done so; regret that the press has failed to pick up the massive shift in support for children

28:31:23 Gambling does come into it as the brain areas involved in gambling are the same as those involved in addiction; Eric Taylor's report includes a reference to twin studies and fostering studies in which the behaviour of the genetic parents in respect of drug taking is a larger determinant in their offspring's drug taking than the foster parents

30:53:15 Coming back to Cambridge settled in a village as Prill wanted a place where she could keep her horse; found a barn and land and later got another horse which I learnt to ride; pleasures of college fellowship and the rewards of companionship are affected by living outside Cambridge; however, wonderful to live in a completely different world; our next door neighbours are farmers and this broadens one's horizons; have had some serious illnesses when I nearly died; was true to myself and never took to religion; very concerned about Prill and my children and their sense of loss; Prince Phillip was coming to Sidney Sussex to formally open a building for which I had raised the money; the Queen had unveiled the foundation stone in 1996; formal opening was to be in March 1999 in my retirement year and I was very keen to be present; Tim Cox was my physician and helped me to get there; not sure I was driven as illness focuses one on things like family and friends; as one gets better then the old drives reassert themselves and I got back to work as before; reflections on nearness of death when very ill