Val

>Andrew - I have been doing a little digigng for the past few weeks on your
>unholy alliance -
>
>what I did find was:
>
>I was not able to pull out on the web a listing of any of the academic
>works or a proper academic CV for any of these people
>(king, anderson) - only newspaper listings and 'political' type committees

You don't say! Nor could I.<G>


>whereas - I typed in the names of a few of the people I went to university
>with, who continued with 'proper academic careers' when I left - without
>exception for the 6 I tried ( just who I could think of off the top of my
>head - not ones Ive contacted in the meantime) - every single one of them
>had about 100 academic papers, committees, and listings (and often
>Pictures)    - these guys were not your 'ivory tower academics' - 3 were
>head of Department at major american universities (ones we would have
>heard of) a 4th is head of department at Kings College London
>(Philosophy), one an emeritus professor at Imperial and the 6th a senior
>professors in Canada whose outside interests were legion (and extremely
>well documented.)
>
>What I am saying is: in the 'true' academic world, one still has to
>'publish or perish' - you don't survive otherwise  - and your academic
>provenance is extremely well documented
>
>- anyone else is purely a politician in academic circles


Publish or perish is the rule for ordinary mortals not for the self
proclaimed super-elite like 'our boys' - they've found other ways.

Of course folk like Krebs and May don't need to publish when they are
supported by Royal Society Research professorships do they? Krebs still
retains his Chair in Zoology Dept at Oxford - funded by the Royal Society -
his £96K/year contract as head of the FSA is 4 days a week leaving him free
to supposedly spend1 day a week at Oxford. May too retains his RS Reserach
Pofessorship in Dpet of Zoology at Oxford and Imperial I think, alongside
his position of President of the Royal Society.. These guys all still live
in Oxford I believe.

Anderson was Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Epidemiology of
Infectious Diseases (WCEID) at Oxford which was 'semi' attached to the
Dept. of Zoology - which was created around him at massive cost to Wellcome
Trust - and Had his loyal acoloytes - Neil Ferguson and Christl Donnelly -
to do all the real work to which he tagged his a name. Anderson was the
power broker 'front man' who 'sold' the Centre and drew in the money. Now
he's moved to Imperial - along with masses of hangers on (more than 30
people and their ass'd grants and funding I understand) they've created a
whole brand new Dept. around him and his fellow 'defectors' from Oxford
(including Prof Brian Spratt FRS - they guy who did the Royal Society
report on depleted uranium).

>(I did find a bit more academic provenance for Christl Donnelly and the
>other fellow on the modelling team

Neil Ferguson and Christl Donnelly? - well you would cos they are the
people who actually do the work while Anderson is the 'impressario' who
takes all the credit.

>  - not much for Mark Woolhouse (a more famous woolhouse is a philosopher!) -

You don't say - seems he's learned well from Anderson doesn't it. These are
the kind of people of whom it could be said 'they rise without trace'.

>but not as much as for my friends - but perhaps they are a bit younger!)

Who's younger - Ferguson, Donelly, Woolhouse? Yes, they are quite young
still I suppose - but then almost everyone seems young to me now I'm on the
'wrong' side of 50. <G>

Here's what Cherwell magazine reported on Krebs' appointment as first Head
of the FSA:

Shock food decision
Claire Price and Clare Yeowart
The appointment of Sir John Krebs, zoology professor at Oxford, as chairman
of the new EU Food Standards Agency was announced last week. The Consumers
Association has expressed disappointment that the government had not
appointed a "strong, credible, consumer chair" for the agency.
The professor will chair the new FSA of 500 staff which will oversee all
food policy issues on a budget of £130 million. His role will be to
evaluate scientific evidence and to explain the science to the public. Sir
John will earn a salary of £96,000 for a four day week.
The Professor's appointment was justified by David Byrne, the Health and
Consumer Protection Commissioner. He claimed that a prestigious figure was
needed to give the new agency a "dependable reputation". Levels of public
confidence in food safety have been low after the BSE crisis and scandals
over dioxins and sewage in animal feed.
Professor Krebs admitted that he had no track record in food or consumer
policy but insisted that he wanted the agency to be "a beacon of openess
and a model for the best use of science".
He added that he wanted to strengthen the "already high standards" of food
safety to ensure that "everyone can have confidence that public health is
being properly protected".
Yet his appointment continues to be the centre of controversy, particularly
in view of his much-criticised badger culling experiment to curb
tuberculosis in cattle."


Regards

Andrew