24 August 2019 | New Scientist | 23T
HE UK is at war, a cold civil
war. We live inside our
bubbles, supporting or
loathing Brexit. Compromise
has become a dirty word, even
for the very people who praise
their flexibility and openness.
We need to snap out of this
mindset. If we don’t, things will
get worse, above all for UK science.
I voted remain in the 2016
Brexit referendum. I have lived
and worked in many European
countries, and feel European. As a
scientist, I cannot appreciate the
importance of the imperial units
some backward-looking Brexiteer
“Mogglodytes” treasure. I have
been derided by some of them as
an “ungrateful immigrant”. But I
cannot support calls for a second
in/out referendum either. That has
led some Remainers to express
their “deep discontent with my
lack of vision”.
Why is my personal
compromise so hard to
understand? I am no longer
against Brexit, only because I am
against the disorderly version of
it we’re sleepwalking into. Maybe
I am too much of a scientist for
my own good, analysing things
logically rather than emotionally.
Here is the logic bit. Imagine
that the new UK prime minister
Boris Johnson and the fanatic
fringe push through a no-deal or
similar Brexit on 31 October. The
48 per cent on the losing side of
the referendum will continue to
feel that their views and rights
have been tossed aside, that they
JOSare being treated by the victors as
IE^ F
OR
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Comment
Andre Geim is a physicist at the
University of Manchester, UK.
He was a recipient of the 2010
Nobel prize in physics for his
discovery of grapheneViews
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Annalee Newitz
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of YouTube p24Letters
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in our food p26Aperture
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of iridescent bubbles
captured p28Culture
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Space stations make
great games settings,
says Jacob Aron p32prisoners of war. The likely
economic hardship that will
follow a no-deal Brexit would be a
disaster for science, exacerbating
the loss of EU funding.
You can appreciate how bad
things will become with the recent
government announcement of
speedy visas for top foreign
scientists. Some university vice
chancellors welcomed the move.
I got the chills. It was never hard
for high-flying scientists to get
work permits anywhere. Countries
that offer the best research
possibilities and funding win the
global race for the best minds, not
those who offer the easiest visas.So why focus on this? Because
it is a promise that requires only
hot air and not a penny. Spurring
truly innovative research that will
contribute to the UK’s economic
well-being requires a more far-
sighted immigration policy and,
most importantly, continuous
funding at a level comparable
to that in the US, Germany and
other developed nations.
Imagine now that a divided
Parliament blocks Brexit, calls a
second referendum and Remain
wins, as many of my colleagues
hope. What a nightmare. Even
moderate Brexiteers will feel
utterly betrayed. The cold war willbecome hotter: as big a disaster
for the economy, and hence
science, as any no-deal scenario.
We are at a terrible impasse.
The lack of smart people in our
populist government listening
to the needs of the country, let
alone science, terrifies me even
more. Three years ago, the then
prime minister Theresa May
could have called a truce, offering
to leave the EU, as the referendum
required, but also to hold a
follow-up vote on leaving the
common market or the customs
union, options never voted on.
Enacting this compromise now
could lead to an orderly Brexit,
whatever the outcome of the vote.
The economy could adjust, and
science and universities would
be better prepared, too. This isn’t
my ideal: it is a compromise in
the search for a better outcome
for science and the country.
Parliament returns from its
summer recess on 3 September,
with barely eight weeks to find a
workable compromise. It seems
that only when the economy is in
ruins and everyone is worn down
will they be ready to – the way civil
wars tend to end. The sooner we
realise there will be no winners,
the better. Baseless optimism
helps only political careers.
Compromises and U-turns are
decried, but get things sorted. ❚With regret, we must leave
For the sake of science and the country, the UK’s warring Brexit sides
must compromise – even if it means leaving the EU, says Andre Geim