UK government bars foreign academics from advising on Brexit | Hacker News Reader

UK government bars foreign academics from advising on Brexit

theguardian.com

22 pointsokket21 comments

Well if anyones being honest this is quite drastic (for example, even a dual citizen cannot participate), but one has to remember that the information these politicians needs to get has to be impartial and have no influence. While I know this is a terrible example because it's not a war, in a time of war would you hire people from the people you're fighting with/negotiating with to give you information?

I've seen tons of my friends argue for and against TTIP, and I just wonder the problems there about foreign influence in a trade deal isn't a problem?

They need academics to provide economic advice but it should be impartial right? Imagine 40 years down the line it comes out as 'hey that guy was actually an automotive lobbyist, but the laws set now'

British academics are no more partial or impartial than anyone else.

Perhaps conflict of interest is a better term. A British academy would have no conflict of interest.

> They need academics to provide economic advice but it should be impartial right?

And brits are more impartial, is that it?

Not necessarily, all I'm saying is if someone can have a dual alignment and an easy way to pick that out publicly is their citizenship. Surely if you are from another country you're likely to have an emotional bias for your own country? If you're British you're likely to have a bias but less so. Everyone has a political opinion.

Brits have a foreign central bank governor and they seem okay with that, if anything he's absolutely brilliant according to me. It's also the first i've ever seen a country use foreign talent at such a prestigious role.

When setting laws for something of such magnitude there is a clear conflict of interest. They are negotiating against a plethora of EU countries who have lots of people working in academia. A British citizen-only would not have a conflict of interest as such.

> If you're British you're likely to have a bias but less so.

Explain to me again why if you're British you're less likely to have a bias?

> A British citizen-only would not have a conflict of interest as such.

Ah, so it's not that British citizens don't have a bias, it's that they have a bias in the direction that interests you. Very different.

Replace bias with conflict of interest. Pardon my English isn't great. The meaning didn't come of so well. Everyone is likely to have a bias to their political view, but a conflict of interest is one where you're incentives are conflicted.

Someone who is European in Britain is very likely not a Brexiter, and that's where the conflict becomes very evident. Don't forget its a Brexiter government and it is a political decision that has already been made. A British Citizen cannot have a bias against himself? I'm a bit dumbfounded by the logic that they would be against themselves.

48% of voters voted against Brexit. Even with an all-British advisory team, how do you reduce conflict of interest without first checking that all advisors are not just British, but also voted in favour of Brexit?

So let me give a picture, because i'm not fully at grasp with where a Remainer would sabotage themselves.

The government is negotiating trade tariffs with the German government on automobiles. Would a remainer or a German national be more likely to align to German government interests? It is a clear conflict of interest, yet for the British academic s/he has no incentives to align to German interests, since they only have everything to gain to align with UK government interests and nothing on the other side..

Of course on the passionate issue of migration i could expect a different outcome since there is an incentive for a British citizen to have open borders, but this is a smaller part of the bulk part of the treaties which are very large. I'm not sure how they will do that, hopefully they use a bit of balance though. I would hate them all be Brexiters

Well that is not necessarily fair. If the matter is of Britain's future, it is not necessarily that the british citizens have biases as much as they would be in theory only acting in the interests of british citizens, ie themselves.

>Explain to me again why if you're British you're less likely to have a bias?

You won't fear being deported.

>Ah, so it's not that British citizens don't have a bias, it's that they have a bias in the direction that interests you. Very different.

Not so black and white.A lot of British want the EU, but not for economics, that's far too drab and requires genuine research and care.

We want easy access to foreign lands where we can get drunk, and bask in the sun.

On a side note, I don't really believe it will be useful leaving the EU. I would prefer reform and greater decentralisation. Even if it is failing, we can't promote positive reform from the outside.

Did you read the article?

It has nothing to do with trying to get unbiased information. They've classified some of the negotiation information, i.e. they think a Danish national is more likely to leak sensitive information to the Danish government than a British national is.

Given the strength of feeling across the EU on these topics, I can't completely blame them.

This is my point. I'm pointing it out that its a conflict of interest and entirely justified. Many people do not think so - if you read the other comments in this thread you get an idea.

I'd also advise you to take a look at the community guidelines on making comments on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

3rd paragraph under 'In Comments'

Heads in the sand...

I think they'll need to exclude all academics if they want advice on where they can put their heads that is suitable for publication.

This is discrimination.

They should bar all academics, not just the foreign ones!

Yikes. Time to leave before they start rounding us up.

If you qear glasses, get contacts now!

Is there some pun here that I'm missing? :D

Reference to the Khmer Rouge

https://redditblog.com/2015/10/14/cambodia-khmer-rouge-murde...

Thank you. Very clever. I'm stealing it.

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