A Brexiteer tried to take on a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and it didn't end well

We are living in strange times. Once there was a time when logic, facts and science were considered indisputable. Those days are now a distant memory.

The rise of the far right, the ascension of Donald Trump and the arguments around Brexit have seen fact and fiction blur in a manner rarely seen outside of a Charlie Kaufman screenplay.

Roger Helmer might just be the maharaja of misinformation. The politician, businessman and ardent Brexiteer was a Member of the European Parliament until 2017.

He resigned, amid allegations of misuse of public funds, and what did he claim were his reasons for the decision? Age and health, of course.

Not for the first time, Helmer has entered a battle of wits unarmed and decided to pour scorn on Sir Paul Nurse, a Nobel Prize winner generally considered one of the greatest living scientists.

Tweeting from his account, @RogerHelmerMEP (a handle as out of date as his opinions), the Brexiteer wrote:

Prof Paul Nurse is saying that scientists see Brexit as “turning our backs not just on Europe, but on the world”.

He fears loss of funding and of visiting experts. He is exactly and diametrically wrong.

As my old Mother used to say, “You intelligent people have no Common Sense”.

It’s almost a microcosm of everything that is currently wrong with political discourse. Rather than listen to experts or facts, Helmer instead prefers the homespun wisdom of his late mother.

In the words of Stewart Lee, “Well, you can prove anything with facts, can't you.” At this point, there’s no need to even bother with those apparently.

HT The Poke

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