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@gbj_tester
The Nutt sacking was not anti-democratic, it was simply anti-scientific. Politicians who have to be elected need to please the electorate, most of whom are scientifically illiterate and almost all of whom have irrational moments when it comes to risk analysis. Sucking up to the electorate's prejudice and stupidity is democratic, however distasteful the result might be to those of us who see the errors of judgement which this brings. It is perhaps worth bearing in mind that Nazis and Bolsheviks both carried out policies by decree which they thought were justified by science, so it doesn't do to get too upset that we are ruled by the stupidity of crowds rather than the too fallible 'wisdom' of people with the power to impose their sometimes erroneous science.
That is not to say that I disagree with Nutt's analysis of the relative harms of the various drugs, or that I don't think Johnson is a dumb fuck for sacking an advisor just because the advice fails to support his moral crusade against giving people personal choicer in the matter of what they do to their own bodies, but we should not confuse the stupidity of individual politicians with a failure of democratic principles.