INTRO: Recently, we have all seen the awkward spectacle of embarrassed-
looking scientists being wheeled into government media updates to back up government policy. The COVID crisis has given us a viceral insight into the often tortuous relationship between politicians and their academic advisors. While some countries may be worse than others, it also seems that there is a growing use of ‘The Science’ to justify increasingly political and commercial agendas. Combining this with the increasing need to attract outside sources of finance to fund academic research, are we in danger of entering an era of ‘post-truth’ academia?