Our Future's Bright Thanks To Britain's Scientific Ingenuity

‘The UK should be celebrated as a pioneer in the fight against Covid’

- Leo McKinstry

As summer ends, it is all too easy to become depressed about the state of the world. Across so many arenas, the news seems bleak, from the Covid pandemic to warnings about climate change

Yet a sense of perspective is needed. We are not facing the apocalypse. On the contrary, life on this planet in the 21st century is safer, richer, healthier, cleaner and freer than it has ever been. Throughout the world, growing prosperity has been matched by spreading democracy. Life expectancy has soared, just as child mortality has plummeted.

A key engine of this progress has been mankind’s ever deeper understanding of science and technology. Our wondrous capacity for innovation has helped to conquer disease, generate wealth, pioneer new forms of energy, improve living standards and expand infrastructures. It is largely thanks to technological advance that 90 per cent of the world’s population has access to clean water and 1.2 billion people have gained the power of electricity since the turn of the century.

THIS week we have had a further striking example of science’s ability to improve our lives for the better. As this paper reported yesterday, the NHS is about to roll out a drug called inclisiran which could save 30,000 lives and prevent 55,000 heart attacks.