>> For example, the Blair governments championed evidence-based policymaking. Well, the Blair government is remembered for going to war against Iraq on the bas

>> For example, the Blair governments championed evidence-based policymaking. Well, the Blair government is remembered for going to war against Iraq on the basis of evidence that was not sufficiently validated and that was later found to be fabricated: More specifically, the report blamed Secret Intelligence Service (better known as MI6) head Sir Richard Dearlove who presented so-called "hot" intelligence about alleged weapons of mass destruction provided by an Iraqi with "phenomenal access" to high levels in the Iraqi government directly to Blair, without first confirming its accuracy.[43] The investigators found that references to this intelligence in government reports were over-certain and did not adequately stress uncertainties and nuance. The informant was later found to have been lying. The Chilcot report states that "personal intervention [by Dearlove] and its urgency gave added weight to a report that had not been properly evaluated and would have coloured the perception of ministers and senior officials".[44] The day after the report was published, Blair conceded that he should have challenged such intelligence reports before relying on them to justify military action in Iraq.[43][45] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Inquiry#Case_for_war_was_deficient https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Inquiry#Case_for_war_was_... So perhaps it's not only the fault of those pesky liberal intellectuals and their rabid postmodernism that the public has lost its confidence to all sorts of institutions. I also blame the Monty Pythons, for example.