"Taverne shot back: "Since the Government is in favor of allowing choice
between sense and nonsense, will it also allow children to be taught that
the earth is flat and that the sun goes around the earth? Since there is a
crisis in math teaching in schools, and some university chemistry
departments are closing down, will the Government also offer as an
alternative the teaching of astrology and alchemy?"
"It is extraordinary," Taverne went on, "that a Government and a Prime
Minister who say they are in favor of science have allowed the introduction
into our schools of the worst features of American fundamentalist,
anti-science, pseudoscience nonsense."