The academy has a special role in the ecosystem of ideas by providing an independent place where different perspectives are heard. But as well as being heard, these views are also subjected to scrutiny and challenge, and judged by rigorous standards. Universities have well established principles governing what is valued as an intellectual contribution. These principles are enshrined in things like the Haldane principle which states that the subjects of research should be chosen by academics and not by politicians. 31  Practices such as peer review, competitive processes for  funding research, requirements to publish data and transparency about conflicts of interests in publications are well established in the academic world. 32  Perhaps some of those standards and principles widely used in academia need to be adapted and applied more widely to the world of think tanks, websites and the media? For example, should think tanks have to report transparently about where their funding comes from? Should journalists and bloggers be exposed for reporting or recirculating falsehoods or rumors? Should digital platforms take greater responsibility for their content as part of their duty to inform and to protect their own brands? The debate on standards and good practice has just begun, and is very welcome. 33  29  Edelman Trust Barometer, 2016.
Another important example of delegation to experts has been the creation of independent central banks to decide on monetary policy to deliver an inflation target set by government. Frustration with high inflation in the 1970s made many countries move towards de-politicizing decisions about monetary policy and interest rates. Research suggested that political pressure led to an ‘inflation bias’ in policymaking, which could be 8  solved by delegating responsibility for price stability to independent central banks. The following decades  1  Source: Ourworldindata.org Source: World Health Organisation 3 Source: The World Bank 4 Where poverty is defined as living on less than $ a day at 2011 prices. Source: World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/topic/poverty) 5 Source: World Bank 6 Source The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations 7 Until 46 BC, the calendar used in the Roman Empire consisted of 12 months of a total of 355 days, with the intention that an additional month would be added in some years so as to keep the calendar in line with the solar year (of 365¼ days). The pontifices had some discretion over the calendar, meaning they could use it for political advantage by lengthening or shortening the terms of Roman magistrates who were supposed to serve for a calendar year. This led to considerable confusion for ordinary citizens as to what date it was. Moreover, by the 40s BC the Roman calendar was three months ahead of the solar calendar.