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Few votes in history are as existentially crucial as the EU in-out referendum, which will be held soon. The summation of the wishes of several million UK voters as expressed on one day may change not only the cultural, economic, and social future of those individuals, but might have a significant indirect effect for non-voting citizens across Europe. I see the matter from two points of view: as a scientist and a doctor, and secondly as a moral person concerned about political development.
I am a scientist whose job is to discover new treatments for human disease. This requires a laboratory, funding, and a group of scientists who are willing to work together, to give their enthusiasm to invention. We need new creative ideas of quality. In writing a novel one individual, alone, can produce a product that moves thousands of others. But, due to the complexity of the problems as well as the methodologies used, advances in science require teamwork. If new treatments for heart disease, brain disease, or cancer are to be found then teams are necessary. Teams, in turn, are at their most creative when different members see the problem from different angles.
