response time

'There's a huge disconnect,’ science historian Naomi Oreskes has said, 'between what professional scientists have studied and learned in the last 30 years, and what is out there in the popular culture.’

Here’s the latest example: four years ago, Sir David King, the UK’s chief scientific adviser said climate change was a greater threat to the world than international terrorism.

In this month’s Prospect, the lead book review begins:‘ Eight years into the 21st century, one issue has become a staple of writers' discussions’ as they ask themselves ‘what kind of literary response, if any, can be made’. And that one issue, the piece goes on, is 9/11.