This week's opinion

I have always admired the work of Ben Goldacre (www.badscience.net). He has the rare ability to write about scientific subjects in particular the role of science in society in a way that elucidates difficult concepts to a layman like me.

One of his regular topics is publication bias – the tendency to favour the publication of positive results over negative ones even though the latter may well be equally significant in advancing knowledge. I was reminded of this when reading ‘Improve the regime’ by Marian Drew and Paul Morton (page 12 of this issue) about the Office of Tax Simplification’s decision not to recommend moving to a system of tax-deductible depreciation.

Some readers might think that publishing a report reaching this conclusion was a waste of effort. I don’t agree. The fact that there has now been a rigorous evidence-based examination of this issue is valuable...