Observer uncovers racism

The Absurder today has a Belgian scientist accuse Brexiteers of racism. With deepening paranoia, and a strange disregard for worrying about anything like the dangers of generalization or needing to define his terms he says:

Brexit has blighted the nation and distorted its attitude to international science, said De Strooper. As a result, his UK Dementia Research Institute, set up in 2016 at a cost of £250m with the aim of turning the UK into a world leader in dementia research, now faces serious funding and recruitment problems....De Strooper insisted he would continue leading the project and help its scientists achieve their goals. Brexit just makes that aim much more difficult. “There used to be an open mentality in this country, but over the past two years that has changed to something that is close to racism,” said the scientist. “I always felt at home in Britain so, when I took up the job, I thought I would be coming to family....“But the country has become anti-European, anti-international. Many Brexiters [sic] say Anna Soubry is a fascist. It is just the reverse, of course, and as a foreigner I ask, ‘When will it be my turn?’ When are they going to gather outside my institute, demanding why I am recruiting all these foreigners. ‘Belgian, go home’, they’ll shout.” [Burn Agatha Christie novels featuring Hercule Poirot!]

Evidence for racism against foreign scientists is rather odd:

“I am not going to be able to convince bright young scientists to come over, along with their families, so that they can work with me and help beat the scourge of dementia. They will know they will not be made welcome. Some are already being turned back, in fact.”...Last year, De Strooper said, he tried to get a temporary visa for a young Indian scientist, who was then working in Belgium, to speak at a UK seminar. “He was highly educated, an expert in his field, and had a good salary, but the UK authorities would not let him attend a two-day meeting. Nor would they explain the grounds for that refusal. So we are already treating foreign scientists badly.”...De Strooper contrasted Britain’s attitude to scientists with its luring of top foreign footballers to ensure the English Premier League is the best in the world. “It sees nothing wrong with that, but it does not want to do the same for scientists who would make sure our science maintains its top-flight status in the UK.”

There might (or might not) be something more substantial in this:

in the period 2007-13 Britain paid a total of €5.4bn towards research, development and innovation activities in the EU. In return, it received €8.8bn in EU grants for research projects carried out at universities and other scientific centres in the UK. “We would no longer be eligible for these grants after a hard Brexit [depends on what you mean there, of course] and so British scientists would lose a great deal of money,” said De Strooper.

Then there is more paranoid stuff:

After a hard Brexit, most financial experts believe the UK economy would take a hit and government coffers would have much [ an additional qualifier] less in them than at present. “That means that when I go for the next set of UK grants to maintain our work, there will be little chance of them being maintained at current level – never mind making up for all that EU money we will also have lost,” said De Strooper.