When is a photo-op just that: a cheap plastic political opportunity, lacking conviction? Well, the PM showed us how it's done, when he put some dollars and his face on the public agenda at Science World last week.

I guess you can say he put his money where his mouth is. But this is a politician who knows when to hold it, knows when to fold it…as the song says. Giving money to teach school kids basic science is warm, fuzzy, gets the parents, helps the kids. Positive aspect: it will hopefully help to raise a generation of science literates that will one day call the PM's bluff.

Here's the great science/evidence-basis denier: canceling Kyoto, cutting Ozone research, building more jails and mandatory minimums when evidence even in the US has proven otherwise.

Who is cutting food inspectors (despite increased events of E. coli tomatoes, listeriosis and salmonella cucumbers)? Who took 5 years and millions of dollars to try to close Insite, despite clear evidence and international science plaudits that it saved lives… but then again these were addicts, right? They shoulda been thrown in jail, right?

Whose government has just been nailed by the auditor general for failing to meet its own standards for drug safety failing to notify the public of adverse risk drugs for over 5 years? But when you don't believe in science and evidence, it is easy to cut resources to departments that deal with science/human safety.

But it is cool to drop a pittance into children's science education.

So as the Iliad told us about Trojan Horses "beware of Greeks bearing gifts" (no insult to Greeks nor horses), when this Prime Minister invests in science.

Hey, I got some swamp land in Florida for sale! Any takers?