I should teach the world the basics of the scientific method per se, and the basic statistical tools that support it. I feel passionately that these are core tools of citizenship, that - once grasped - allow anyone to ask the right questions of scientists and their respective advocates and opponents, whether in the private or the public sector.

Take, for instance, the basic concept of hypothesis testing. Or the need for sample sizes, and experimental designs, to be big enough to generate a meaningful result and to predict future outcomes. Or the need for suitable controls in experiments. Or the meaning of statistical significance, which is key to getting away from black and white perceptions of risk and unproductive clashes of 'our' scientists v 'yours'.

All of these things can be creatively communicated, in layperson's language. Once grasped, they are the key tools of constructively sceptical citizenship in the twenty-first century.