Zeinab Badawi speaks to the Scottish microbiologist Professor Anne Glover. She has just left her post as the first chief scientific adviser to the EU Commission president, and this is her first extensive broadcast interview since then. Whilst she was still in the post she said that in-house politics had hampered the efficiency of her role. Was she at loggerheads with the EU Commission and should scientists working with governments and officials give opinions or just stick to giving scientific facts?