In this article, Steve Waters-Adams and Pete Barron respond to Alan Peacock's Viewpoint article, "The art of nose blowing", in the last issue of "Primary Science" (n123, pages 34-36), in which he questioned why primary science in English primary schools seemed not to be improving in spite of the resources put into it. Waters-Adams shares that Peacock draws attention to the particular constituency of female primary teachers who have been in the profession for twenty years or more and that the influence of these teachers could mean that the new entrants to primary teaching will also be a product of the anti-scientific culture. Meanwhile, Barron agrees with Peacock's argument that after years of government-led innovation and change, primary science teaching in England remains nowhere near as good as it should be. He suggests making changes to the way the Science National Curriculum is taught and returning primary science to its position as a core subject.