Nigel is spot-on when he criticises the latest outburst from the Taxpayers Alliance in his blog article below. It is important that all serious commentators support the drive for fundamental science, including particle physics and astronomy.
Some good reasons can be found in ‘The Case for Space’, published by Oxford Economics in July.
They may bark at the moon but they are not interested in studying it.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance have allowed favoured newspapers to preview their new report on quangos. So far so predictable. It’s not surprising that they attack the Health and Safety Executive, even though the HSE has little to do with many of the “health and safety gone mad” stories beloved of the right-wing tabloids. (Usually they are either myths or a market failure, when events or activities can’t get affordable insurance cover). Read more »
Filed under: Politics, Safety, Science, Tax | 6 Comments »
Who said this?
“The UK economy needs to be weaned off its dependency on financial services. To do this, it needs a national economic council to provide strategic leadership and an industrial bank to help businesses shunned by traditional high street lenders. Other ways to help could include the government sending signals about its long term priorities to give companies the confidence to invest. Government should also use its £175bn a year purchasing power to suport emerging industries and it should target investment in strategic sectors of the economy.”
Filed under: Economics, Manufacturing, Science, Skills | Comments Off
Public debate in Britain has very rapidly become dominated by an obsession with cutting state spending. Not only has Cameron made the notion of swingeing cuts to reduce public debt his sole offer to the electorate, David Davis has now waded in with a list of bits of the public sector to chop.
We should be very worried that while UK politicians go into short-term penny-pinching mode, other countries are developing a vision which will make them the new, innovative, competitive economies of the future. Read more »
Filed under: Economics, Financial crisis, Politics, Public services, Science | 2 Comments »
Yesterday saw the publication of Professor Bill Wakeham’s report into the health of UK physics. The Wakeham Review had a strange remit. It seemed to be a response to controversy about the short-term funding settlement for physics, yet it was asked to take a long-term look, deliberately not addressing immediate concerns. Read more »
Filed under: Science | Comments Off
Some have described the past week as the most turbulent for the financial system since the Great Depression. As that week closes, we must renew our focus on building a strong, sustainable economy. In particular, consideration of the needs of the ‘real’ economy, the industries that create the (real) wealth and provide the (real) jobs, is necessary.
With that in mind, today’s Ofsted report, which argues that nearly half of all maths lessons are not good enough, makes more gloomy reading. Read more »
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