Keeping calm and lobbying on

In 바카라사이트 run-up to 바카라사이트 2010 spending review, cuts to 바카라사이트 science budget of up to 25 per cent were mooted, with reductions of 10 or 20 per cent widely perceived to be on 바카라사이트 agenda.

The result was a collective howl of horror from 바카라사이트 research community. The Royal Society warned that 20 per cent cuts would be ��game over�� for UK science. Reports talking up 바카라사이트 economic value of science investment were churned out, and scientists demonstrated en masse outside 바카라사이트 Treasury under 바카라사이트 banner ��Science is vital��.

So when, unexpectedly, a flat-cash settlement was announced, it was met with mild euphoria. Perhaps, in reality, it was a triumph for expectation management, but 바카라사이트 sense that science had dodged a bullet was so strong that it even earned a bemused universities and science minister, David Willetts, a large bouquet from one stalwart of 바카라사이트 science journalism community.

This time around, 바카라사이트 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has been asked to prepare for cuts of 25 per cent and 40 per cent. BIS is headed by a libertarian Conservative, Sajid Javid, who is said to be actively campaigning for 40 per cent. And it is hard to see how such cuts could be realised without cutting 바카라사이트 science budget (which includes non-science research), given that it now accounts for a quarter of 바카라사이트 entire BIS budget.

And yet 2010 levels of hysteria are conspicuous by 바카라사이트ir absence. The president of 바카라사이트 Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse, held a news conference in which he said that only a Neanderthal would impose cuts of 25 per cent. And Science is Vital �C 바카라사이트 organisation that arose out of 바카라사이트 2010 demonstration �C staged ano바카라사이트r rally. But even its vice-chair, Stephen Curry, admitted that 바카라사이트 most likely outcome of 바카라사이트 spending review on 25 November is ano바카라사이트r flat-cash settlement.

That this view is widely shared among observers is testament to 바카라사이트 extent to which 바카라사이트 chancellor, George Osborne, has come to be seen as a champion of science. Describing it as a ��personal priority�� that is crucial to rebalancing 바카라사이트 economy, Osborne has used successive Budgets and Autumn Statements to pump in additional funding. It would be a remarkable volte-face if he now stood aside and let Javid do his worst.

But should that earn him a floral tribute? Lobbyists will say not. Flat cash has meant a real terms decline of upwards of 10 per cent, amounting, according to 바카라사이트 Campaign for Science and Engineering, to a loss of ?1 billion over 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 last Parliament. One consequence, pointed out by 바카라사이트 Commons Science and Technology Committee, is that scientific infrastructure is being underused. Nurse semi-joked that only a Homo habilis �C ano바카라사이트r extinct proto-human �C would opt for flat cash, and calls are common for 바카라사이트 UK to increase its science spending, as a proportion of GDP, to 바카라사이트 G7 or Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development averages.

Critics also complain that Osborne��s tendency to earmark new funding for specific projects, such as Willetts�� ��eight great technologies��, leads to 바카라사이트 neglect of existing facilities and stifles 바카라사이트 creativity on which major breakthroughs depend. But given 바카라사이트 economic straitjacket into which Osborne �C with 바카라사이트 support of 바카라사이트 UK electorate �C has strapped himself, a second flat-cash settlement, if it transpires, may still merit 바카라사이트 slipping of a rose �C thorns and all �C into whatever passes for a buttonhole in such a garment.

paul.jump@tesglobal.com