UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Trade and Industry minister Patricia Hewett are planning a spending spree on scientific research, claiming that “Government spending on UK science will be the largest ever investment by any government in British science and will rise to over £3.4 billion a year by 2008.” Last time Britons heard this type of language they ended up with a failed space program, a laughable attempt at a semiconductor industry, and Concorde. Still, one out of three is a better return than most venture capitalists get.
The UKs scientists are therefore highly suspicious of pre election pledges and tend to bristle at the thought of politicians telling them what they should be working on. A typical response has been to ask whether this includes the 90 million pounds already pledged, or will a few hundred million be cut from something else?
An attitude somewhat at odds with the gratefully received European nanotechnology funding, which is, of course, doled out by unelected and unaccountable eurocrats.