Will the UK's science chancellor please stand up?
by Stephen Curry from on (#WGVJ)
George Osborne's announcement last week of a piecemeal, flat-value research budget signals a worrying lack of political ambition for UK science
The chancellor of the exchequer's announcement of the spending review in the House of Commons last week was a canny political performance. George Osborne used 27 billion gifted to him by the revised forecasts of the Office of Budgetary Responsibility to wrong-foot many commentators. His deft shimmy reversed plans for tax credit cuts, and gave every appearance of leaving high-visibility public services in the clear.
Even science escaped the axe of austerity, and will be "protected" in real terms between now and 2020.
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