Showing posts with label trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trade. Show all posts

 Saturday, 18 December 2010

The UK farming crisis

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Back in 2004, the watchdog Corporate Watch UK published a report "A Rough Guide to the UK Farming Crisis" which shows the crisis facing UK farmers, in particular small and family farmers, and the role that multinational corporations including big supermarkets and big agribusiness, government policy, and globalisation have all played in this crisis.  Corporate Watch also suggests possible solutions.

 Sunday, 24 October 2010

Science funding in the UK frozen over four years

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On Wednesday 20th October, it was reported that the scientific research budget in the UK was frozen at £3.5 billion rather than cut.  Despite this welcome announcement, this still means that in real terms (after taking into account inflation) the budget is still reduced, but by less than 10% instead of the estimated 20% cut which was feared.  There is also a petition against the funding cuts (as mentioned in our previous article).  The UK is still way behind when it comes to scientific research funding, when compared to other leading nations.

Source: The Independent

 Sunday, 10 October 2010

Petition against science funding cuts

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In the UK, the coalition government is planning on cutting science funding.  If you live in the UK and wish to sign the petition against the planned cuts, you can do so at http://scienceisvital.org.uk/sign-the-petition/.  You can also find more information in the same URL, and in the Science is Vital home page itself.

 Thursday, 11 June 2009

Why the UK must relaunch and finish metrication

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Back in 1965, the UK started its metrication process, with the aim of finishing by 1975. This target has been missed by 34 years and counting, which is a serious embarrassment. Although the UK is officially metric, with all trade, commerce, education, science, and technology solely or primarily in metric, the fact is that metrication in the UK is far from complete.

The failure to finish converting to the SI metric system means that the UK is a land where fuel is bought by the litre, yet many measure fuel economy using miles per gallon. We also see metres and kilometres in athletics and at the gym, yet we still encounter yards and miles on road signs. This is a measurement mess.