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.
The UK only has a £3.5 billion budget for scientific research, and the coalition government plans on cutting this by approximately 20%.
ReplyDeleteBy contrast:
The known cost of bailing out the banks is £850 billion as of December 2009. The real cost could be higher, and we don't know what the real cost will be.
The estimated cost of replacing Trident is £150 billion. The real cost of replacing and maintaining Trident could be a lot more. Despite this, the Conservatives refuse to scrap trident.
The UK's defence budget (2009 figures) is £43.4 billion, the third largest in the world. In 2008, 2.5% of the UK's GDP was spent on defence. (Source: http://milexdata.sipri.org)
It's a real shame that there are planned cuts to the research budget. The UK punches well above its weight in terms of research output, and cuts will cause long lasting damage. I've signed the petition and I hope the government comes to its senses!
ReplyDeleteSigned!
ReplyDeleteI have signed this petition also! It seems baffling that the government cannot see that the science funding will actually go a long way towards helping our economy in the future. Clearly cuts are needed now but the priorities the government have set make no sense at all. Reading the statistics above you can really see where those priorities lie....
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