Any Brits abroad here?
I hope by now that British scientists abroad are aware of the Science is Vital campaign in response to noises from politicians to cut science spending in the UK.* If you aren’t, head over to Jennifer Rohn’s In which I call my own bluff and familiarise yourself with the details. You’ll want to sign their petition. At the time of writing, there are in excess of 5,800 signatories. A march is being organised in London.
* I don’t have a good handle on the scale of the cuts, but figures of 10-20% are being bandied about. If so, these would have a major impact.
Other articles on this topic:
- Science spending cuts: how should we judge Vince Cable? at the Guardian (Drevan Harris)
- In which the great slumbering scientific beast awakens at Mind the Gap (Jennifer Rohn)
- Science is vital at deallybean diary
- Cuts to science funding will ‘destroy UK’s potential’ as world leader at the Guardian (Alok Jha)
(I’ve two minds about posting this: this is very late in game so it makes me look tardy – to say the least – but then I’d hate to see anyone who cared about the issue miss out.)
7 Responses to “Any Brits abroad here?”
There’s another article in the Guardian here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/30/science-research-spending-cuts
and details of their demonstration on King Charles St. — I gather this is where the Treasury building is! — just around the corner from Downing St. here:
http://scienceisvital.org.uk/attend-the-demo/
Even if you’re not involved in this, looking at the map of the area is fun. Looking at maps is always fun 😉
There’s now posters available online for printing: http://scienceisvital.org.uk/2010/10/02/posters-for-rally/
Scroll down past the top two to see some more colourful ones! 🙂
Their list of sponsors is growing and looking impressive.
There are now over 10,000 signatories to their petition and they are calling for people to spread the word.
If anyone is in near London, you can show your support by merely hanging around with like-minded people, erm – scratch that, attending a rally: http://scienceisvital.org.uk/
There’s a list of speakers and details there for you. The petition now has in excess of 22,000 signatories.
I’m looking forward to photos of the event. (Hint, hint to any readers/bloggers over that way.)
The rally has been staged, here are some early links reporting the event:
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11508226
Some photos: http://plixi.com/p/49579433 and http://yfrog.com/72kslmj
Reports are that budget cuts to science in the UK will be ‘limited’ to 10% or so:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/19/spending-review-science-budget-spared
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11579949
Still would have a sizeable impact.
(H/T: @JennyRohn.)
An excellent article (I would say summary, but this is a full-length article) can be found at Delly Bean Diary, with lots of pictures:
http://dellybeandiary.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/science-is-vital-the-journey/
My 10% figure, above, is the attrition due to inflation, not a cut.
If you missed it, Jennifer Rohn speaks on Dr Kikki’s Science Hour on this topic in this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXrXgAQczBQ