'Large Hadron Colliders All Round!'

A large hadron collider. Come on: you know you want one.

It has come to our attention that some people may be swayed by the promises of R&D investment made by the major parties when it comes to voting in the general election on June 8th. Both Labour and the Conservatives have promised to increase spending on research and development to 3% of GDP, and the Lib Dems have pledged to 'double' R&D spending across the economy. 

Don't listen to them. They'll promise it all and deliver nothing. When it comes to empty promises, only one party has the necessary track record: The Fundermental Understanding of Critical Knowledge for All party. We are committed to strong and stable research leadership. We recognise that 3% of GDP is a derisory insult to the the people of this great country of ours. It is positively European. It reeks of garlic and foreignness. 

Politicians on the Case

In response to the Campaign for Science and Engineering, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have expanded on their manifesto pledges for science and engineering.
The Conservatives are pledging to postpone the Research Excellence Framework (REF) by two years. In addition they stated that, if an appropriate system for measuring impact cannot be found, they will scrap it altogehter.
The Lib Dems intend to increase the number of postdoc places by reducing 'under-utilised' PhDs. They will also move Science more centre stage by moving the Government Office to the Cabinet Office. They also hope to tackle the crisis in UK physics, which is taken to mean they will deal with the budgetary problems over at STFC.
The full responses can be seen on the CaSE blog. The Labour response to CaSE is due shortly.

Innovation, Innovation, Innovation

Shadow science minister Adam Afriyie has said that a future Conservative government would reverse Labour’s approach of centrally driving innovation through the universities and instead let innovation come through business by reducing regulatory and fiscal “obstacles”. Quoted in Nature, he said that “we want to create an environment such that science and research can easily be translated into innovation.”
His comments come shortly after Peter Mandelson's speech to the Labour Conference, at which he said that he wanted 'an innovation nation', and 'closer links between businesses and universities'.