Those cuts, in full, in brief

So there is "merely" a 10% cut in the science budget, and everyone is heaving great sighs of relief. Which was presumably the point about the 25% kites being flown...I'm not sure whether the Tories should be pleased with how that worked for them, or worried that people actually thought they were sufficiently psychotic to follow through with it. One trick that NERC worked out was (rumour has it) to put one of the BAS Antarctic bases top of the list to be cut. Of course these bases have no real scientific value anyway, they are just there as political flag-holders for when all those lovely mineral resources get exploited a few decades hence. But the Govt could hardly prevent NERC managing its "science" in this way without rather giving the game away. I think we can expect to see this stratagem reappearing whenever things get a bit too tight.

But maybe I just made that all up.

Anyway, back to the 10%, and the rest of the cuts. Having seen the state of (some of) the northern part of the country recently, compared to the south, I can't help but think the last couple of years have seen a humongous transfer of wealth to the bankers from just about everyone else. Eg Sevenoaks (and indeed Cambridge) is seeing a huge building boom while towns further north seem to have whole streets up for sale. I'm surprised there isn't rioting in the streets, but maybe those oop north can't afford the bus fare to find out how different it is dahn sarf.