Big Science

It almost goes without saying that today was yet another lovely day, weather wise. The garden is definitely starting to green up now, and the bushes are in desperate of a bit of hack and slash to bring them to heel. Maybe this weekend, we shall see. TMAs to complete and submish first though.

More tabloid hysteria about the rise of the Lib Dems and it is all starting to get a bit desperate now, with the supreme irony being the Daily Mail (the paper that still says 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts!') using the words 'Clegg' and 'Nazi' in the same headline. Iain Dale, bless his little Tory socks, has pointed out that personal attacks against Nick Clegg are a huge tactical error that is certain to backfire. It really is a case of if you strike Nick Clegg down, he will return more powerful than you can possibly imagine. If you need any further evidence just go and have a look on Twitter for all of the things that are #nickcleggsfault ...

In contrast, we have just watched Brian Cox give a public lecture at Manchester University via the web and it was inspirational stuff. From particle physics at CERN to the big bang to the pale, blue dot of Earth as seen from the Voyager space probe 4 billion miles away, he made it abundantly clear exactly why it is worth investing in science and education, especially when times are tight financially. For a couple of billion extra in the budget we could be world leaders in science, with benefits for everyone in terms of knowledge, understanding and serendipitous discoveries. This really should be an election issue to pin the candidates down on.