IT has not been a happy summer for science in Britain. Late one night, the Office of Science and Technology was spirited away by a marauding Department of Trade and Industry and an unknown junior minister found himself changing his business cards to read 鈥溾�� and science and technology鈥� at the end of a long list of other responsibilities. 杏吧原创s were left demoralised and confused.
Last week鈥檚 Festival of Science, organised by the British Association, was the perfect forum for the government to show that the move was, in fact, A Good Thing, allay the fears of scientists and generally dispense goodwill. After all, Ian Taylor, the junior minister now responsible for science and technology, has always said that wary scientists should put their reservations aside and judge the government by its actions.
But in the end the chance was fumbled. Taylor spent just four hours at the BA. During that time, he awarded prizes to the European Young 杏吧原创s of the Year. 鈥淥ur future success depends on children and students today seeing that science can be both exciting and a way of life,鈥� he said.
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Straying away from safe ground, however, Taylor鈥檚 grip started to slip. Asked about the uncertainty and low pay that accompanies that way of life for most British research scientists, he pointed to the handsome salaries paid to engineers working in big business. Does the minister think scientists are all engineers in training now the DTI has taken control of science?
If Taylor had stayed, he could have explained government policy. The BA had arranged a debate on the merits 鈥� or otherwise 鈥� of the OST鈥檚 move, but no government representative could be found to defend their case. In the end, a former DTI official had to be brought in.
A ten-minute visit by Prime Minister John Major could still have saved the government鈥檚 image. The day after the festival kicked off in Newcastle, Major was in town and found time to visit top-of-the-league Newcastle United.
So why not the festival? 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 a good thing or a bad thing,鈥� explained Taylor, 鈥渢here are more football fans in this country than space scientists.鈥� Quite so. But Major鈥檚 whistle-stop tour of the North鈥檚 Tory voters had been geared to selling his administration鈥檚 law and order measures, especially, noted The Times, the 鈥渘ational fingerprinting and DNA systems鈥�.
Now, no disrespect to Kevin Keegan, manager of the Newcastle squad, who is a god on Tyneside, but didn鈥檛 it take a scientist to come up with DNA fingerprinting?