Janet Vertesi on NASA's 2012 funding and its implications. "In each case, NASA initially acted as a partner, only to leave ESA scrambling to make up the costs. This about-face is not only poor diplomacy, it is damaging to America’s long-term interests in space and on the ground."

Matthew Engel: "This is the sixth in my irregular series on British Institutions. After I finished the fifth, I noticed that the themes were becoming familiar: [...] the glory days were over; it was a fight to maintain popularity and relevance; and money was getting ever tighter." "But London Underground is different. It is more expansive and confident now than at any time in memory. How on earth has this happened?" Nice photographs too.

strangePLperson: one and only Stefan Collini on education cuts in LRB: http://t.co/wFzMcfK

"Almost a third of all public spending on research is funded by the Ministry of Defence - far more than is spent on research by the National Health Service." From '05, but I doubt things have changed (I'd love more recent figures though)

"The group calculates the programme would amount to some £600m spread over six or seven years (until 2015). In other words, each year would be equal to a little under half of the UK's current annual civil spend on space." Note "civil".

More on the funding crisis at the STFC, which may lead not only to pulling out of facilities (cf Gemini links) but also a cut in the number of PhD and postdoc places. Sigh.

Looks at other things the Science and Technology Facilities Council might have to deal with. "When you allow for this, and compare to the STFC planned programme, they are about £80M short. This is a real cut."

Joint letter to the Guardian from professors at four of the top ten universities in the world: "The loss of science in an area in which the UK excels would be out of all proportion to the funds saved."

"British astronomers were last night shocked by a sudden funding cut that will prevent them having access to two of the world's most advanced telescopes"

"the STFC, in shaping its programme for the next 3 years and beyond, is planning to withdraw from the Gemini Observatory. In the current financial climate this is one of a range of measures that has become necessary"

"Access to the Gemini telescopes by the UK community is a vital component of the multi-wavelength approach to solving the highest priority questions in astronomy."

"‘the BFI archive is a national treasure. It is arguably the finest film and television archive anywhere in the world" "Since 2003, the UKFC’s grant has been frozen, as has the proportion passed on to the BFI." Interesting (and saddening).

I wonder what the impact of this will be. Probably good for big projects.

Failing to get grants to come back to Germany to do postdoc work. Sigh.