大象传媒

I know the 大象传媒 has policies in place that, if and when possible, will not report a certain story that may go against the grain of its own leftwing mindset. The recent cross party report on immigration; a comprehensive analysis that deconstructed the govt statistics and "benefits" of immigration was in my opinion a story worthy of some air time; certainly from newsnight. Seeing that this will not be forthcoming, can it be possible for Newsnight to do a report on itself and the BEEB in general- a story that deconstructs its own collective mental state and why its usual avoidance of reporting certain sensitive stories is becoming far to common; a session on the psychologist couch if you will..go on! be brave and let it all out.

Dear Newsnight

thank you for last nights show, it was a clear as daylight who to vote for after watching last nights show, if not obvious before,

but on a more sober note may I ask if you are really fully committed to this exciting innovation you have launched on this website of asking for ideas for the show or questions from your viewers?

have you started a hare and are now in danger of ignoring it?

ie how many viewers questions did you use last night, or how many storylines have you used from previous postings over the last months?, perhaps you think they are not good enough, maybe they're not?

why not tell us?

best wishes though

Bob
persistant poster (!!)

Although Jodrell Bank has a very high profile as an iconic symbol of UK astronomy, please do not be under the misapprehension that it is the only, or even necessarily the highest priority, facility under threat. Due to the restructuring of funding in the new Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), swathes of internationally-renowned science are under threat due to a relatively modest shortfall of less than 拢30M per annum (on a 拢500M budget).

Unfortunately, the Government can (and does) hide behind a headline figure that looks as if STFC has received a generous above-inflation increase in its funding of 13+%, but the reality is that this figure largely represents the move to "full economic costing," which has progressively moved money around to make the funding of research more transparent. Although this transparency is a good thing, the funding involved is not in large part new money, and it is not available for researchers to use to actually do new science with. The reality is that while the economy continues to grow, investment in pure science is shrinking in real terms.

The other myth that the Government likes to perpetuate is a concept called the "Haldane Principle," whereby research councils like STFC are supposed to be at arms-length from Government, and hence free to allocate their budget as they see fit. This creates a convenient excuse for ministers to shrug and say it is an internal matter for STFC to deal with its budget appropriately. However, the reality is that STFC are not free to allocate their funding as they see fit: a possible solution whereby the Daresbury laboratory site would no longer be funded through STFC was rejected because of the political damage that such a move would cause in the NW, not on the basis of any scientific argument.

The level at which pure science should be funded is clearly a very legitimate topic for debate, and one with which scientists will gladly engage. In addition to the major cultural aspects of understanding our universe, we can point to many examples of the huge economic benefits that pure science brings, in everything from inspiring generations of mathematically-trained high-quality graduates to the unparalleled spin-off returns such as the entire worldwide web from particle physics. However, it is intellectually dishonest to try and suggest that damage is not currently being done to the UK's ability to engage effectively in such scientific work on the World stage.

Looking forward to your Susan Watts
film about cuts in basic science -
the Astronomer General in Scotland has taken up that campaign north and south of the border recently - and it seems he has the ear of our own
devolved Government in Scotland as SNP Enterprise Minister Jim Mather
has spoken up about cuts to astro
jobs in Edinburgh. Space is however still 'a UK reserved matter'under The Scotland Act - but there is a
good deal of solidarity up here on
this issue. I've never been to see
Jodrell Bank but remember a lecture
given by Sir Bernard Lovell about it
in the 1960's in The Scottish Woolen Technical College in Galashiels - now part of Heriot Watt University.

If Newsnight is pursuing the political agenda alleged by cookie ducker, it's way beyond very very very serious.

502, Service not available
If this comment has appeared more than three times, it's because the 大象传媒 website is very, very, very broken.

If Newsnight is pursuing the political agenda alleged by cookie ducker, it's way beyond very very very serious.

502, Service not available
I give up.

Yeah. Post my comment more than once why don't you? Does anyone read this stuff or is it just a cover for pursuing an altogether different agenda.
Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!

502. Service Unavailable.
Not again.