Honoured amongst bloggers…
I only have time for a quickie today as I have to spend this evening getting things together for my forthcoming trip to the Irish Republic for a talk in Dublin (which I’ll no doubt ramble on about when I get back).
I hear dark rumblings about the STFC financial crisis turning into a full-scale disaster owing to inept management, but I’ll refrain from going into details until it all becomes official. Suffice to say for now that, if you thought things were bad already, just watch this space…
Anyway, at least today brought some news that flattered my ego. Ian Douglas at the Daily Telegraph has seen fit to put this blog on his list of five great physics blogs. He’s obviously a man of great taste. Quite cute too. I’ll have to revise my opinion of the Daily Telegraph.
But no.
They have boring crosswords.
In the Dark 
March 26, 2009 at 7:11 am
Congratulations on making the list, Peter, but out here, where we rely on jungle drums for much of the news (and STFC funding), that paragraph about a full-scale financial disaster is a little disturbing. Any chance of another hint of what it’s all about?
March 26, 2009 at 8:40 am
Tom,
Basically, it goes like this. STFC was supposed to make savings from its budget by looking for redundancies at RAL and other places in order to balance the books after phase 1 of the financial disaster. It has failed to do so, preferring to wait for natual wastage to do the job, but this hasn’t materialised.
Meanwhile the pound has collapsed, which means the contributions it has to make to CERN and ESO have risen substantially. These are a substantial fraction of the STFC budget.
Science is therefore caught between the rock of the rising subscription costs and the hard place of management failure.
It’s been said before, but this time I think it’s right.
We’re doomed.
Peter
March 26, 2009 at 9:06 am
Thanks for that, Peter! I’ll sleep rather uneasily tonight. I appreciate the update though and let’s hope things turn out a little better than you think.
Tom
March 26, 2009 at 6:23 pm
They might be boring, but ours are the only crosswords that give away military secrets.
March 28, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Just as I thought. The Daily Telegraph was in league with the Abwehr.
March 27, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Dammit, just heard about your Dublin talk now! What a pity, I could easily have made it. Was it advertised in The Irish Times? I didn’t see it.
Enjoyed you OUP Very Short Intro v much – in fact I use it as a recommended text for an introductory course I teach. I have a cosmology blog at http://coraifeartaigh.wordpress.com any comments/correctons welcome
Regards Cormac