Interesting if true

Our fortnightly digest of facts and rumours from the UK and beyond.

Take a bow

Avid readers of Research Fortnight will remember myriad tales of “ridiculum” (as one scientist put it) associated with the research councils’ Shared Services Centre. Top hits from the Swindon-based company include losing irreplaceable moon rocks, failing to pay electricity bills until the bailiffs were at the door and hoarding unpaid bills like they were going out of fashion. It therefore came as quite a surprise over the summer to hear the frankly staggering news that the SSC has been shortlisted for a National Business Award. The category? Transformational Change of the Year. Transformational is one way to describe it, we suppose.