A sorry affair

Michelle Donelan’s unfounded accusations will do lasting damage

The idea of UK Research and Innovation hitting the headlines across the national media in the week of a government budget, might, in better times, have signalled a long-term funding strategy for universities—a sorely needed effort to address the strained finances holding back research. 

Instead, chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered a statement that held very little for R&D. At the same time, research found itself in the spotlight for the most unedifying of reasons: the unravelling of the science secretary’s extraordinary intervention over a UKRI equality panel.