For anyone interested: Recently the guideline to the UK science funding councils have been changed (google 'EPSRC' or 'PPARC' and 'funding guidelines' for more info), to favour projects with known outcomes, limiting both acedemic freedom and the chance of making new discoveries.
A new e-petition against this, started on 2nd June, is circulating acedemic science departments (and elsewhere - obviously): Petition clicky
Please sign up if you agree with it.
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
-- Albert Einstein
