Letter: Letters : Who saw it coming?

From J.N.R. Jeffers

Kendal, Cumbria

Igor Aleksander’s contrasting of the conditions of research in the US with
Britain’s contract-dependent research institutes and universities
(Forum, 31 May, p 48)
touched raw nerves, though probably not in those responsible for
creating that dependency. In Britain we seem to have done our best to destroy
enthusiasm for research and the conditions in which it is done.

The interesting question that has yet to be answered is why those of us who
have been responsible for managing British research allowed it to happen. We sat
on our hands when we should have opposed with every fibre of our being the
turning of scientific research into a supermarket commodity. I rehearse my own
excuses, but I do not find them convincing. When the full story is finally
told—as it must be—we will have to accept our share of the
blame.

But why is it that nobody in a position of responsibility, and who could see
what was happening, spoke out against the creation of the dependency culture of
today’s research environment in Britain?