UK astronomers on 'rollercoaster'

[Rick]

Britain has been re-instated as a full member of the Gemini Observatory, meaning its astronomers can continue to use two of the world's best telescopes.

An £80m hole in the UK's physics and astronomy budget threatened to deny the scientists access to the 8m-class telescopes in Chile and Hawaii.

But administrators have now agreed to maintain the UK's subscription and recoup costs by selling observing time.

More:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7268065.stm

[mickw]

But they sell observation time anyway 

[Rick]

They're playing politics in an "In, out, in, out, shake it all about!" sort of way... 

[Ian]

ah, back to the good ol' days of Tory politics.

It's best not to specify what going in and out, much less being shaken about. It might turn out to be by Edwina Currie...

[mickw]

Oh thank you Ian, now I've got to try and get to sleep with the light on 

[Carole]

My friend an Astronomer who has been working on the Gemini project at Edinburgh Observatory will be very pleased as he was being laid off.

Carole