The Forefront is Where You Find It

As befits a country ever more dedicated to becoming smaller, whiter and squeakier, Britain is to close its leading centre for research into mouse genetics. A "strategy board" at the Medical Research Council has recommended the termination of all scientific work at the Mammalian Genetics Unit, naturally without troubling to consult the human resources. In a further access of scientific enthusiasm, the mouse protectors have also recommended withdrawal from an international project researching those murine and human genes whose roles are still obscure. Complaints that British science will suffer and that the country's position at the forefront of genomic medicine are of course beside the point. To the patriotic mind Britain will always be at the forefront, whether its science is based on mouse genomics or, as at present, on mass human sacrifice at the altar of terminal capitalism. In the country's present mood, an international research centre has no more place here than a forensic psychologist at the Salem witch trials.