Nothing is booming in Britain, except uncertainty. This is not the time to cut public investment in research

After chancellor Jeremy Hunt reversed nearly all of the mini-budget tax measures and reigned in energy support, he announced that difficult spending cuts are coming. This is going to be hard given Britain’s already stretched public services. Areas of capital investment, including the science budget, might therefore be at risk in the fiscal plan announcement scheduled for Halloween. Anna Valero and John Van Reenen write that cutting the science budget would be a “monumentally bad idea”.