Bangladesh 275; England 260

Well, that was a pretty sorry end (almost) to a hopeless, woeful campaign.

English OD cricket seems to be falling behind the rest of the world.

I wasn't impressed with Moores first time around - why bring him back?

Why keep Cook on as captain so long when OD clearly isn't his forte?

Why replace him with an obviously out-of-sorts Morgan?

Why chop around with the selection so late?

A few decisions makers in the game need to look themselves carefully in the mirror - and then do the right thing!

Threat to Science - II

If the Tories are in power following the election they are committed to an in/out EU referendum. And if that results in an "out" vote British science will be a major loser. The EU may be a lumbering giant but it is good for British science. EU policy is to "encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding....on the basis of scientific excellence". Now scientists in the UK publish 16% of the world's most cited papers. And the EU funding rewarding this excellence amounts to receipts by UK scientists of £1.40 for every £1 that the country puts into the pot. That's not to be sniffed at!

Not only would we lose access to this cash, we would lose influence, too. And UK scientists would no doubt lose collaborators as well (just look at what has happened to the Swiss recently).

So an "out" vote most definitely is not a vote for science.

Threat to Science - I

As a lapsed scientist I still like to keep a weather-eye on how my old profession is faring. Now that some of the furore over Ed Miliband's commitment to lowering tuition fees has died down there is one sobering consequence to consider. Lower fees mean lower direct income to universities. Potentially this could be made whole by HMG - but I doubt it will happen - and in any case, uncertainty about the longevity of such funding will rise. So the likely consequence of Miliband's proposal is the cutting back or closure of university courses and teaching. And the likely first to go will be expensive science and engineering ones. Well done Ed!