MONDAY 14 JULY 2003

RT HON KEITH HILL, MR DAVID MILIBAND, DR MARTIN WILLIAMS AND PROFESSOR IAN HALLIDAY

  Q220  Mr McWalter: No, I know Colin very well and was responsible for trying to get the government some of the money, because PPARC was a bit reluctant actually.

  Professor Halliday: I accept that PPARC was originally reluctant.

  Q221  Mr McWalter: I thought that was probably the case because of this view of astronomy, that it is something where you cannot do cutting edge work. Perhaps if you had people working in these fields, but combining several different fields together—

  Professor Halliday: You have misunderstood me. Apart from the Americans British astronomy is the best in the world, really in the world. We have access to facilities which are second to none. I spent this morning reviewing instruments which we are building for these big modern telescopes. We are better at instrument building than the Americans. I hope I did not give the wrong impression there.

  Mr McWalter: I have had it duly corrected.

  Chairman: A great place to stop. Thank you all very much indeed for giving us your time.