At about 3pm this afternoon a press officer came to my desk and said that David Willetts would be dropping in later and of course I’d want to talk to him, no?
Yes.
Cue much excitement (from me, not from the rest of the press) about interviewing the science and universities minister. In actuality, interview turned out to be too grand a word, it was more like I sat next to him and asked him a question during a press briefing, but STILL. I was getting up close and personal with our governmental science dude. The one that’s threatening me and all of my colleagues with A Very Hard Time on Very Little Money after the Comprehensive Spending Review in a few weeks.
So I faffed around in a demented flurry for a while thinking of what to ask him about. Since it was the day that the World University Rankings were published by the Times Higher, and the UK had come second to US universities, that seemed like a good place to start.
So I trudged into a tiny room along with about ten other journalists, feeling a bit like a class of schoolkids (me because of my inordinate excitement and them because they act like giddy, gobby kids from time to time). After questions about Vince Cable’s recent gaffe on research assessment and ‘mediocre’ research, homeopathy and the role of NICE, I managed to get my question in.
To resounding blandness.
I asked The Rt Hon (right on?) DW if he was worried that with the impending cuts to university funding, the UK risks slipping further down the world rankings. He acknowledged increased competition from Asia, said that we must collaborate with them, and remains committed and optimistic about the long-term future of British Higher Education.
Yawn.
I didn’t even get a news piece out of it. There was nothing to say.
As a colleague at the Higher said to me, I don’t know why we’re obsessed with speaking to politicians. We’d get better stories out of quizzing loose canon academics.
PS. Check this article and transcript by Alok Jha for more noncommittal noises from the same briefing.
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