Although I live and work in the US, I was born and educated up to graduate school in the UK, and for reasons both intellectual and personal have been becoming increasingly appalled by the treatment of science there. Put simply, after years of neglect and pressure under the previous Labour government, science funding is now facing evisceration under the new ruling Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition. I have a lengthy post in the works about my own feelings about the state of the British higher education system, and the treatment of science more specifically. However, here I'd like to make sure that any interested readers are aware of a concerted effort to push back against the planned short-sighted cuts, under the banner of the Science is Vital campaign. From their website, Science is Vital is
... a group of concerned scientists, engineers and supporters of science who are campaigning to prevent destructive levels ...