Science and the state of the union

We wouldn't want anyone to miss the fact that President Bush went big on the small in his state of the union address.

"....I propose to double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years. This funding will support the work of America's most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources."

That's just one reference to science and technology. Indeed, there was a whole chunk of stuff.

The President also announced "an American Competitiveness Initiative, to encourage innovation throughout our economy, and to give our nation's children a firm grounding in math and science".

Biggest, though, was his plan to "double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years".

With Gordon Brown pulling the puppet's strings on R&D in the UK, and the EU pushing the Lisbon agenda, to increase the EU's R&D intensity to 3 percent of GNP, are we in the middle of a new arms race, with research spending the weapon of choice?