For the better part of the autumn, British scientists have been loudly protesting cuts that are expected next week in the government’s four-year budget. But while the research community has been eager to hold placards and sing songs in defence of science, few have been willing to say what should be cut instead.

Until today. A letter signed by 36 researchers, including Nobel-prize-winner Harry Kroto, and published in the Guardian, calls for the money for science to come from defence research, which currently makes up about a quarter of the UK’s £8 billion research budget. In particular, the letter calls for cuts to the Aldermaston Weapons Establishment (AWE), the UK’s sole nuclear weapons laboratory.

It’s true that AWE has enjoyed some serious infrastructure investment in recent years, including a brand new £183-million laser facility that I visited this spring. But there are hints that even the scientists in charge of the UK’s nuclear deterrent aren’t being spared the budget axe. According to a recent story in the Financial Times, AWE is looking to collaborate with weapon’s scientists in France in order to save money.

Whether you agree with the letter or not, it’s impressive that Kroto and colleagues were bold enough to suggest where the cuts to save science should actually come from.

Credit: MoD