“Although much has been written about the robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul mentality of the raid on lottery arts funding, far less in the way of column inches have been spent on the recent cut of £5.3 million to the largest funding body for arts research in the UK, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The cuts were made by the DTI to cover the department’s costs involved in the Rover car company collapse and British Energy’s nuclear liabilities. Why does this cut matter so much? First, it is part of a general attack on research for research’s sake.”