Some interesting points came out.

Government funding of research in Universities has fallen by 17% in real terms over the last 20 years. Labour have followed the pattern set by the Tories. They are also pushing for more corporate money instead of public funding. This of course is in addition to the fact that the per-student funding of higher education generally has drastically dropped.

I argued that the development of Science is being squeezed by the lack of public funds, and distorted by the drive for short-term corporate profits.

Last week Ford announced to the press their new prototype of a hydrogen powered fuel cell car whose only waste product is water, which they will still need 10 years of development. But this technology has been known about for years, they haven't bothered developing it because they are doing fine on the profits from petrol driven cars.

For every penny spent on research into alternative energy sources, a hundred pounds is spent on arms research.

Pure so-called "blue skies" science research, as opposed to research with direct commercial application, is pushed to the background, but this is a vital "knowledge base" from which applications can be developed. One researcher there said that when she applies for funding she has to give a direct commercial application on her application to justify it, even if she doesn't actually believe it!

Private research leads to publication restrictions. The private consortium in the race to publish the human genome map charges people to access its database. The non-profit making one doesn't, as they pointed out imagine the problems if the periodic table of the elements was patented and people had to pay to access it!

The way funding for research is allocated is elitist, with the lions share going to the prestige universities, indicating the need for democratic control over its distribution.

There was concern at the meeting over the pay and conditions of university lecturers and teachers. There is a very high level of casualisation with short-term contracts and pay has dropped drastically relative to equivalent professions. This has led to instability and a lack of job security. And we got a response when we said that tuition fees were no solution to the university-funding crisis.

Finally there was a feeling that scientists have "had a bad press" especially if you look at the long list of issues around food safety, the environment etc. But it the distortion of commercial interests, and Tory and Labour governments' concern to protect big business interests which have led to this. When people look at the GM food issue, they know that the big companies are putting their profits before the environment. On the BSE issue, government departments hushed up scientists when they pointed out, as early as 1989, that there was a link between BSE and the human version CJD.

The debate was useful. It reaffirmed that science has the potential to solve many of the problems the world faces, but under capitalism it is constantly diverted down the road of short-term corporate interests.

Recent political events such as the movement around the fuel protests and the crisis on the railways have highlighted the increasing disillusionment with Blair and New Labour by many working class people. We have also seen the growing numbers of people involved in "anti-capitalist" protests.

As a Socialist Party member, I will be standing in Leicester West against Blairite Patricia Hewitt. It will be under the banner of Socialist Alliance, as agreed by the national network. There has been a national effort to unite as many left candidates as possible.

Socialist Party has experience of standing independent socialist candidates in Leicester West, in 5 council elections and the last general election itself. Through the members we have in these areas we have been involved in numerous community campaigns such as campaigning for community facilities in Kirby Frith and the Wycliffe Action Group's long fight against school closures.

We know full well that this is only a beginning, socialists are not about to storm to power in this election. The key aims are to show there is an alternative and to widen the layer of activists trying to change things.

During the campaign and the build up, it should be possible to organise joint events including socialists, the Leicester Radical Alliance and others in "extra- parliamentary" campaigns.