Does Gordon Brown live in the same country as the rest of us?

"To-day, a higher share of our growth is delivered by science-based innovations than in any other industrial nation including America.
All of this shows that we in Britain now have the chance, if we make the right long-term decisions, to achieve what we have not achieved since the first days of the Industrial revolution - to become the best location for scientific R&D and world leaders in the new enterprises of the future." Gordon Brown.
Observer 12 03 06.
'Science education in Britain was dealt a fresh blow to-day with news that one of the most prestigious centres in the country is set to close. Scientists reacted angrily to the announcement by Sussex University to shut down its high ranking chemistry department, which has produced three Nobel Lauriates.
It is the latest in a long list of closures indicative of the weakening state of chemistry education in the UK. Exeter, King's College, London, Queen Mary's London, Dundee and Surrey have also dropped the subject in recent years'.
Maybe also connected with the fact that the UK chemicals industry, once a world leader, is now sadly weakened, and a big loser to foreign competition?
Given that this also applies to electrical and electronics engineering, office equipment, semiconductors, automotive engineering, radio, TV and telecoms equipment and IT hardware, what would you bet on the prospects of a boom in university engineering, electronics and advanced materials research?