So Oxford University is to be run by businessmen.

Well, that’s the end of that then. All science in the UK is now under the control of commerce. All academics are now under the influence of the Dark Side. There will soon be no research that does not have the potential for profit, although the lecturers have made it clear that’s what they want anyway.

They’ve just refused a 13% pay rise. It’s not enough, they say. You can see the avarice in their eyes.

What the hell happened to science? Where did that fascination with knowledge go?

When I started, a career in science was about increasing knowledge. Now it’s about nothing more than increasing your bank balance. There are few real scientists left, and soon there will be none.

A bunch of corporate lackeys, driven by profit and blind to the old ideas of investigation for its own sake. That’s what we can look forward to. No wonder student applications to universities have plummeted. They might as well go straight into the world of commerce, at commercial rates of pay. There’s nothing for the inquisitive mind in any university, anywhere in the UK.

I have officially left Marchway University, as of today. I work for myself, but I am not intending to make huge profits. My needs are modest, my thirst for knowledge is not.

I will be marking the exams my students are currently sitting. I will do this for free. I will do it because I want to know how much they’ve learned as a result of my own teaching abilities.

That’s my motivation. Interest, not money.

I call myself a scientist. I hope I’m not the last one.