I think it was Simon Carr in the Independent who said that Ed Milliband opened his arms at the beginning of his speech as if welcoming the assembled earthlings to his world.

I certainly feel as though I have come back down to earth today.  An early train back to London from Manchester to a full email box and much, much more.  But I haven’t completely left the Labour Party conference behind.  I rather enjoyed Anna Lewcock’s piece on the Royal Society of Chemistry blog about Ed Milliband with such insights into the new Labour leader’s thoughts on science.

I also liked this thoughtful article from Fiona Fox at the Science Media Centre offerring a different perspective on the bonfire of the quangos issue.  I am supposed to be a guest blogger for exquisite life and I will do something soon but I am rather worried I shall appear like the late guest at a dinner party who appears just before pudding and spills the wine all over the table taking their seat.

I noticed that the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham MP, made a forceful speech today committing them to fighting the forthcoming NHS changes tooth and nail.  He referred a number of times to long-term care costs as a dementia tax.  200 miles south I was lucky to chair a session on effective collaboration at the UK Age Research Forum (UKARF) conference.  You can find the press release for the event here.  It focuses on the keynote by economist, George Magnus, about the social and economic implications of an ageing population and the need for a more co-ordinated  approach to dealing with the issues.

Makes all the talk of ‘new generation’ politics seem suddenly very uninclusive.

Dont forget to sign the Science is Vital petition – you can reach it by clicking on the ‘UK’ logo in the top left-hand corner.