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Physics Research

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that blue sky research is most important, and that it should not stall under the current difficult economic conditions? The large hadron collider is one such case. We do not know whether it will tell us much about the Higgs boson or what it will tell us about fundamental particle physics, but it is likely to lead to discoveries that could help to resolve the world's key problems, including medical problems, so it is not something that we should discard lightly. We should continue to support it, and other blue sky research projects.