Despite widespread financial gloom, 2009 has been an excellent vintage for physics and astronomy. The Hubble Space Telescope's final servicing mission was declared a resounding success, LHC finally powered up after last year's false start, several new astronomy satellites were launched and astronomers have tantalisingly reported a possible first-ever detection of dark matter particles. But in the UK, the year was closed on a blue note following an ominous pre-budget report in early December and the subsequent announcement of drastic cuts to the particle physics and astronomy programmes by the country's Science and Technology Facilities Council, STFC.

Alistair Darling's pre-budget report released on 9 December projecting £600 million of savings from higher education by 2012 showed a glimpse of things to come. In the following week, in which Herschel astronomers showcased their first results in Madrid and the CDMS scientists reported their dark matter research results, British scientists received a cold shower when STFC announced wide-reaching cuts to its entire programme, to fill a hole of around £40 million.