It’s statistics on milk and cream export/imports that were presented, not brie/cheddar! So actually, with regards to milk, it is rather crazy that we import and export the same ammount of produce, because milk is just milk! (It’s just the BBC doing some dodgy editing again.) We also have a similar relationship with the export and import of sugar – which is also madness. Boneless chicken is the same.

That said, the article also compares things like potatoes and apples (as you point out – what variety?) and fish (what species?).

I think the article presents the facts fairly well, although I have just skim read it, so might have missed lots of bias They don’t always compare like-with-like, but they have got a point.

When we look at what is spent on other good causes I cannot see any arguments against slightly more funding. Personally, if I could, I’d pay more in by donation.

But the private ventures thing is the future. The X Prize had me so excited I couldn’t sleep. What has kept everything tame is the enormous start-up costs and the lack of a real short-term economic goal.

That short-term economic goal should be created. ESA, NASA and Russia, China and Japan (if they’re interested) should collaborate to target the mining of precious metals from asteroids. Once that has been achieved the technology used to achieve it should be made freely available so that companies can start mining asteroids themselves with fewer development costs.

The myriad other economic ventures that branch off of that would surprise us, I am sure.

I am not sure about the Space programme, I think a lot of people would be happy to spend more than that. but on the other hand would you not prefer to support private ventures?

Sometimes I think I would love to see a much bigger EU space programme, but then since I’m against EU superstate I would be concerned about it being used to promote closer a union.