Don’t let Jodrell Bank Observatory become another industrial museum

Jodrell Bank Observatory. ‘It seems odd that there is a squeeze of government investment in this area of soft power.’ Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

Throughout my long life, Jodrell Bank Observatory has been a source of wonder and pride (Jodrell Bank Observatory facing closure after major funder cuts support, 27 July). Sir Bernard Lovell’s inspirational creation never ceases to awe with its combination of cutting-edge space exploration and heroic engineering structure. A tour of its welcoming visitor centre with my grandchildren confirmed that this sense of awe is being passed on to future generations.

Yes, it would make another fine museum. But here in the north we have quite a few museums of our glorious industrial past. We have only one Jodrell Bank, probing the mysteries of the universe right now. So I’m afraid it is over to my fellow English graduate Andy Burnham to reverse the philistine decision of UK Research and Innovation, reminding him of his poetic hero Philip Larkin’s fear for the possible future of the UK: “Our children will not know it is a different country./ All we can hope to leave them now is money”.
Dr Ken Smith
Macclesfield, Cheshire