Sir David said it was time such funding - and the brains it supports - were pushed to answering more pressing concerns.

I really disagree with the sentiment expressed in the above statement.

First;
Why does there have to be a limited amount of money spent on research? If he wants research into global warming, that's fine, but why should other areas of research suffer because of this? If he feels so strongly, he should petition governments and big businesses to fund the research - not loot through other research areas.

Second;
You can't force, or push people into research areas, if they want to research on particle physics and not global warming - it's up to them. I can very well understand why people wouldn't want to get into climate change research, the whole issue is far too politicised and this could clamp down on any scientific dialogue.

Third;
It's a highly subjective statement that what scientists are doing in CERN is not 'a pressing concern'.

King seems to have taken a slightly anti-blue skies research position, which is deeply regretable, thank science that he's no longer chief scientist.