Coming hard on the heels of the expressed determination of President Bill Clinton to provide more support for science, this week's announcement by the British government of a major boost in science funds (see page 209) sends a positive signal to researchers and governments everywhere. Moreover, it has the additional strength of being a firm three-year commitment, rather than subject to the annual wrangling that occurs in the US Congress.

The message is that long-term commitment to fundamental science is essential if you want to help the quality of your citizens' lives to improve. That message appears to have been successfully driven home to the people who really mattered — UK Treasury ministers — by learned societies, lobbyists, such as Save British Science, pharmaceutical companies and, by no means least, by the Office of Science and Technology on behalf of the research councils. As we go to press, the signs are that the university funding councils will at the least continue to be well supported.

But the Wellcome Trust's role has been crucial. With the trust's annual funding of science in the region of almost £300 million (US$490 million), it was all too tempting for the government to try to offload some of the responsibility for increased support for basic research. To her credit, the trust's recent head, Dame Bridget Ogilvie, would have none of it. Partly as a result, the trust has been able to play a central role in leveraging increased government support for world-class science in Britain (it has no obligation to restrict its activities there). Research itself will be immeasurably healthier as a result.