Thanks! I think through how similar today’s state-backed tech push is to that of the post-war period in this Research Fortnight piece. My key point is that despite the rhetoric, the UK is far less ambitious today, which I argue is a good thing. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

This paper also challenges the narrative that the ‘technological disillusion’ of the 1970s came via the New Left and environmentalists, demonstrating the importance of an expert critique focused on economic and industrial arguments that emerged from inside the state itself.

As I show, Whitehall radically reduced Britain's technological ambitions during the 1970s, ushering in a more liberal and less interventionist state before Thatcher even took power. This reckoning between officialdom and techno-nationalist enthusiasm transformed British politics.

It examines the post-war politics of 'high technology' in Britain, suggesting that the abandonment of a deeply embedded strategy of trying to be *the* Science and Tech Superpower was more about an internal battle within the British state than one between the parties.