Bad Astronomy points theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking very rightly ripping British politicians for eviscerating the science budget. It’s a great article, well worth reading, but Hawking doesn’t get the good quote. That comes at the end of the article, and is from Brian Cox, of the Large Hadron Collider project:
The notion that scientists will make a more valuable contribution to the economic and social wellbeing of the world if their research is closely directed by politicians is the most astonishing piece of nonsense I have had the misfortune to come across in a long time.
["Very Scientific"?]