Great news!  Oxford University has just announced that building work has restarted on its research centre. The work stopped in July last year when the main contractor pulled out because of intimidation and harassment by extremists.

The University’s Registrar, Mr David Holmes, said: “Completing the project will be good for animal welfare, good for medical research and good for the treatment of life-threatening conditions all over the world.” I couldn’t agree more, and I’m sure most others feel the same - surveys have shown that most people can see the need for animals in medical research and abhor violence in the name of animal rights.  And completion of the building will also be good for local residents and students who, as GeorginaTheGiraffe blogged recently here, are heartily sick of the antics of the antis.

Dr Simon Festing, Executive Director of RDS, said this morning:

"The medical research community welcomes the restart of the Oxford building project. This research centre is vitally important for the future of biomedical research in the UK. The half-finished building stands as a symbol of our ability to continue essential animal research in the face of intimidation and harassment by animal rights extremists.”

“The government and criminal justice system are finally tackling extremism so that we can continue to use animals in research to overcome serious medical conditions like stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cystic fibrosis and malaria. The new Oxford research centre will provide top class facilities for such research, and also for the animals that will be used, a point that the extremists apparently choose to ignore."