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Last week's suggestion that "consensus is breaking out" about the wisdom of measuring the "impact" of work in the research excellence framework sparked debate. James Ladyman writes: "At all the consultation meetings I have been to ... it has been strongly implied that the impact agenda is happening and that the only way to influence it is in a positive fashion. Words such as 'the government is committed to impact' have been used. Hence the academics go along with the idea and think of clever stuff to say about it. The funding council then reports this as support."