RRS Boaty McBoatface
As the man said, it's an absolutely brilliant name. But the forces of repression are seeking to steal this minor crumb of circus fun from the good people of Britain.
Jo Johnson was not getting it on multiple levels. Firstly, and more boringly, he was seeming to claim it as a Departmental responsibility, on the grounds that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was, at the end of the day, the owner. No, it bloody isn't. Yes, the funding came from BIS, but it's going to NERC, which is a quango (if we're being really pedantic, it's a Non-Departmental Public Body) - the whole point is that it is at the extreme arm's length from the Government, with a high degree of autonomy and self-determination. A junior minister should not be sticking his oar in micro-managing. Anyway.
Secondly, he seemed to be having a massive sense of humour failure about the whole thing. He talked with some conviction about the serious nature, the quality, and the international excellence of the scientific research that would be carried on, building on the outstanding reputation of the British Antarctic Survey. He stressed the importance and seriousness of its mission to help to address some of the world's biggest challenges: climate change, polar ice melt, rising sea levels. He pointed out that the ship would be a Royal Research Ship, and would have its name approved by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of this Realm and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Sovereign of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Colonel-in-Chief of the Ghana Regiment of Infantry, etc etc.
He's absolutely right. All of that is quite true. I expect I rate the science and BAS history a little higher than he does, and the royal business lower, but I don't doubt that we both believe this to be a very serious and important vessel indeed.
And that's why it is so funny to call it Boaty McBoatface.
The fact that it's a ship, not a boat, is just icing on the cake. It would be such an epic piece of British self-deprecatory humour.
(For what it's worth, I expect they'll call it RRS Henry Worsley. Which would be an utterly appropriate name , if perhaps a little forgettable for people who aren't obsessed with the Antarctic ... were it not for a far, far better option having rolled up. RRS David Attenborough would've been a runner if he had died, but astonishingly, and thankfully, he hasn't, yet.)
This entry crossposted to http://doug.dreamwidth.org/316692.html, where there are
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Jo Johnson was not getting it on multiple levels. Firstly, and more boringly, he was seeming to claim it as a Departmental responsibility, on the grounds that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was, at the end of the day, the owner. No, it bloody isn't. Yes, the funding came from BIS, but it's going to NERC, which is a quango (if we're being really pedantic, it's a Non-Departmental Public Body) - the whole point is that it is at the extreme arm's length from the Government, with a high degree of autonomy and self-determination. A junior minister should not be sticking his oar in micro-managing. Anyway.
Secondly, he seemed to be having a massive sense of humour failure about the whole thing. He talked with some conviction about the serious nature, the quality, and the international excellence of the scientific research that would be carried on, building on the outstanding reputation of the British Antarctic Survey. He stressed the importance and seriousness of its mission to help to address some of the world's biggest challenges: climate change, polar ice melt, rising sea levels. He pointed out that the ship would be a Royal Research Ship, and would have its name approved by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of this Realm and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Sovereign of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Colonel-in-Chief of the Ghana Regiment of Infantry, etc etc.
He's absolutely right. All of that is quite true. I expect I rate the science and BAS history a little higher than he does, and the royal business lower, but I don't doubt that we both believe this to be a very serious and important vessel indeed.
And that's why it is so funny to call it Boaty McBoatface.
The fact that it's a ship, not a boat, is just icing on the cake. It would be such an epic piece of British self-deprecatory humour.
(For what it's worth, I expect they'll call it RRS Henry Worsley. Which would be an utterly appropriate name , if perhaps a little forgettable for people who aren't obsessed with the Antarctic ... were it not for a far, far better option having rolled up. RRS David Attenborough would've been a runner if he had died, but astonishingly, and thankfully, he hasn't, yet.)
This entry crossposted to http://doug.dreamwidth.org/316692.html, where there are
comment(s) not shown here.