Josh writes: There is a delightful story in the UK news this week:
After Internet users overwhelmingly voted to christen Britain’s new $300 million research ship “Boaty McBoatface” in an online naming poll, a government official suggested the name wouldn’t be used.
“There is a process now for us to review all of the public’s choices,” Science Minister Jo Johnson told the BBC Monday, per Newsweek. “Many of them were imaginative, some were more suitable than others.”
BBC host Nicky Campbell exclaimed that the government would “ride roughshod over democracy” if it did not go through with naming the ship “Boaty McBoatface,” which garnered 120,000 votes — four times that of the next closest choice.
More at the BBC, Graun, Mirror and, well, everywhere.
Commie McComface
HAHAHA – Beautiful! 😀
I tought climate science was settled?
I name this boat “Boaty McBoatface”…
Haha…saw this earlier this week, and am glad it made it over to here…too funny!
rip
Now that’s some funny stuff. “Pole Dilemma”, a climate reference?
It’s the Good Ship Poley Flop.
Old Blighty McBlightface should be proud of “Boaty McBoatface”. Off to do McScience, no doubt.
I want to see The Queen name it?
I’d settle for just HEARING Her Majesty say, “Boaty McBoatface”! LOL
I bet she’d love it actually, she likes a good laugh at the absurd.
Or should McQueen name it.
Queeny McQueenface.
Until I saw the cartoon, I thought anyone nicknamed “Jo” was female 🙂
The cartoon cleared that up? You can’t tell anymore.
Not being familiar with British politics, at first I thought it was Trump.
” Ship of Fools ” seems more apt !
Pandering to the Scots.
“The people have spoken, the bastards”
Dick Tuck
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Tuck
They should dub it “The Flying Wasp”. Judge Smails would be proud.
Excellent.
from the link: “Maybe the people who voted online have correctly grasped the “gravity and importance” of what you’re up to.”
You betcha
And no doubt should the UK people vote to leave the EU, then the Prime Minister will proclaim ““There is a process now for us to review all of the public’s choices,””
My prediction is that if the vote is to leave then there will be “exceptional difficulties” in negotiating exit etc which will require a further referendum …. the EU doesn’t do democracy – it won’t stand for an electorate which won’t comply with the EU’s views. The normal practice is to rerun the referendum, and again if necessary until a majority is obtained that ‘agrees’ with the EU stance – then, like climate science, the matter is “Settled”.
And heaven forbid that a member state elects a president that doesn’t toe the EU line – they replace him with an EU placemen who will do exactly what they want (Greece, Italy, Austria).
With Obama’s passion for control regardless of democracy – small wonder that he is campaigning for Britain to remain a subject nation of the EU.
Seriously, if the referendum result for ‘Leave’ was to be ignored, there would actually be people on the streets of our cities – it wouldn’t be pleasant. I (completely law-abiding, tax-payer, middle-aged and conformist) would be leading the rioting. I’m not joking.
Obama? He’s gimp. What really annoys me about Americans who can’t help themselves, and need to support Britain staying in the EU, is that they would never, in a million years, allow the US to be ruled over by some combination of states in South America. The idea is totally unthinkable to them (rightly so). And yet they feel the need to open their big mouths and pass some inane, glib comment. Shut the f*ck up, and stick to the problems in your own country.
As to allowing states south of the border to run the US.
Mexico effectively runs our immigration policy.
But you wouldn’t want them running your defence or police! If we stay in the EU, they are going to want access to our defence forces to have an EU military force.
A veritable hole in one!
bazzard1959. Please don’t confuse Americans with Obama. Any American who’s knowledgeable realizes that Great Britain shouldn’t stay in the EU under current rules. Keep in mind that Obama hates Englishmen for what you did to Kenya and his dear father [who he meant twice] but, then, he doesn’t like Americans much either.
Mike, no, I won’t confuse the two. I understand he didn’t like the bust of Churchill in the Oval Office.
Vail Colorado held a similar contest to name a new bridge. The winner? Bob. They went with it. Probably had no choice given the folks who populate Vail so its Bob the bridge.
I thought Microsoft had copyrighted the name Bob?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob
That was the point of open-door immigration – to swing the referendum. We couldn’t have a referendum until they’d imported enough people to get the desired result.
“The Junk Science Junk” was the obvious choice.
They could use the ship for junk science junkets.
If I were in charge……..The Titanice
Boaty McBoatface might be the ideal name for a research vessel that carries believers in CO2-controlled climate.
In certain UK government funded research centers it has already been aptly dubbed ‘RRS Grant Seeker’
Green Sand….shouldn’t that be “HMS Grant Seeker” ?
(I don’t know RRS)
‘Royal Research Ship’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Research_Ship
How weird. That’s almost exactly the joke that I made here on WUWT, yesterday.
The science minister suggested that they needed a name that represented the “spirit of scientific research” (or somesuch thing).
I suggested that then we would have preferred “Rent-Seeker McBoondoggle-face”.
Great minds – and all that.
Or perhaps – little things please little minds. Take yer pick!!
Consensus only counts when its approved by the elite non-consensus.
I’ve lost track of the number of times a socialist has lectured on how the will of the majority is paramount and must always be obeyed when the majority agrees with him, only to see the same person take the position there must be limits on democracy when the majority disagrees with him.
Nobody wants THOSE ignorant bastards to run things. All sort of depends on what policy priorities you put in for “those” doesn’t it? I’m no fan of direct democracy but it sure is fun seeing those who are falling all over themselves to distance themselves from Mc Boatface.
That’s why the best govt is a small, limited one.
Let the people run their own lives. That way any mistakes that are made are small and self correcting.
Are you suggesting that the Conservative politician Jo Johnson is a socialist? If not, what is the point of your comment?
MarkW
The problem is the masses are such a rude bunch – completely untrustworthy with actual votes that have meaning. What is needed is an elite, say forming a party of the clever, who will cast the ‘real’ votes so as to guide the unwashed. We could call them ‘super-delegates’.
It would have been simpler for them to simply name it the “Sir John Franklin” but it matters not now because whatever they call it, it will always be known as Boaty McBoatface.
Endurance II.
Shackleton’s Endurance was of course caught in pack ice in the Weddell Sea and crushed.
Why no Shackelton? He made it as well as all the crew.
Already a RRS Shackleton:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRS_Ernest_Shackleton
And politicians wonder why people despise and distrust them.
“Boaty McBoatface” isn’t really any more ludicrous than “Titanic”, named after the Titans of Greek mythology (and unsinkable before it sunk).
Just to be fair, it was the press that proclaimed the Titanic to be unsinkable, not the owners or builders.
Back then the idea was that the purpose of lifeboats was to ferry passengers to a rescue vessel, which is why they didn’t emphasis having enough lifeboats for all passengers.
On lifeboats, it was suggested that one of the lifeboats on the new vessel should be named Boaty McBoatface as recognition of the public poll result
At a time when enough lifeboats were not required by law. Many lifeboats were removed from the original design in favor of…luxury! Esp after bulkhead 6 from the bow. It was also claimed the bulkheads were watertight, they were not.
In the same way that tribal shamans gave people the illusion of control over nature, democracy today gives people the illusion of control over the government.
The victory of the establishment over populism.
Just think of the pride of the commanding officer of the Boaty McBoatface as he or she crosses the brow, hears the bells, and then over the 1MC (or whatever the British call their intercom), the bosun’s mate announces “Boaty McBoatface Arriving.”
Actually if it were a democratic thing, “Blas de Lezo” should have won, and it had so much more personality! But they didn’t allow it to continue in the contest (it was in the lead by the time it was removed). After all he did for the British knowledge of the submarine world!