UPDATE: We demand justice for Boaty McBoatface as Science Minister Jo Johnson torpedos the people’s choice.
The small scientific vessel represents the best of British – as does its rebellious name.
But Jo Johnson says the ship needs a ‘more suitable’ moniker.
We at Heat Street UK remember Jo Johnson’s excellent maiden speech. In his praise of Orpington, Johnson wasn’t exactly ‘suitable’ then:
I shall not dwell too long on the “Buff Orpington” chicken, admired by poultry breeders for its gentle contours, colourful plumage and succulent breasts, suffice it to say that they are easy lays, often broody and make great mothers.
Come on Jo – remember Punt and Dennis? ‘Yes, kids – science ISN’T dull.‘
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Original article:
“The people have spoken, the bastards.”
DNC strategist Dick Tuck’s famous line, exhumed whenever democracy starts to eat itself, has rarely been more apt than in the case of the British polar researchers who asked the internet for helping naming their new research vessel.
Hopes for a suggestion redolent of scientific glory and adventure soon sank when the internet rallied behind the marvelously juvenile Boaty McBoatFace as their name of choice.
Buoyed by online troublemakers, team McBoatFace had amassed more than four times the votes of their nearest rivals by the time the poll closed.
Beaten suggestions included naming it after Henry Worsley, a polar explorer who died earlier this year near the South Pole, and Poppy-Mai, a toddler with terminal cancer.
A press release for the organizers po-facedly thanked “everyone” who voted, while making no mention of the landslide winner.
The vote is another chapter in the rich history of internet enthusiasts derailing well-meaning competitions.
Most memorably, Time magazine’s person of the year poll ended up being won by Kim Jong Un.
When Taylor Swift said she would perform at whichever US school got the most votes, the internet decided she should go to a school for the deaf. There are lots more.
The UK’s Natural Environment Research Council is not bound by the results of the poll, and will come to their own decision on the $284million (£200million) arctic research vessel.