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Totally predictable ending. The potential for this country to get advanced technology well ahead of it's time getting rejected by bureaucrats because of other

Totally predictable ending. The potential for this country to get advanced technology well ahead of it's time getting rejected by bureaucrats because of other priorities (or really it serves none of their short term goals). The same thing happened with our fibre network in the early 90's.

creshal 11y ago
Britain was still on war-time food rationing in '47. I really can't blame them.
nbevans 11y ago
If it wasn't for xDSL broadband the UK would have been utterly screwed in the early 2000s. So yeah, thanks Sweden!
gambiting 11y ago
"The potential for this country to get advanced technology well ahead of it's time getting rejected by bureaucrats" well I would say that right after the war there really were more important things to do rather than putting people into space.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  That's not really true. The UK led the world in aerospace until the mid-50s. If the lead had been kept rather than squandered it would have provided a huge boost to the economy. The UK could have owned the launch business, and also owned much of the satellite business. It would also have been the first country with ICBMs, which would have changed the balance of power significantly. There was a serious failure of imagination in Whitehall. Or possibly serious pressure from Washington. And it happened again and again - as with the cancelled TSR2 project, and more recently with the bizarre decision to buy the F35 for the UK's new carriers, which means they'll have no planes on them for a good 5-10 years. It's also fair to say the Nazi engineers were even further ahead. By the end of WWII German aerospace was maybe ten years in front of everyone else, with not entirely unrealistic plans for ocean-crossing jets and ICBMs. If Germany hadn't been run by a psychopath, German technology might be where the US is today.
raverbashing 11y ago
To be fair, with limited resources, investing in aviation and nuclear was a better choice People love to ask for regulation and more bureaucracy then complain when things don't go where they want it > well ahead of it's time "its", not "it's"
- arethuza 11y ago
  The BBC did a rather splendid pair of documentaries on the technological lead the UK had in aviation after WW2 - "Cold War, Hot Jets": http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hhm6z http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hhm6z
spacecowboy_lon 11y ago
That was down to thatcher BT had the plans for a nationwide fiber roil out but Government did not want an ex public body to succeed.
Gravityloss 11y ago
There was a UK rocket that launched a few satellites to orbit. UK is the only country in the world to have have given up space access that it had. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow
- quarterto 11y ago
  > launched a few satellites to orbit *a single satellite. The first two launches were suborbital tests; the third launch carried Orba, but failed to reach orbit. Only the fourth and final launch, with Prospero as the payload, successfully reached orbit.
JackFr 11y ago
Well in fairness, Britain did OK with that whole steam engine thing.

creshal 11y ago

Britain was still on war-time food rationing in '47. I really can't blame them.

nbevans 11y ago

If it wasn't for xDSL broadband the UK would have been utterly screwed in the early 2000s. So yeah, thanks Sweden!

gambiting 11y ago

"The potential for this country to get advanced technology well ahead of it's time getting rejected by bureaucrats" well I would say that right after the war there really were more important things to do rather than putting people into space.

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
That's not really true. The UK led the world in aerospace until the mid-50s. If the lead had been kept rather than squandered it would have provided a huge boost to the economy. The UK could have owned the launch business, and also owned much of the satellite business. It would also have been the first country with ICBMs, which would have changed the balance of power significantly. There was a serious failure of imagination in Whitehall. Or possibly serious pressure from Washington. And it happened again and again - as with the cancelled TSR2 project, and more recently with the bizarre decision to buy the F35 for the UK's new carriers, which means they'll have no planes on them for a good 5-10 years. It's also fair to say the Nazi engineers were even further ahead. By the end of WWII German aerospace was maybe ten years in front of everyone else, with not entirely unrealistic plans for ocean-crossing jets and ICBMs. If Germany hadn't been run by a psychopath, German technology might be where the US is today.

raverbashing 11y ago

To be fair, with limited resources, investing in aviation and nuclear was a better choice People love to ask for regulation and more bureaucracy then complain when things don't go where they want it > well ahead of it's time "its", not "it's"

arethuza 11y ago
The BBC did a rather splendid pair of documentaries on the technological lead the UK had in aviation after WW2 - "Cold War, Hot Jets": http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hhm6z http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hhm6z

spacecowboy_lon 11y ago

That was down to thatcher BT had the plans for a nationwide fiber roil out but Government did not want an ex public body to succeed.

Gravityloss 11y ago

There was a UK rocket that launched a few satellites to orbit. UK is the only country in the world to have have given up space access that it had. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow

quarterto 11y ago
> launched a few satellites to orbit *a single satellite. The first two launches were suborbital tests; the third launch carried Orba, but failed to reach orbit. Only the fourth and final launch, with Prospero as the payload, successfully reached orbit.

JackFr 11y ago

Well in fairness, Britain did OK with that whole steam engine thing.