5 ms·

Bletchley Park Trust to undergo organisational restructure

49 points by leoc 6y ago

Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago
This coming after their data breach (13 August 2020). https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53771942 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53771942
vmception 6y ago
Disclaimer: I’m not saying it should be different I absolutely love how prior payments to executives/trustees escapes all scrutiny. Its like “ah we didnt get Xmillion this year there is nothing we can dooo”. Which is very responsible for personal finances. Never spend your own, use other people’s money. And in a trust it is almost impossible to do it any other way. Its still interesting to me.
- traceroute66 6y ago
  This is exactly why I refuse to give to big brand-name charities. The amount of troughing going on in large charities is absolutely disgraceful. Whether its the remuneration given to those at the top table, the fancy offices the charities occupy in prime real estate locations, the generous use of taxis and business class flights. The list goes on. Until such day the charity regulators put an end to it, I shall continue my no-execptions refusal to give to large charities.
  - nmca 6y ago
    There are organisations that go to some length to assess which charities give you the most "bang for your buck". GiveWell is the one that I am most familiar with, which reccomends the AMF, amongst other organisations. Donations there can save many lives for little money, so if you're worried about, eg UNICEF spend, I suggest you check it out as an alternative! https://www.givewell.org/ https://www.givewell.org/
motohagiography 6y ago
That's disappointing. Given the size of the UK intelligence budget and how much the whole military must spend on recruiting, being a part of the story that began there is one of the things that gets smart people into public service.
- Proven 6y ago
  Statist mindset. Why not simply eliminate the private sector to ensure all smart people can't go anywhere but into public service, and get peace and prosperity for all? Smart people shouldn't go into public service.
  - motohagiography 6y ago
    Well, then you'd have the UK in the 70's pre-Thatcher, or now, basically. There is some wisdom to putting dull people in charge of governance tasks as they manage to keep themselves mostly out of the way. Too sharp, and you get sophisticated corruption as a way of life, which is the irony of countries where their cleverest people are in government. Too dull and you get mob rule and petty corruption, a junta with proverbial DMV clerks all the way down. The modern UK 'elf'n'safety state seems to lurch a bit toward the latter, so Bletchley could be a rallying point from a time when ordinary people were indeed capable of extraordinary things.
tpmx 6y ago
I had a free Saturday after some boring Friday sales meeting/presentation in London maybe a decade ago. Decided to take a field trip to Bletchley Park instead of wandering aimlessly in London. I just loved the whole experience (including the train trip and the walk from the Bletchley train station) so much. I want to do it again, so I hope it will be able to keep going.
- rwmj 6y ago
  Unfortunately since then the managers got rid of all the volunteers who had intimate knowledge of the computer science: https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_elderly_volunteers/ https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_... I was very lucky that I got to meet Tony Sale a couple of times before he passed away, back in probably 2008 or thereabouts and he demonstrated the Colossus that he had rebuilt to me, which was a tremendous experience (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sale).
  - bgruber 6y ago
    While you do have to know what you are looking for, and walk the long way around from the larger Bletchley Park site, the National Museum of Computing is still (as of last year) there with volunteers showing off the workings of a bunch of rebuilt computers including the Colossus. I can't recommend a visit, with a guided tour, enough. And you might as well visit Bletchley itself while you are there, which is a different experience, but still worth while.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    This is one of those articles that says a lot without saying anything. Why do these two museums not like each other?
  - mhh__ 6y ago
    Tony Sale is someone I really wish I got to meet before he died. The WW2 stuff is interesting enough, but he also spent a lot of time running around London chasing and bugging communists with Peter Wright. He would've been working only a few rungs under an alleged soviet mole, which isn't something every get's to do.
frereubu 6y ago
Presumably cock-up rather than conspiracy, but you can search the UK Charities Commission for information on any charity. Bletchley Park says that its registered charity number is 1012743 - https://bletchleypark.org.uk/about-us/contact-us https://bletchleypark.org.uk/about-us/contact-us - but I can't find anything when searching the Charity Commission website: https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/?searchText=1012743&pageNumber=1 https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/?search... I'd be interested to know a bit more about the breakdown of their finances. As another comment says, I wonder just how much Iain Standen, their CEO, gets paid, and whether he offered to take any kind of pay cut. Not saying it would eliminate all layoffs and / or furloughs, but it would be a meaningful gesture of solidarity.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  Looks like at most £110k when you read the accounts. Not sure why you're not finding them and mentioning words like 'conspiracy' and 'cock-up' - they're right here if you bother to look for them: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/FinancialHistory.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1012743&SubsidiaryNumber=0 http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfC...
  - frereubu 6y ago
    Didn't mean anything arch by that. I tried looking for them by name and charity number but nothing turned up. I consider it a cock-up that I couldn't find them by searching by charity number on the Charity Commission website, which has worked for every charity I've done that for. The only other explanation was that they were going to change their charity status, but I considered that unlikely, hence "cock-up rather than conspiracy".
- m-_- 6y ago
  Latest accounts:http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends43/0001012743_AC_20181231_E_C.pdf http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends43/0001012... shows £5.32M cash at bank, which likely will have grown to over 6Mn in 2019. This is all at the same time they are kicking out their large commercial tenant who run an innovation centre (end of this year) so they can create some more museum, office and education space. I imagine this situation is not 'so severe' that they will walk back that decision.
wayanon 6y ago
You’d think or hope GCHQ could be involved - or are they already?
Animats 6y ago
Worry instead about the National Museum of Computing.[1] Those are the people who did the bombe rebuild and the Colossus rebuild. Separate admission. They had a falling-out with the building-oriented Bletchley Park Trust. I've been there, but before it was built up into a major tourist attraction. [1] https://bletchleypark.org.uk/visit-us/the-national-museum-of-computing https://bletchleypark.org.uk/visit-us/the-national-museum-of...
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > They had a falling-out with the building-oriented Bletchley Park Trust. Does anyone know what this was about?
  - m-_- 6y ago
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-25916048 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-25916048
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      Thanks, but that explains absolutely nothing. Even the guy being fired says 'I haven't got a clue'. The say that they want to develop a new visitor centre because they have lottery funding, but I don't see why that means they can't work with the National Museum of Computing. Why doesn't the interview just ask them 'just tell me what is the problem here?' I don't understand how we get these news reports that explain nothing.
      - m-_- 6y ago
        I personally thought it was reasonably clear. Bletchley park estate split into two museums, one large one small. Tour guide from large museum takes visitors to small museum too as this is a major part of the story (i.e colossus, the bomb, witch) allowed for a number of years, now against policy (basically to pretend the small museum does not exist/is not worth visiting) and as such volunteer fired for his transgression. Not in the video, but worth noting is that the small museum are a tenant of the large museum who get use of the estate basically free from Govt.

49 points by leoc 6y ago

Pick-A-Hill2019 6y ago

This coming after their data breach (13 August 2020). https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53771942 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53771942

vmception 6y ago

Disclaimer: I’m not saying it should be different I absolutely love how prior payments to executives/trustees escapes all scrutiny. Its like “ah we didnt get Xmillion this year there is nothing we can dooo”. Which is very responsible for personal finances. Never spend your own, use other people’s money. And in a trust it is almost impossible to do it any other way. Its still interesting to me.

traceroute66 6y ago
This is exactly why I refuse to give to big brand-name charities. The amount of troughing going on in large charities is absolutely disgraceful. Whether its the remuneration given to those at the top table, the fancy offices the charities occupy in prime real estate locations, the generous use of taxis and business class flights. The list goes on. Until such day the charity regulators put an end to it, I shall continue my no-execptions refusal to give to large charities.
- nmca 6y ago
  There are organisations that go to some length to assess which charities give you the most "bang for your buck". GiveWell is the one that I am most familiar with, which reccomends the AMF, amongst other organisations. Donations there can save many lives for little money, so if you're worried about, eg UNICEF spend, I suggest you check it out as an alternative! https://www.givewell.org/ https://www.givewell.org/

motohagiography 6y ago

That's disappointing. Given the size of the UK intelligence budget and how much the whole military must spend on recruiting, being a part of the story that began there is one of the things that gets smart people into public service.

Proven 6y ago
Statist mindset. Why not simply eliminate the private sector to ensure all smart people can't go anywhere but into public service, and get peace and prosperity for all? Smart people shouldn't go into public service.
- motohagiography 6y ago
  Well, then you'd have the UK in the 70's pre-Thatcher, or now, basically. There is some wisdom to putting dull people in charge of governance tasks as they manage to keep themselves mostly out of the way. Too sharp, and you get sophisticated corruption as a way of life, which is the irony of countries where their cleverest people are in government. Too dull and you get mob rule and petty corruption, a junta with proverbial DMV clerks all the way down. The modern UK 'elf'n'safety state seems to lurch a bit toward the latter, so Bletchley could be a rallying point from a time when ordinary people were indeed capable of extraordinary things.

tpmx 6y ago

I had a free Saturday after some boring Friday sales meeting/presentation in London maybe a decade ago. Decided to take a field trip to Bletchley Park instead of wandering aimlessly in London. I just loved the whole experience (including the train trip and the walk from the Bletchley train station) so much. I want to do it again, so I hope it will be able to keep going.

rwmj 6y ago
Unfortunately since then the managers got rid of all the volunteers who had intimate knowledge of the computer science: https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_elderly_volunteers/ https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_... I was very lucky that I got to meet Tony Sale a couple of times before he passed away, back in probably 2008 or thereabouts and he demonstrated the Colossus that he had rebuilt to me, which was a tremendous experience (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sale).
- bgruber 6y ago
  While you do have to know what you are looking for, and walk the long way around from the larger Bletchley Park site, the National Museum of Computing is still (as of last year) there with volunteers showing off the workings of a bunch of rebuilt computers including the Colossus. I can't recommend a visit, with a guided tour, enough. And you might as well visit Bletchley itself while you are there, which is a different experience, but still worth while.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  This is one of those articles that says a lot without saying anything. Why do these two museums not like each other?
- mhh__ 6y ago
  Tony Sale is someone I really wish I got to meet before he died. The WW2 stuff is interesting enough, but he also spent a lot of time running around London chasing and bugging communists with Peter Wright. He would've been working only a few rungs under an alleged soviet mole, which isn't something every get's to do.

frereubu 6y ago

Presumably cock-up rather than conspiracy, but you can search the UK Charities Commission for information on any charity. Bletchley Park says that its registered charity number is 1012743 - https://bletchleypark.org.uk/about-us/contact-us https://bletchleypark.org.uk/about-us/contact-us - but I can't find anything when searching the Charity Commission website: https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/?searchText=1012743&pageNumber=1 https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/?search... I'd be interested to know a bit more about the breakdown of their finances. As another comment says, I wonder just how much Iain Standen, their CEO, gets paid, and whether he offered to take any kind of pay cut. Not saying it would eliminate all layoffs and / or furloughs, but it would be a meaningful gesture of solidarity.

chrisseaton 6y ago
Looks like at most £110k when you read the accounts. Not sure why you're not finding them and mentioning words like 'conspiracy' and 'cock-up' - they're right here if you bother to look for them: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/FinancialHistory.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1012743&SubsidiaryNumber=0 http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfC...
- frereubu 6y ago
  Didn't mean anything arch by that. I tried looking for them by name and charity number but nothing turned up. I consider it a cock-up that I couldn't find them by searching by charity number on the Charity Commission website, which has worked for every charity I've done that for. The only other explanation was that they were going to change their charity status, but I considered that unlikely, hence "cock-up rather than conspiracy".
m-_- 6y ago
Latest accounts:http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends43/0001012743_AC_20181231_E_C.pdf http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends43/0001012... shows £5.32M cash at bank, which likely will have grown to over 6Mn in 2019. This is all at the same time they are kicking out their large commercial tenant who run an innovation centre (end of this year) so they can create some more museum, office and education space. I imagine this situation is not 'so severe' that they will walk back that decision.

wayanon 6y ago

You’d think or hope GCHQ could be involved - or are they already?

Animats 6y ago

Worry instead about the National Museum of Computing.[1] Those are the people who did the bombe rebuild and the Colossus rebuild. Separate admission. They had a falling-out with the building-oriented Bletchley Park Trust. I've been there, but before it was built up into a major tourist attraction. [1] https://bletchleypark.org.uk/visit-us/the-national-museum-of-computing https://bletchleypark.org.uk/visit-us/the-national-museum-of...

chrisseaton 6y ago
> They had a falling-out with the building-oriented Bletchley Park Trust. Does anyone know what this was about?
- m-_- 6y ago
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-25916048 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-25916048
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    Thanks, but that explains absolutely nothing. Even the guy being fired says 'I haven't got a clue'. The say that they want to develop a new visitor centre because they have lottery funding, but I don't see why that means they can't work with the National Museum of Computing. Why doesn't the interview just ask them 'just tell me what is the problem here?' I don't understand how we get these news reports that explain nothing.
    - m-_- 6y ago
      I personally thought it was reasonably clear. Bletchley park estate split into two museums, one large one small. Tour guide from large museum takes visitors to small museum too as this is a major part of the story (i.e colossus, the bomb, witch) allowed for a number of years, now against policy (basically to pretend the small museum does not exist/is not worth visiting) and as such volunteer fired for his transgression. Not in the video, but worth noting is that the small museum are a tenant of the large museum who get use of the estate basically free from Govt.