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Bletchley Park: New crisis for code-breaking hub

53 points by Jaruzel 6y ago

1f60c 6y ago
I suggest changing the title to something like "Bletchley Park is preparing to lay off 35 people"
- racl101 6y ago
  Yep. It's a crisis facing many museums as well as other businesses depending on tourist dollars around the world.
musiciangames 6y ago
It's been on my list to visit since forever. I made a donation so hopefully it will still be open when we can travel freely again.
mattlondon 6y ago
If anyone decides to visit, please also remember to visit the The National Museum of Computing. https://www.tnmoc.org/ https://www.tnmoc.org/ It is literally next door but not part of "Bletchley Park" - BP gets all of the media attention and donations from corporate sponsors etc, but TNMOC has some equally interesting stuff (including a Collosus which is one of several claiming to be "the first computer") but does not seem to get the attention it deserves.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
  Actually, I'd recommend to reserve a lot more time for the National Museum of Computing then Bletchley Park. I found Bletchley Park itself rather boring. "This now-empty building used to house X", or "this is what Alan Turing's office looked like" is a lot less interesting than the amazing machines in the Museum of Computing.
  - setpatchaddress 6y ago
    Concur. TNMOC has a few neat interactive toys, too: BBC Micros and the Harwell Dekatron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDUDGiL9EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDUDGiL9EQ .
mothsonasloth 6y ago
Note: this is the Bletchley Park Trust (https://bletchleypark.org.uk/ https://bletchleypark.org.uk/), which ironically doesn't own or maintain the code breaking and configuration machines. The machines are maintained and operated by the National Museum of Computing - https://www.tnmoc.org/ https://www.tnmoc.org/ There has been some conflicts by these two entities, with Bletchley Park playing dirty a few times. Here are some of my thoughts on the place: https://tomaytotomato.com/the-national-museum-of-computing-2/ https://tomaytotomato.com/the-national-museum-of-computing-2...
- qubex 6y ago
  Upvote for the distinction, but a :-| for the implication of “playing dirty”.
  - mothsonasloth 6y ago
    Have a look at this and other articles from around this time https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_elderly_volunteers/ https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_...
merricksb 6y ago
Different article about this topic discussed 2 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243478 (Only a small discussion so probably doesn't quite count as a dupe).
linsomniac 6y ago
For those interested in Bletchley Park, it features prominently in the book Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War by Leo Marks. I read it maybe 10 years ago and it has a lot of good stuff about WWII codes and spying.
ed25519FUUU 6y ago
> Over the weekend, it emerged that the museum at the wartime code-breaking centre was facing a financial crisis because of the coronavirus - and that meant it was preparing to lay off 35 people, a third of its workforce. How is this a crisis at all? The museum was closed and opened with reduced attendance and doesn’t need this staff. I guess if you can’t separate the museum and the staff this is a crisis, or rather a crisis for its payroll. If we want these sites to persist, we must be willing to cut payroll and staff, even if it means drastically reducing the hours. It’s the site that we’re preserving.
- jack_riminton 6y ago
  I don't know why you're being downvoted, you make a perfectly reasonable point
- lostlogin 6y ago
  > It’s the site that we’re preserving It’s probably not true now as 10+ years have gone by, but when I was there the guides were former Bletchley Park staff from during the war.
jack_riminton 6y ago
Their accounts pre Covid look pretty healthy for a charity https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid=0&regid=1012743 https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid... so hopefully they'll be able to remain going by temporarily cutting down on staff. When I went there were almost more volunteers than visitors, so there's no shortage of willing people to help
- lostlogin 6y ago
  When I was there (10+ years ago) the volunteers were people who had worked there during the war. The place was run down but having a tour guided by someone who knew the place so well was really great.
  - mywittyname 6y ago
    I hope they had the foresight to preserve the memories of these people for future generations. I suspect many of these people were born in the 1920s or earlier, so very few would have been left even 10 years ago; today, I'd be surprised if even a single one remained.
qubex 6y ago
For anybody interested in what working at Bletchley Park must’ve been like during the wartime years, beyond the endless dramas and the dramatically inaccurate Imitation Game, I very much recommend Ian Harris’ Enigma (1995) which triggered off my obsession with the place back twenty-five years ago, more or less when they began rebuilding the Colossus Mk II (which I was delighted to see in full operation the last time I visited Bletchley Park/National Computing Museum in 2011). EDIT: Fixed spelling.
squarefoot 6y ago
> "Eventually a big grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and major donations from tech firms, funded the restoration of the site and the building of a museum ..." Personally I find ironic that a monument to the use of math to help win a war gets big funds from the lottery, which essentially is a tax on the lack of knowledge of maths. ...Or maybe it's the most brilliant way to make good use of that money. However, I would also expect the military to donate the most money, due to the huge number of soldiers lives saved through intercepting Nazi communications. Also they would deserve some form of tax exemption. It's not just about maintaining some buldings and people working there, but also keeping that memory alive, which is priceless.
- KineticLensman 6y ago
  > expect the military to donate the most money, due to the huge number of soldiers lives saved through intercepting Nazi communications Defence spending is really complicated. In the UK, annual defence spending typically pays for the cost of equipping and maintaining the armed services, but the costs of actually going on operations are usually from a separate budget. Ops (wars) are essentially a form of unpredictable expense, requested by politicians, not the generals. If the UK defence budget donated to causes like this, there would be less to spend on people, stuff, training, etc. By way of example, the Imperial War Museum [0] is funded by government grants, charitable donations, and revenue generation through commercial activity such as retailing, licensing, and publishing [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum [Edit - clarity]
djaque 6y ago
I hope they make it out all right. I got the chance to visit a few years ago and was one of my favourite museum experiences. Everything is set up similar to how it was during the war and you can basically just walk up the desk Turing sat at. Like, I could probably have touched it if I wanted to. I also didn't realize how many famous names in graph theory came from there.

53 points by Jaruzel 6y ago

1f60c 6y ago

I suggest changing the title to something like "Bletchley Park is preparing to lay off 35 people"

racl101 6y ago
Yep. It's a crisis facing many museums as well as other businesses depending on tourist dollars around the world.

musiciangames 6y ago

It's been on my list to visit since forever. I made a donation so hopefully it will still be open when we can travel freely again.

mattlondon 6y ago

If anyone decides to visit, please also remember to visit the The National Museum of Computing. https://www.tnmoc.org/ https://www.tnmoc.org/ It is literally next door but not part of "Bletchley Park" - BP gets all of the media attention and donations from corporate sponsors etc, but TNMOC has some equally interesting stuff (including a Collosus which is one of several claiming to be "the first computer") but does not seem to get the attention it deserves.

tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
Actually, I'd recommend to reserve a lot more time for the National Museum of Computing then Bletchley Park. I found Bletchley Park itself rather boring. "This now-empty building used to house X", or "this is what Alan Turing's office looked like" is a lot less interesting than the amazing machines in the Museum of Computing.
- setpatchaddress 6y ago
  Concur. TNMOC has a few neat interactive toys, too: BBC Micros and the Harwell Dekatron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDUDGiL9EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDUDGiL9EQ .

mothsonasloth 6y ago

Note: this is the Bletchley Park Trust (https://bletchleypark.org.uk/ https://bletchleypark.org.uk/), which ironically doesn't own or maintain the code breaking and configuration machines. The machines are maintained and operated by the National Museum of Computing - https://www.tnmoc.org/ https://www.tnmoc.org/ There has been some conflicts by these two entities, with Bletchley Park playing dirty a few times. Here are some of my thoughts on the place: https://tomaytotomato.com/the-national-museum-of-computing-2/ https://tomaytotomato.com/the-national-museum-of-computing-2...

qubex 6y ago
Upvote for the distinction, but a :-| for the implication of “playing dirty”.
- mothsonasloth 6y ago
  Have a look at this and other articles from around this time https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_elderly_volunteers/ https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/28/bletchley_park_sacks_...

merricksb 6y ago

Different article about this topic discussed 2 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24243478 (Only a small discussion so probably doesn't quite count as a dupe).

linsomniac 6y ago

For those interested in Bletchley Park, it features prominently in the book Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War by Leo Marks. I read it maybe 10 years ago and it has a lot of good stuff about WWII codes and spying.

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

> Over the weekend, it emerged that the museum at the wartime code-breaking centre was facing a financial crisis because of the coronavirus - and that meant it was preparing to lay off 35 people, a third of its workforce. How is this a crisis at all? The museum was closed and opened with reduced attendance and doesn’t need this staff. I guess if you can’t separate the museum and the staff this is a crisis, or rather a crisis for its payroll. If we want these sites to persist, we must be willing to cut payroll and staff, even if it means drastically reducing the hours. It’s the site that we’re preserving.

jack_riminton 6y ago
I don't know why you're being downvoted, you make a perfectly reasonable point
lostlogin 6y ago
> It’s the site that we’re preserving It’s probably not true now as 10+ years have gone by, but when I was there the guides were former Bletchley Park staff from during the war.

jack_riminton 6y ago

Their accounts pre Covid look pretty healthy for a charity https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid=0&regid=1012743 https://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid... so hopefully they'll be able to remain going by temporarily cutting down on staff. When I went there were almost more volunteers than visitors, so there's no shortage of willing people to help

lostlogin 6y ago
When I was there (10+ years ago) the volunteers were people who had worked there during the war. The place was run down but having a tour guided by someone who knew the place so well was really great.
- mywittyname 6y ago
  I hope they had the foresight to preserve the memories of these people for future generations. I suspect many of these people were born in the 1920s or earlier, so very few would have been left even 10 years ago; today, I'd be surprised if even a single one remained.

qubex 6y ago

For anybody interested in what working at Bletchley Park must’ve been like during the wartime years, beyond the endless dramas and the dramatically inaccurate Imitation Game, I very much recommend Ian Harris’ Enigma (1995) which triggered off my obsession with the place back twenty-five years ago, more or less when they began rebuilding the Colossus Mk II (which I was delighted to see in full operation the last time I visited Bletchley Park/National Computing Museum in 2011). EDIT: Fixed spelling.

squarefoot 6y ago

> "Eventually a big grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and major donations from tech firms, funded the restoration of the site and the building of a museum ..." Personally I find ironic that a monument to the use of math to help win a war gets big funds from the lottery, which essentially is a tax on the lack of knowledge of maths. ...Or maybe it's the most brilliant way to make good use of that money. However, I would also expect the military to donate the most money, due to the huge number of soldiers lives saved through intercepting Nazi communications. Also they would deserve some form of tax exemption. It's not just about maintaining some buldings and people working there, but also keeping that memory alive, which is priceless.

KineticLensman 6y ago
> expect the military to donate the most money, due to the huge number of soldiers lives saved through intercepting Nazi communications Defence spending is really complicated. In the UK, annual defence spending typically pays for the cost of equipping and maintaining the armed services, but the costs of actually going on operations are usually from a separate budget. Ops (wars) are essentially a form of unpredictable expense, requested by politicians, not the generals. If the UK defence budget donated to causes like this, there would be less to spend on people, stuff, training, etc. By way of example, the Imperial War Museum [0] is funded by government grants, charitable donations, and revenue generation through commercial activity such as retailing, licensing, and publishing [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum [Edit - clarity]

djaque 6y ago

I hope they make it out all right. I got the chance to visit a few years ago and was one of my favourite museum experiences. Everything is set up similar to how it was during the war and you can basically just walk up the desk Turing sat at. Like, I could probably have touched it if I wanted to. I also didn't realize how many famous names in graph theory came from there.