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The first British person in space

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Re: The first British person in space

#41

Post by nickdothutton »

dtf wrote: post #38
cs02rm0 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NHS consumes about half of all day to day public service spending. It is singular in its ability to suck spending out of UK government.

That seems like a lot. Can I ask where you got that figure? Is "day-to-day" denoting some kind of specific budget? I just tried to Google it and their AI responded with "The NHS and social care account for roughly half (49%) of all day-to-day public service spending controlled by the Westminster government.", linking me to a report from the The King's Fund [1]. But on reading that report, it seems to say only that 49…

Out of all day to day government spending on services (health, schools, police, courts, etc), the NHS consumes about 40% of departmental expenditure limits [1]. Although it is pre-covid and the picture has worsened significantly since then, this BBC article is quite good too at examining the different figures [2].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-spending-sta... (Diagram in section 2.2) [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42572110

Re: The first British person in space

#42

Post by amiga386 »

rob74 wrote: post #40
KineticLensman wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that was "Foot heads arms body", when Michael Foot became the chair of CND.

TBF, that pun was to good to pass up. Although (after looking up the CND) "Foot heads no-arms body" would have been more correct (and maybe even funnier, depending on your sense of humour)... EDIT: looks like this is one of the most well-known headlines that was never actually used : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Foot#%22Foot_Heads_Arm...

If you'd like a real one, try the occasion in 2000 of Caledonian Thistle beating Celtic 3-1, sparking the headline SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC, CELTIC ARE ATROCIOUS

Re: The first British person in space

#43

Post by fidotron »

drumhead wrote: post #5

It was really sad how she doesn't get the recognition she deserves for being the first Briton in space. Whether it's because she's a woman or because it was with the Russians she hasn't received the level of respect or adulation you expect for the achievement.

As others have pointed out at the time she absolutely did get attention. What the modern UK has memory holed is just how bonkersly pro-Russian it was in the 90s; everything from Tetris, Newton handwriting recognition, software generally, rockets, materials, nanotech, new gas supplies, having Abramovich buy Chelsea and the result being practically all the upper middle class exploring Russian (and ex Soviet) connections for investment. The former USSR was then what Qatar etc. are today. It does seem plausible that she fell into that hole along with everything else.

Re: The first British person in space

#44

Post by nradov »

celticninja wrote: post #33
nickdothutton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brits more or less completely abandoned space in any meaningful way. Successive governments didn't value it at all in comparison to other areas of policy. Even after we developed our own independent orbital launch capability. The story is much the same today, a couple of satellite companies, very little real primary capability. Our "spaceports" are mostly artist impressions or computer generated imagery. Meanwhile we…

What is the point re the health service? We should be enriching people like musk instead of looking after the health of citizens? We spend money on loads of stuff just wondering why you think the NHS needs to be singled out as if it is using resources that could be used to find space exploration/launches.

Healthcare is a bottomless pit. Demand is effectively infinite so no amount of funding will ever be enough. That's not to say we should eliminate it, but there has to be a balance. We shouldn't dump so many resources into healthcare that it strangles other sectors like space launch that are pushing human society forward for the long term. Whether that enriches certain individuals or not is completely irrelevant.

And you present a false choice. No matter what it does, the NHS can only ever have a relatively minor impact on the health of UK citizens. In terms of lifespan — and more importantly healthspan — it's less significant than lifestyle factors: exercise, diet, substance abuse, sleep hygiene, violence, toxin exposure, etc.

Re: The first British person in space

#45

Post by SuddsMcDuff »

ascorbic wrote: post #6
drumhead wrote: post #5

It was really sad how she doesn't get the recognition she deserves for being the first Briton in space. Whether it's because she's a woman or because it was with the Russians she hasn't received the level of respect or adulation you expect for the achievement.

I was a child at the time and I absolutely remember her getting adulation and celebrity. The may have faded from a lot of memories since, but at the time she was definitely recognised

Same, I didn't recognise her name immediately, but that iconic image of her was seared into my childhood memory.

Re: The first British person in space

#46

Post by nephihaha »

alansaber wrote: post #17

I remember Tim Peake being touted as the first British astronaut, and being a little confused (having previously met Helen Sharman at Imperial College London) had to dig this story up myself.

Technically that is correct, because Helen Sharman was a cosmonaut rather than an astronaut or taikonaut.

But NASA does that all the time. They recently claimed to perform the first flight and sound transmissions from another planet. The Soviet Venera missions had already done this during the 1980s from Venus. NASA performed the first powered flight on Mars.

Re: The first British person in space

#47

Post by philipwhiuk »

jrmg wrote: post #35
alansaber wrote: post #17

I remember Tim Peake being touted as the first British astronaut, and being a little confused (having previously met Helen Sharman at Imperial College London) had to dig this story up myself.

People will argue that Sharman was a cosmonaut because she went into space with the Soviet Union. The distinction is Cold War propaganda that has never made any sense to me. We have two English words to describe the same thing, but one is only used if the act was done or facilitated by Russia?

We also have taikonaut but it's not taken as seriously ;)

Re: The first British person in space

#48

Post by IAmBroom »

jrmg wrote: post #35
alansaber wrote: post #17

I remember Tim Peake being touted as the first British astronaut, and being a little confused (having previously met Helen Sharman at Imperial College London) had to dig this story up myself.

People will argue that Sharman was a cosmonaut because she went into space with the Soviet Union. The distinction is Cold War propaganda that has never made any sense to me. We have two English words to describe the same thing, but one is only used if the act was done or facilitated by Russia?

People will argue. ESPECIALLY on HN.

I've yet to see a discussion that doesn't have a major subthread on an apparently unrelated subject. This is the Internet's vacation spot for "Well, ackshually" interjections.

Per the unwritten guidelines, each thread must also contain at least one reference to Musk, AI, or Tim Cook.

Re: The first British person in space

#49

Post by ThinkingGuy »

Couldn't help but be reminded of Eddie Izzard's old "Career Advisor" bit:

"I want to be a space astronaut, go to outer space and discover things that have never been discovered!"

"Look, you're British, so scale it down a bit, all right?"

https://youtu.be/xGGeLHnDQk8?si=XNEC8Pg8xER6EBOX&t=12

Re: The first British person in space

#50

Post by ascorbic »

drumhead wrote: post #9
ascorbic wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a child at the time and I absolutely remember her getting adulation and celebrity. The may have faded from a lot of memories since, but at the time she was definitely recognised

I was an adult and other than being on the obvious shows like Blue Peter and newsround, there was nothing. You'd expect a knighthood or a peerage, all she's got is an OBE. England football team in 1990 got a parade through London for getting to the semi finals, and our first astronaut got...nothing.

Hah. Well, for a kid then, Blue Peter and Newsround was celebrity!
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