What is it with the BBC and the CERN particle collider? This bizarre report, by Katia Moskvitch, crows aggressively that this hugely expensive piece of boys’ toys kit is about to become the best in the world and to outdo the dastardly rival in (boo! hiss!)the United States. It reads more like a partisan cub reporter’s coverage of a footie match than a science feature. The reality is that our Katia is doing what the BBC does best: supporting the EU. She is cheering on the fact that CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) is an EU project, a monstrously expensive vanity project paid for by our cash, and only in existence because the EU Commission, like all dictatorships, desperately wants kudos irrespective of cost or need. And the BBC – the EU’s equivalent of Pravda – willingly plays ball with the huge conceit. Since Hadron’s launch it has given wholly disproportionate, adulatory news coverage to the project.
EU WORSHIP…
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I often wondered about that too. Has this great big bloody thing told us anything useful yet?
The BBC is so fascinated because of all of the large hardons.
Asuka,
Nice one !!!
The CERN projects aims mirror its achievements, it has simply created a black hole where billions of euros have been mysteriously attracted to a central point and have dissapeared without trace.
Nothing of value has been or will ever emerge from the this ghastly ego driven excersise, it will merely confirm some theoretical physics and mathematics if all goes to plan.
The scientists get a shiny new toy to play with and the ‘in crowd’ scientific institutions benefit from funding, it will not create new engineering techniques and materials, it will not create a new manufacturing economy and it will not in fact do anything other that employ hundreds of scientists who would be far better employed in other areas.
This is the curse of government funding, it encourages vanity projects where flimflam salesmanship and flashy presentations blind ignorant politicians, real science suffers and real scientists are ignored, after all what possible political benefits can be gained by financing new casting methods and bearing production and ultra high strength material design? It will be left to some lone engineer working on a shoestring to uncover the real leaps in engineering we need to progress beyond our primitive state.
All those billions have simply bought a possible physical confirmation of a theoretical model..yaaaay hooooray innit great?
Government waste money, that is a concrete law of the the known universe, there are no uncertainties and unknowns in this law. The EU are masters in the art of wasting money and they are wasting and squandering the entire wealth of the planets leading civilisation.
Most of those who now waste vast sums,eye watering sums of money have never in fact ever been able or willing to create any wealth whatsover by their endeavours.
If only a group of scientists could examine the relationship between wealth consumers love of consuming wealth and wealth creators love of creating wealth! Now that would be a worthwhile project and no error eh?
Such a success??? The first time it failed after a very short time, since the news seems a little sparse I do wonder if everything is alright with the monster. But funded by the EU, ie us, it will go on being played with without any noticeable effect except for the money pouring into it’s black hole.
It might actually do some good science if they ever get rid of all the gremlins in the machinery. But then again, as it is constructed under the direction of the EU bureaucracy, perhaps not any time soon.
Whilst your general thesis on BBC Bias is on the money, I think in this particular case you’ve made an error.
CERN is not an agency of the EU – all I’m sure they’d like it to be – and in fact it dates back to almost the same time as the original European Coal & Steel Union (early fifties).
You’re right. It’s under the aegis of an even older and larger body of Eurocrats.
Remember when the BBC had the big build-up to “European Hadron Day” or whatever they called and when the great day came the experiment went wrong or, I think was postponed ?
It was hilarious. The BBC quicky dropped the subject at the time. But not forever !