Democracy Is Dead in Britain
11th May 2016
The naming of the Royal Research Ship (RRS) attracted huge interest after the Natural Environment Research Council encouraged Britons to come up with suggestions, leading to a stream of light-hearted ideas such as RRS Usain Boat, RRS I Like Big Boats&I Cannot Lie and RRS Watch Out For The Iceberg.
Backed by a social media campaign, Boaty McBoatface easily topped an online poll with more than 124,000 votes, although even the instigator of the Boaty name later apologized for his suggestion.
However, the government decided that the state-of-the-art ship, which is due to set sail in 2019, would be named after Attenborough, 89, famed for his BBC TV natural history programs spanning six decades and whose name had attracted 11,000 votes.
Yeah, we’ll allow democracy except where it crosses the opinions of the Great and the Good.