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UK Space Agency Launched
krou writes "Today saw the launch of the new UK Space Agency (UKSA), which will officially come into being on the 1st of April. Its stated goal is to lead to more coherency in space policy, and better decision making, by gradually assuming control over the various budgets and management functions of various government departments and science funding councils. Lord Drayson, the minister for science and innovation, said that 'People in the UK are not aware of just how good Britain is both at space research and in terms of our space industry; [a space agency] is going to make people more aware of that. But in practical terms, it's going to make the decision-making by government in all aspects of space policy much more joined up, better co-ordinated — a single point within government which has responsibility for making sure that we get everything in alignment such that the space research we do, the space industry that we're building, fulfils its true potential.' The government also announced that it is adding £24m to the £16m put up by business to create an International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire."
In the UK the public sector (and a lot of provate firms too) begins the new financial year on 1st April, so this date is commonly the day that new government agencies start operating, and old ones are wound up. It's because until 1752 New Year's Day in Britain and its colonies was March 25th. In 1752 we adopted the Gregorian calendar, and New Year's Day moved to January 1st. Since then the tax year in the UK starts on April 5th (March 25th + 11) because moving from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar meant an adjustment of 11 days, but the Inland Revenue didn't want to lose any revenue from their annual accounts. April 1st became the common financial new year as it was the nearest whole-month start to that date.
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/
ESA = European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/
CSA = Canadian Space Agency
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp
JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(ooops)
http://www.jaxa.jp/
Tons more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_agency
They seem to already have a logo, and a pretty nice one too.
"Total destruction the only solution" - Bob Marley
You should probably stop watching Noels HQ and reading the daily mail.
British Crime Survey 2008-2009 states -
The BCS and police recorded crime differ in their coverage of crime. Overall, crime as measured by the BCS shows no change compared with the 2007/08 BCS with no change in most crime types. Crimes recorded by the police show a five per cent decrease compared with 2007/08, with decreases in most crime types.
HOW HAVE LEVELS OF CRIME CHANGED OVER THE LONGER TERM?
Long-term trends show that BCS crime rose steadily from 1981 through to the early 1990s, peaking in 1995. Crime then fell, making 1995 a significant turning point. The fall was substantial until 2004/05. Since then, BCS crime has shown little overall change with the exception of a statistically significant reduction of 10 per cent in 2007/08 (the lowest ever level since the first results in 1981). The apparent increase of five per cent in BCS crime this year is not statistically significant. Trends in BCS violence, vehicle-related theft and burglary broadly reflect the trend in all BCS crime.
the full report is here
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
The final decision rested on a Tory minister (Frederick Corfield) - and whilst he could certainly have had some "Yes, Minister" style assistance from civil servants, he was ultimately responsible in my eyes.
Its too easy for politicians to gut important programs in the name of short term savings, because ultimately the long term losses aren't the problem of the decision maker (the minister in question wasn't in his position for very long).
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
I dunno.. have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppXlVjRD5lY
http://rareformnewmedia.com/