By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor
The general public are being asked to propose names for the UK’s new polar research ship and way out in front is…Boaty McBoatface.
This wild suggestion for The National Research Council’s (NERC) next Royal Research Ship (RRS), is beating RRS Henry Worseley and RRS David Attenborough at the moment. You get the feeling people are not taking the naming of this ship too seriously.
The new ship will replace the existing RRS James Clark Ross and RRS Ernest Shackleton, which work in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The boat will be 128 metres long and weigh around 15,000 tonnes, and up to 90 scientists and support staff could live on board. The £200m vessel is due to be operational in 2019.
There is still time to vote and to put over your own ideas. RRS Usain Boat, RRS Ice Ice Baby and RRS Boatimus Prime are already in the running.
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
