LETTERS
TALKING POINT
Optimistic future...
Science minister Lord Drayson
recently announced his support
for a UK-manned space
programme. I hope this is not
just tub-thumping by a politico
wishing to gain a reputation, and
that there will be a subsequent
increased involvement by UK
industry. I am also worried by
negative comments regarding
funding posted on newspaper
websites.
There may not be an entirely
traceable linear trickle-down of
benefits from space flight, but the
Apollo moon-shot, for example,
brought with it a huge increase in,
for example, our knowledge of
ballistics, high-speed flight
characteristics, specialist coatings,
logistics, test procedures,
computers and control systems.
Once you have pushed those
areas to their limits you have
a very strong basis for
20
Think small
Your survey ‘Frontline views’
(Feature, 13 October) regarding
the state of engineering skills
highlighted concerns about
the preparedness (or otherwise)
of graduates for a career in
the sector.
I agree with the commentator
who pointed out that the real
problems are faced by smaller
businesses. The big companies
with attractive graduate schemes
and the ability to do the ‘milk round’
of universities will always get the
brightest and the best.
It is the supply of able
graduates willing to work in the
SMEs that are the lifeblood of our
engineering economy, and lack
the ‘wow factor’ of somewhere like
Airbus or Ford, that needs to be
addressed.
A Bird
Worcester
the development of novel
technologies, which gives your
indigenous industry a huge boost.
This generates income from
overseas, and benefits the
economy as a whole.
For me, though, the most
compelling motivation comes from
the fact that Man is born to
explore and change. I just wish
this country would shake off
its lethargy and start doing
something noble again.
What we are missing today is
the exhilaration of adventure,
someone to emulate and the
chance to be a part of an
optimistic future. People need to
experience what the team behind
Neil Armstrong did 40 years ago,
Yuri Gagarin seven years earlier,
the Wright Brothers over a century
ago and all the way back to
Columbus and Marco Polo.
With regard to funding, if this
gets the green light you won’t be
looking at a major spend for a
year or two, time enough for more
stability and growth within the
financial sector.
When I worked for an aircraft
company we couldn’t get City
funding because the financial
institutions wanted a return
within three months, and that
did for us.
If the City had possessed the
vision and commitment to look for
a return in three or five years then
we may still have that company
today, with a product ready for the
next phase of air travel.
Stephen Mosley, Kenwood
...for today’s students
Please don’t lose all hope for the
engineers of tomorrow.
I am 17 and applying to read a
masters degree in mechanical
engineering.
I have been reading
The Engineer since I was about
15. Almost every issue comments
on how there are not enough
students applying to read
engineering and work in the
industry, but I want to reassure
people that we are around.
Perhaps we are an increasingly
rare breed, but we’re watching,
waiting, and itching to take over.
So don’t lose all hope just yet.
I remember recently, in
response to a letter ‘Causing a
stir’ about the most efficient way
to make a cup of coffee, one
reader angrily wrote: ‘Why are we
discussing the best method of
mixing a cup of coffee, when we
are trying to encourage the
engineers of the future to take up
the profession?’
I wasn’t put off by this
discussion and leave readers
with this thought. Why do
factory-made hamburgers go from
round to oval when cooked, but
home-made hamburgers stay
round? Perhaps another young
reader can answer this?
Dave Hayden, by email
Thank you for your letter. The
Engineer is always keen to
encourage views and ideas from
future engineers, and we hope the
feature on page 28 does just that
— editor.
Engineering matters
Our online leader article ‘Crunch
time’ argued that the financial
crash should force more
recognition of engineering as an
element of the UK’s productive
economy. Here is a selection of
your emails.
Shouting at the TV screen indeed.
I’ve been doing it for months, if
not years, while the financial world
carried on believing that betting
on share movements or
commodity prices is a solid basis
for business. Meanwhile the
30-strong niche engineering
company with whom I work
continues to integrate hi-tech
equipment, add intellectual value
and export 95 per cent of
production. But what future will
the global crisis in ‘confidence’
bring? Thanks, Square Mile.
Thanks a lot.
Dave Bethell
As engineers, we harness the
complexities of a wide range of
materials and combine them
with the laws of physics and
sophisticated mathematics to
make something simple enough
for humans to interact with and
gain value from.
Conversely, financiers take the
simplest mathematical operators
(addition and subtraction — that’s
all you can do with money) and
with them weave webs of opaque
complexity so that even they do
not understand what they have
constructed. Unfortunately, when
their structures collapse they take
everyone’s wealth with them.
There’s a lesson for the future.
Nigel Blake
It is good to read a positive view
for a change. In Ireland recently I
noticed that the press produced a
mix of pundits so a balanced view
is given, even to the extent that
they talk about preparing for the
recovery.
In the UK we seem to drag up
every doom merchant and give an
imbalanced view centred purely
on the financial sector. Did I read
that City bonuses last year totalled
over £16bn?
Nick Marshall
the EnGIneeR 27 OCTOBER– 9 NOVEMBER 2008
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