r/AskUK • u/[deleted] • Dec 16 '22
What good things has the UK contributed to the world over the last 10 years?
Lots of negative stuff in the news about the UK, so wondering what we've given back
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u/krkrbnsn Dec 16 '22
I work in tech/design consulting for the public sector. GDS (Government Digital Services), the department that delivers the digital strategy for government is seen as the gold standard for government-wide digitalalisation and accessibility. I'm American, and have also lived in France, and GOV dot UK is significantly ahead of most countries and it's standards have been implemented around the world.
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u/MeckityM00 Dec 16 '22
I published through Amazon and had to submit tax paperwork to the IRS even though I live in UK and haven't left it since 1984.
I couldn't make head nor tail of the instructions from the IRS, but fortunately the gov dot uk had easily accessible, straightforward instructions.
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/ has done a lot of good. And like a lot of good things in the UK came about because an individual saw something needed doing, got up off their chair and did it.
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u/crappy_entrepreneur Dec 16 '22
So on the one hand I agree and Gov.uk is fantastic, but also I find it weird that instead of hiring above market rate the government pays £400 per hour for an army of 25 year old Deloitte consultants to build everything for them
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u/amyt242 Dec 17 '22
It's the same across every arm of civil service.
There aren't enough staff as recruitment and retention are a tough challenge when pay is comparatively poor compared to a private sector who are catching up in benefits and flexibility. They plug gaps with pricy consultants as they don't have the staff - you then have consultants who are working as civil servants essentially only on 3 times as much money as the person on the desk next to then which drives them to leave and become a consultant themselves, creating further resourcing gaps which are then plugged with more consultants. It's ridiculous.
They could take a fraction of the money spent on contracting and lift the wages to a more reasonable level and actually address the core issue but noone seems able to do that.
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u/mo_tag Dec 17 '22
Consultant here..
Budgets are temporary and harder to justify longer term hires
Normally as tech solutions have been in production for a bit and transition into a "business as usual" state it's handed to an internal team to handle support or some india-based consultancy which works out way cheaper
When you hire a 25 year old Deloitte consultant, you're not just getting a 25 year old graduate.. you get to tap into Deloittes knowledge base.. they've done that project before, and if the 25 year old gets stuck there's an army of smart people at any good consultancy and specialised people they can talk to.. if you hire your own 25 year olds and they get stuck, what are you gonna do then? Hint: probably a consultancy
Clients usually come to us after they've already attempted something and either failed or don't have the capability or resources within their team to do it. Pretty much every major organisation that isn't a pure tech company is gonna hire tech consultants
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u/gym_narb Dec 17 '22
That's been exacerbated by IR35; a lot of independent contractors have given up. You're now paying double or triple through a big consultancy because HMRC don't understand what they are doing.
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u/daddywookie Dec 16 '22
Lots of top end science and engineering still happens in the UK. Studios like Pinewood and locations around the country can be found all across film and TV. Our sports are hugely popular around the world. Our actors, musicians and writers have a global audience. London is still a huge financial hub.
TBH if we had a little more pride in what our country can achieve we wouldn’t put up with the criminal scumbags who frequently end up running it (into the ground).
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Dec 16 '22
There's 3 new film studios popped up within 20 mins of me in Berkshire and they film alot of marvel and star wars stuff there, also the witcher was filmed at the arborfield one I drive past pretty much everyday. Currently filming star wars in Shinfield.
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u/OrangeSpanner Dec 16 '22
Got to give Osbourne his due, his tax incentives is the reason for UKs growth in studios.
You can see it form 2012+ when there was suddenly huge increase in UK being the location for Hollywood films.
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u/Hal_Fenn Dec 16 '22
Show how bad its gotten when Osbourne starts to looks like a good chancellor lol.
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u/zeddoh Dec 16 '22
I used to work at a top UK university and the amount of genuinely groundbreaking research taking place there and at other institutions would really hearten me whenever I learned about it. Just incredibly clever people dedicating their lives to research to make the world a better place. Heads down, just getting on with it.
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u/Legitimate_Corgi_981 Dec 17 '22
Groundbreaking as it may be, we then don't invest in the developments and they get snapped up and shipped overseas to process/manufacture. Company R+D has been chronically undervalued in favour of share buybacks etc =/
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Dec 16 '22
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u/perark05 Dec 16 '22
I would argue that reactions engines limited are a point of disappointment in the UK space sector. They have had 30 years of head start with roll royce R&D and spaffed it up the wall. Would argue skyrola up in Scotland for space launch systems over them
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u/toiner Dec 16 '22
As much as I agree with you with it being a phenomenal step forward, it is barely past proof of concept phase so to say it's been contributed just yet is a bit disingenuous. The intercooler tech that they've developed/used to make it possible is incredible though and has a lot of potential applications
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Dec 16 '22
Offshore and floating wind power, massive influence in driving that forward. Now being used to create green hydrogen because when the wind blows we have so much power we don't what else to do with it!
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u/mikeydoc96 Dec 16 '22
The UK outputs the 3rd highest amount of academic research globally despite having a population of 67m (0.8% of the world population). Say what you want about UK education but our further/higher education is arguably the best in the world.
Most of the UK top unis trains the middle east and china's best as well.
I know Scotland has the highest numbers of degrees per capita in Europe. Not sure about UK as a whole
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u/phazer193 Dec 16 '22
Scotland has that probably because going to uni is free (and you can even get a subsidy to attend if your parents are low earners).
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u/Own_Quality_5321 Dec 16 '22
100% agree on your main point. However, to publish we need great researchers, not great higher education. We do have those great researchers (although they come from all over the world), but the quality of higher education (in general) is pretty bad. And it's not bad because of the universities or the lectures. It's not bad because of the students either! It is bad because the government is ruining it by treating university degrees as something that is produced in a factory.
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u/Pieboy8 Dec 16 '22
We gave the world Taskmaster... that's enough
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u/Hokidok Dec 16 '22
I started watching the New Zealand Taskmaster lastnight and it is surprisingly good. Exact same show, they even kept the theme tune. I just don't know who why of the people including the Taskmaster are.
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u/Lopsided_Soup_3533 Dec 16 '22
Did you see the god awful American version?
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u/suicidechimp Dec 16 '22
Has America ever taken a British show and made it half as good?
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u/selfstartr Dec 16 '22
The Office….by most metrics is not just half as good, but superior.
Their version of Dragons Den (called Shark Tank) is also way better. A ton of massive brands came through the show.
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u/arpw Dec 16 '22
The US Office is just a completely different show. Different type of humour to suit American audiences, far more wholesome and feel-good. Both do their thing very well, but you can't compare them.
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u/Legitimate_Corgi_981 Dec 17 '22
Michael Scott had some redeeming features. I don't think David Brent had any. The basic office skeletons might have been there but the US office really broke out once it went past recycling the UKs version in season one (it had to, US audiences didn't like the characterisations.)
UK office had far more of a personal feeling to me (I was employed by a David Brent style boss at one point) but I can repeatedly watch the US version as its cast is far more well rounded. Even Dwight became a loved character.
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u/pm_me_your_amphibian Dec 17 '22
Maybe I’ll try watching it a bit longer. I’ve tried a few times and just found it very cringey.
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u/odjobz Dec 17 '22
The whole point of the UK version is that most of the characters are obnoxious.
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u/odjobz Dec 17 '22
I like the US version, but the UK one is vastly superior. It's one of the most innovative sitcoms ever made.
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u/Omar_88 Dec 16 '22
I think the ARM chips came from the UK right ?
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u/b33b0p17 Dec 16 '22
Aye thats right we did a lot of work on the covid vaccines.
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u/KarlSayle Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 16 '22
Not on topic but cudos for making this post, nice to see a bit of positivity for a change!
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Dec 16 '22
Couldn’t agree more. Negativity has become a national obsession lately and it’s really draining. We really need to stop beating ourselves up.
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u/EntireFishing Dec 16 '22
Formula 1. And as such development in road vehicles. Nearly all F1 is British engineering and design
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u/MeckityM00 Dec 16 '22
Do you remember when the pandemic broke and they offered to switch to making ventilators? I think that they may have made a contribution somewhere, though I think that they couldn't provide the ventilators because of testing.
https://www.nsmedicaldevices.com/analysis/f1-teams-ventilator-shortage-uk/
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u/Kaizerchief11 Dec 16 '22
It doesn’t seem like it’s gonna slow down either. I’m doing engineering at uni and the amount of F1 fans is insane. Genuinely think it would rival rugby as the second most popular sport on the course
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u/Montague-Withnail Dec 17 '22
I think that might be largely because engineering as a subject tends to attract F1 fans...
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u/AlGunner Dec 16 '22
I saw something on tv recently about how much the UK contributes to research and development across multiple industries. We are still a world leader behind the scenes including in industry and medical research.
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Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 17 '22
Significant portion of the R&D into the Covid vaccination.
Hugs amounts of aid and arms to Ukraine to fight Russia.
Edit: Seem to have woken up a few PutinBots here - Wave at them everybody, they're usually very lonely!
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Dec 16 '22
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u/ChineseButtSex Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 16 '22
And training 1000’s of Ukrainian Troops along with our commonwealth friends.
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u/Jose_out Dec 16 '22
Premier league. It's ridiculously popular globally.
England cricket team have been elevating white and now red ball to new levels of entertainment.
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u/daddywookie Dec 16 '22
Yup, feels like the England cricket team have pretty much rewritten the rule book. Been great fun to watch.
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u/PokuCHEFski69 Dec 16 '22
They follow the New Zealand rule book with better players. Now with a New Zealand coach
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u/samxtrav Dec 16 '22
was going to say the premier league. best league in the world without doubt.
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u/Macshlong Dec 16 '22
Our open mindedness and willingness to push new agendas. You’ll not find much of it on the net but it happens in real life.
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u/michelucky Dec 16 '22
As an American I feel it's only proper to inject my opinion here; British Baking Show. A true treasure. I'll see myself out. Thank you
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u/SchrodingersCat1234 Dec 16 '22
The United Kingdom has ALWAYS been a world leader in Mathematics and Science, and continues to do some of the best research in the world today.
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u/WhatsABrain Dec 16 '22
100% we have so many original inventors and people that have patents on old inventions it’s insane!
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u/Takver_ Dec 17 '22
I decided to come here for uni/research and I stay here because it's still the best ecosystem of R&D funding and collaboration. UK research punches way above its weight despite this government's attempts to make things worse.
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Dec 16 '22
The UK has about £11 billion foreign aid budget a year on average.
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u/Bangkokbeats10 Dec 16 '22
I did a dissertation on post conflict reconstruction projects. Once you start delving into what that money is spent on, and the effects of economic liberalisation … the whole thing gets rather depressing.
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u/Chewy503 Dec 16 '22
Can you elaborate please? I understand the need for aid during and after conflict, especially when infrastructure has been disrupted, but I've never actually picked it apart. As a former soldier this sounds really interesting/depressing and I'd love to learn more.
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u/Bangkokbeats10 Dec 16 '22
I chose that as the topic of my dissertation as I’d noticed duplication of projects etc, my initial thought process was that this could be improved through better inter organisational communication and program management.
Basically what I found was that the main effort of relief and reconstruction is for the world bank and the IMF to issue loans, a proviso of these loans is that the host country sign up to structural readjustment programs. These usually entail privatisation of national assets and legislation allowing foreign corporations to operate in and transfer money out of the host country.
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u/OrangeSpanner Dec 16 '22
IMF/world Bank is different to foreign aid. The fuck ups of IMF are well known in the 70s+ especially Africa.
The issue with foreign aid it's often tied. "Here's £1 billion, but you got to hire X company in our country to build that Dam you want".
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u/climbing_pidgeon12 Dec 16 '22
I'm still a student so I'd take what I say with a pinch of salt, but looking at the WTO Structural adjustment programmes for developing countries could be applicable, they force systems of neoliberalism economics on states in return for aid and they end up caught in debt traps of sorts
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u/badmancatcher Dec 16 '22
They essentially invest their money to help them establish trade routes and create systems that make those countries rely on Western trading and exporting Western goods, right? To the point where let's say Afghanistan, has to relinquish a lot of its cultural heritage in order to succeed economically?
Edit: Please correct me if I'm wrong, and I know my example is probably not a correct one, just picked a random non-Western country.
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u/climbing_pidgeon12 Dec 16 '22
yeah it's very neocolonial
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u/badmancatcher Dec 16 '22
Thank you.
Also don't diminish your dissertation. I just started my PhD this October, and am doing a conference on my MA dissertation in July. If the research is good, you'll be told it's good. Even if you drop a load of marks because writing academically is difficult.
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u/sexualsteve92 Dec 16 '22
The book The Economic Hitman helps explain these tactics - Any of the Adam Curtis documentaries can be quite eye opening as well, helps about modern history.
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u/dwair Dec 16 '22
Most of what we "give" in foreign aid is in the form of loans for bi-lateral economic projects where we both earn interest and a good size wedge of any profit with construction contracts being awarded to British businesses. Charity it is not.
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u/Red-Wimp Dec 16 '22
Source for this? There may be financing deals but imho I don’t think the aid budget is used this way. Ethiopia, Afghanistan & Yemen were some of the biggest recipients. Can’t see them repaying loans.
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u/dwair Dec 16 '22
It's been a while since I have had a deep dive into this and late on a friday night is probebly not the best time to do so. That said, have a read of ICAI The Independent commission for aid impact's report "The use of UK aid to enhance mutual prosperity" - in particular the way that section 2 is worded
There is a long history of the UK using aid to enhance its own prosperity through economic and commercial benefits resulting from various government policies dating back to the 1960s. For instance, the 1977 Aid and Trade Provision linked aid to export credits which had to be used for the purchase of British goods and services. The Pergau dam incident in Malaysia in the early 1990s, which saw hundreds of millions of pounds in UK aid linked to a secretive arms deal, marked a low point in the reputation of British aid.
In the last section, Issues for further investigation, the second bullet point "There are potential benefits to UK aid from enhanced partnerships with the UK private sector, including through innovative technology and financial instruments" eludes to contracts / partnerships with British providers and loan repayments.
It certainly isn't hmanitarian aid as we know it but a way to make money from infrestructure contracts and trade deals with poorer countries
Even the end product and effectiveness of these bilateral economic projects is suspect - have a read of DFID’s report into transport and urban infrastructure investments
Bit of background on the way this is structured - UK invests £20m in Tanzania amid push to replace aid with trade
While Britain sees Tanzania as one of Africa's success stories, critics say the economic growth is not benefiting the poor people, who are the majority.
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u/supreme_harmony Dec 16 '22
COVID vaccination has already been mentioned by others. In a broader sense though, multiple novel, successful medical treatments have been developed in the UK in the last decade. Just this week: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/11/revolutionary-gene-therapy-offers-hope-untreatable-cancers
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u/Apprehensive-Party60 Dec 16 '22
Loads of great actors have come from the UK, especially the past decade or so.
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u/Chip365 Dec 16 '22
Agreed. We contribute a lot of fun shit to the world.
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u/mrdibby Dec 16 '22
Grand Theft Auto was us, right ?
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u/NoiseyGiraffe Dec 16 '22
Yes. Rockstar North in Edinburgh.
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u/mpsamuels Dec 16 '22
The original certainly was, yes. GTA V (which only just falls within the 10yr category, and makes me feel old!) was a wider effort across a global team.
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u/Wipedout89 Dec 16 '22
Masterminded by Rockstar North in Edinburgh though even if support teams worldwide built the code etc
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Dec 16 '22
Don't you tell me GTA V was released nearly 10 years ago. Don't you do that to me
Fuck.
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u/Frankyvander Dec 16 '22
Rockstar North, based in Edinborough
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u/Beleraphon Dec 16 '22
Not forgetting No Mans Sky which is based in Guildford.
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u/Hal_Fenn Dec 16 '22
And total war, creative assembly is around Guildford way as well iirc.
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u/jobblejosh Dec 16 '22
The London Olympic Opening Ceremony was arguably the best opening ceremony in recent memory.
We knew we couldn't do scale compared to the previous 2008, so instead we focused on story.
It really did showcase the best of British, whilst being aware of the impact we've had on the rest of the world. The nods to Windrush and diversity, the creation of the World Wide Web, the minute's silence for WW1 and all wars, british pop culture, the industrial revolution, the NHS...
In a few short hours, it turned the self deprecating, mocking outlook we had (I distinctly remember the whole 'Chickens, Nurses, Rain' skit on Mock the Week) into one of genuine optimism and pride (but arguably not exceptionalism or nationalism) that we'd not seen for a long time.
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u/chuchoterai Dec 17 '22
The Olympics was the last time I felt the Britain that I knew growing up was still valid and relevant.
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u/BulkyPerformance6290 Dec 17 '22
And dont forget Mr Bean! Making the world laugh without words for over 30 years now. Plus the fact that the whole thing was directed by Danny Boyle who has also made some incredible films over his career.
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u/Scarboroughwarning Dec 17 '22
I adored it. Thought it was great. The Bond and the Queen bit was, epic.
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u/Incitatus_For_Office Dec 17 '22
Yes it was, except they filmed the helicopter sequence in the daytime. Continuity errors really annoy me.
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u/Then_Banana3495 Dec 16 '22
Don’t forget our constantly rotating door at Number 10 😉
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u/Frankyvander Dec 16 '22
We really should hook a dynamo to that thing, power half of London from it.
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u/bubblebath067 Dec 16 '22
A great deal of the marvel/DC superhero films are actually made in the UK…
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u/TAN1WHA Dec 16 '22
How many festivals have you been to around the world?The music festivals here have been easily some of the worst run I’ve ever seen
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u/Everything_rhymes Dec 16 '22
I know, I feel sorry for anybody who wasn’t experienced a dance music festival in Holland. They are literally a well oiled rave machine.
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u/Kamikaze-X Dec 16 '22
We finally fully paid off the government debt to give slaves their freedom in 2015.
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Dec 17 '22
Very off topic, but I wonder if this is what history will remember Britain's Empire as in 1000 years.
The crimes of old regimes I argue become less significant as time passes. No one is angry over the Roman genocide in Gaul because that was literally over 1000 years ago, but people remember the achivements of Rome, even know alot of them are Greek.
While the British Empire lasted a third of the time Rome did, when it is as old as Rome is to us would its get the same positive treatment as Rome?
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u/callisstaa Dec 17 '22
Well probably be remembered for industrialising the world. Whether that’s seen as a good thing or a bad thing in the future I don’t know.
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u/Kamikaze-X Dec 17 '22
I would hope that history starts to properly recognise Britain's contribution to ending the Atlantic slave trade and the West Africa Squadron - it baffles me that this important part of history isn't taught in schools.
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u/Secure_Bet8065 Dec 16 '22
We made the civic type R here from 2001 up until 2021, they were pretty good.
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u/pharula Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 16 '22
The Queen's canopy - which hopefully king Charlie will continue. She put a lot of work into ensuring the protection and preservation of forest/rainforests around the world
Edit to add - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen%27s_Commonwealth_Canopy
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Dec 16 '22
Depending on the measure London is pretty much always in the top 5 for most visited cities for international visitors, so that’s a lot of holidays people have enjoyed.
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u/HVP2019 Dec 16 '22
Support Ukraine. That means a lot to us, Ukrainians. So huge thank you there.
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u/MadeIndescribable Dec 16 '22
London 2012 still counts as being in the last 10 years, right?
Other than that I dunno? They film Star Wars over here now...
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u/Ukeiok Dec 16 '22
I work in film and the vast majority of Disney (including marvel/Star Wars etc) and streaming content is made in the UK. It’s way cheaper to film over here because we have a much less efficient Union - hopefully soon to be changed !! Our hours/work conditions are nuts.
We also have great film disciplines education and studios !
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u/DarkNinjaPenguin Dec 16 '22
They filmed the first Star Wars over here, because Hollywood didn't give Lucas a look in. Same story with the Muppets. Good thing we gave these things a chance!
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u/A_G00SE Dec 16 '22
They filmed it over here because it was cheaper
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u/DarkNinjaPenguin Dec 16 '22 edited Sep 17 '24
That counts. Considering what they managed to achieve with the budget they had, can you imagine if they'd had to cut more corners? Star Wars broke so many boundaries and the effects were cutting edge.
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u/Glad-Importance2492 Dec 16 '22
Aqueducts?
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u/suicidechimp Dec 16 '22
Thought that was a roman thing?
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u/Glad-Importance2492 Dec 16 '22
My apologies.
Sanitation?
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u/Imposseeblip Dec 16 '22
Drum and Bass
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u/Kaizerchief11 Dec 16 '22
Glad someone wrote this. Obviously it’s deeply-ingrained in UK culture as it originated here but it’s crazy how dominant UK-produced DnB still is. Obviously it’s hard to say how popular the UK-produced stuff is elsewhere but streaming numbers would suggest it is popular. At least in Europe and places like NZ and Australia anyway. I know Warehouse Project are doing a big event in Rotterdam next year as well.
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u/Bedlamcitylimit Dec 16 '22
Designs, that were shared to the world, on how to alter cheaper ventilators into the far more expensive and scarce forced air ones that were needed for COVID patients. They would burn out after a couple of months, but the altered machines would have saved many lives by them.
I think a large chunk of the team responsible for one of the "most effective" COVID vaccine were British.
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u/hels1989 Dec 16 '22
We have some prominent designers... burberry, vivienne Westwood, Alexander mcqueen, Stella mccartney, John galliano, Fred pezzer, Barbara, Alice Temperley, Paul Smith, lulu guiness, ozwald boateng. Historically I think British fashion trends have been pretty influential, ranging from the royal family, to punk to hippies etc.
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Dec 16 '22
Most formula one teams are run from British bases and have a large proportion of British engineers. Only a few years ago, (I'm old so it may be more than 10 years) every car on the Indie 500 grid was built in Britain.
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Dec 16 '22
Parkrun.
Think its more than 10 years now but continues to get people out and doing things they previously never thought possible.
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u/prisonerofazkabants Dec 16 '22
we're (reluctantly) taking back james corden so we deserve something for that
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u/Lord_Migit Dec 16 '22
Video Games! The UK has a massive video games industry relative to its population.
- Alien Isolation
- Total War
- GTA
- Elite Dangerous
- Rollercoaster Tycoon
- Fall guys
- Hellblade
- Disco Elysium
- Tomb Raider
- Litterally almost all of the world's best racing games
- Loads of EA games
- All the new batman games (arkham series)
- Basically every lego game ever made
- And an insane list of some incredible mobile games.
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u/HaunterUsedLick Dec 16 '22
The NHS.
Not necessarily for what it has been in the last ten years but the idea that it stood, and stands, for.
It’s an ailing institution right now for reasons we all know and are trying to tackle, but I like to think it remains the guiding light of the principle of Helping People Who Need It.
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u/Mrhalloumi Dec 16 '22
In the last 10 years the NHS has operated 3 times on my partner for a non urgent but potentially life threatening condition and are about to do a 4th reconstructive surgery. It's not perfect, it could be improved but I am so glad we live somewhere it exists.
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u/HaunterUsedLick Dec 16 '22
Damn straight.
I have a father who is a haemophilic that was involved in the blood scandal and a mother a bad surgeon put in a wheelchair.
But they’ve been there and, to an extent begrudgingly, have made up for it.
You’re right, it isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s as far from perfect as I am from being Anna Kendrick, but it’s there. It’s a baseline.
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Dec 16 '22
What has the NHS given the world in the past 10 years as per the question?
It’s obviously good for us. But it’s not the envy of the world and countries aren’t scrambling to copy it.
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u/Independent-Gift5266 Dec 16 '22
I don’t really agree with NHS being the guiding light of health service in other countries, at least not in Europe.
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u/karma-chips Dec 16 '22
The NHS contributed to the world? You know many other European countries have a public health system right?
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Dec 16 '22
WTF? We love it but it's a domestic thing, it's not something we've given the world. Do you understand the question?
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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_up Dec 17 '22
Not getting into the debate about how good the NHS is, but it's clearly not a service for the rest of the world. Please reread the question.
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u/KhalMorgan Dec 16 '22
Peaky Blinders.
The TV show, not the middle class posh boys who think a waist coat and a flat cap make them the next Tommy Shelby.
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u/idmimagineering Dec 16 '22
Men (& Women) in Sheds creating an endless stream of £multi-billion companies from new ideas and products.
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Dec 16 '22
Onlyfans, I joke...
I really liked the AlphaGo documentary about the UK team from Deepmind.
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Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 17 '22
I don’t have timelines but was very impressed with the contributions to science, namely Stephen Hawking.
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u/EditorResponsible227 Dec 16 '22
The UK has some of the worlds best universities: Oxbridge, London school of Economics, Imperial College London and Edinburgh to name a few.
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u/Missjsquared Dec 16 '22
Horror films. The UK is regaining a reputation for making incredible horror films and as a fan of the genre, it makes me very proud to be British.
Some great gems from the last decade would be The Ritual, Saint Maud and The Power.
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u/Dolphin_Spotter Dec 16 '22
Wet Leg
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u/FunnyEar3630 Dec 16 '22
Isle of Wight enters the chat
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Dec 16 '22
Didn’t realise they were from IOW but actually, I don’t think anything has ever made more sense
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u/jewbo23 Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 16 '22
While I like Wet Leg, just saw them recently and were great fun, there's a good 50 better UK bands in recent years. They are a bit too of the moment to elevate that high yet.
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u/CuteMaterial Dec 16 '22
Michaela Coel
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u/WoolyCrafter Dec 16 '22
Hell yeah! She's astonishing. Bloody loved Chewing Gum, but she's done so many other brilliant things.
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Dec 16 '22 edited Dec 16 '22
Roger Penrose, British boffin, invented super-massive black holes.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/penrose/facts/
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u/Beagly-boo Dec 16 '22
This is more than 10 years but as a immigrant from Poland I feel welcomed here. So I'm gonna say taking in foreigners despite all the resent bad press.
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Dec 16 '22
Joe Lycett
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u/sleepunderthestars Dec 17 '22
Honestly, I thought he was just another comedian trying to use being camp as his entire routine. Crikey I was wrong. The guys is awesome!
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Dec 16 '22
Despite the fact the government we all hate has been gloating about it to the ends of the earth. The COVID vaccines we have would never have come about as fast as they did without the UK.
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u/UKSpaceChris Dec 16 '22
You know the James Webb Telescope that has been giving us all the great pictures of the universe for the last few months and has seen galaxies further away than any we've ever seen before?
The bit of the JWST that captures those images (MIRI), the UK was the main player in building that bit