Don't let nuclear go into the sunset
The House of Lords warned this week that complacency is threatening nuclear R&D in the UK. It’s a depressingly familiar story and mustn’t be allowed to continue.
View ArticleGood riddance to bad rubbish
After many years, the government has finally come to a decision about what to do with Britain’s massive and embarrassing plutonium stockpile, but it still seems to be dragging its feet over taking...
View ArticleCameron’s veto could make life doubly hard for UK manufacturers.
It’s not yet certain what repercussions David Cameron’s European walk-out will have, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that beyond the euro-sceptics within his own party and elements of the...
View ArticleThe Engineer's notoriously-unreliable crystal ball
Stuart Nathan attempts to take a look at what the year ahead might have in store for technology and engineering, but the future is cloudy.
View ArticleRace for the prize
China’s announcement of plans for a moon mission aren’t likely to trigger a new Space Race; exploration these days is more a matter of collaboration than nationalism
View ArticleRailroaded
The most important people for the HS2 project are the engineers who will have to plan, specify and build it. Despite the long association of engineers with railways, it’s worrying that few have raised...
View ArticleWill infrastructure investment really rebalance the UK economy?
Rarely a day goes by without a member of the government hailing the “economy-rebalancing” properties of some project or other. But while it’s tempting to be cynical in the face of a refrain that’s...
View ArticleOil fears should spur low-carbon innovation
As the UK’s Coryton oil refinery goes into administration, and uncertainty over key oil producing regions grows, the case for an electric vehicle industry is growing stronger by the week.
View ArticleThe child, in time
The furore over the government’s downgrading of the engineering diploma raises some interesting questions over the value we place on engineering knowledge.
View ArticleThe underwhelming reality of the UK apprenticeship program
If apprenticeships really are to deliver the growth that they could it’s time to start taking them a bit more seriously
View ArticleQuicker thinking
Motorsport is a vital and unique part of the UK engineering sector, but it needs to be imaginative in the way it transfers its expertise
View ArticleA success story that can’t be told
The ban on companies promoting their work on this summer’s Olympic games represents a huge missed opportunity for the UK economy
View ArticleThe wind knocked out of our sails
Continuing ambivalence about wind energy isn’t surprising, but realism has to kick in at some point, and the wind energy industry needs to demonstrate its commitment as much as the politicians.
View ArticleCarbon capture is only a part of an energy landscape
The government’s latest competition to develop technologies for carbon capture and storage is wider in scope than its predecessor, but still isn’t sufficient on its own to ensure that CCS is a viable...
View ArticleCommunication will allay resistance to smart grids
Developing and introducing the technology to change the way electricity is generated and distributed is quite a challenge for engineers - but addressing the public’s concerns and explaining the...
View ArticleSteel relighting is a welcome beacon of good news
The scale of the achievement in bringing the blast furnace of Redcar’s steelworks back to life is well worth celebrating. Were reports of the decline of British steelmaking premature?
View ArticleAsteroid mining: disaster movie, or the shape of things to come?
The billionaire-backed venture Planetary Resources, which is planning to mine precious metals on asteroids, seems so fanciful that it could be a science fiction film plot. But it could be another...
View ArticleAre wind subsidies a price worth paying?
The anti-wind lobby gained a bizarrely-coiffed ally last week in the shape of US business tycoon Donald Trump.
View ArticlePresentation matters in debate around HS2
HS2’s proponents have routinely failed to communicate to the public that the divisive project is much more than simply a high speed link between London and Birmingham
View ArticleDrone alone
Opening civil airspace to UAVs could speed the development of the technology but industry must first address a raft of technical, regulatory and safety issues
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