Listening to the BBC reports of the LHC

Quite frequently you'll get a reporter on the radio or telly that's obviously a bit out of depth with their content. This is very noticeable with political reporting when often they haven't understood one or both sides of the argument.

Why these people justify a salary is beyond me, but lets not dwell on that.

The reporting of the LHC at CERN this morning has had me in stitches. None of the reporters have the faintest idea what they're talking about. They just waffle on about how amazing it is. (Have no doubt - it is amazing. The construction project alone is a one of Mankinds best achievements, let alone the science.) For the last 24 hours up until 8.29 this morning Andrew Marr has been reporting that at 8.30 this morning the experiment will take place and we'll have the answers to everything.

It was very amusing to hear him at 8.30 this morning realise that getting protons round the first few KM's of the LHC is a long way from colliding particles. Analysing the subsequent data - which will probably take years still - is when we'll actually start to learn some things.