tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/big-ben-26361/articlesBig Ben – The Conversation2021-03-10T13:33:06Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1549232021-03-10T13:33:06Z2021-03-10T13:33:06ZI went down the ‘rabbit hole’ to debunk misinformation – here’s what I learned about Big Ben and online information overload<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388274/original/file-20210308-21-19jaalz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C31%2C5216%2C3448&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The great bell in the iconic clock tower of London’s Palace of Westminster was cast in London.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-big-ben-bell-within-the-elizabeth-tower-ahead-of-the-news-photo/833639618?adppopup=true">Victoria Jones /WPA Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Big Ben was stolen from Palestine. So claimed an elderly woman, in Arabic, in a <a href="https://twitter.com/TheMossadIL/status/1353409739992911872">retweeted clip</a> I received recently.</p>
<p>Yes, that <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/facts-figures/">Big Ben: the great bell in the iconic clock tower of London’s Palace of Westminster</a>. The British took it, she said, from a tower they demolished at <a href="http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;pa;Mon01;28;en">Hebron Gate in Jerusalem in 1922</a>.</p>
<p>The claim pulled me up short. It seemed so outlandish. Who would invent something so easy to refute? And why? The woman spoke with great conviction, but could she really believe what she was saying? And if this was a hoax, then who was perpetrating it on whom?</p>
<p>These questions sent me down a Big Ben rabbit hole. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1353409739992911872"}"></div></p>
<h2>A matter of seconds</h2>
<p>Before I share what I discovered, let’s pause here for a moment, where many would have shrugged and moved on. </p>
<p>You’d have to have some prior interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict or the <a href="https://time.com/3445003/mandatory-palestine/">history of British colonialism</a> to give the claim even a moment’s thought. And even then, you’d most likely judge it fact or fake, depending on your prior allegiances. </p>
<p>Palestinians and their allies would likely see it as further evidence of colonialist dispossession; their opponents would see a Palestinian lie to garner sympathy and incite resentment. In neither case would viewers have felt any need to investigate further. In this age of information overload, it’s a matter of seconds before the next incoming message pings for our attention. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://gwu.academia.edu/EliGottlieb">my perspective, as a cognitive psychologist</a> who researches how people <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25473539">justify their beliefs</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508406.2011.582376">assess the credibility of sources</a>, it seems that this is where misinformation causes most damage – less by convincing people of specific untruths than by reducing the motivation to distinguish fact from fiction. </p>
<p>Relentless bombardment by incoming stories on social media makes our attention an increasingly <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/information-overload-helps-fake-news-spread-and-social-media-knows-it/">scarce resource</a>. And, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/21/science/artificial-intelligence-fake-people-faces.html">technologies of fabrication proliferate</a>, the chance increases that any given story we encounter is fake. Worse still, research suggests that fake stories travel <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6380/1146">six times faster and farther</a> on social media than do factual ones. </p>
<p>The net effect is general pollution of the information environment. </p>
<p>Long before the invention of the smartphone and the rise of social media, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/17040/summary">trust was declining</a> in institutions and those who lead them. New communication technologies are accelerating and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/us/polls-media-fake-news.html">intensifying</a> these processes. People are becoming <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/07/22/trust-and-distrust-in-america/">less trusting in general</a> and more likely to place an exaggerated level of trust in sources whose views <a href="https://www.journalism.org/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/">echo their own</a>. </p>
<p>If these trends continue, reasoned debate with those whose views differ from our own will become rarer and more difficult. There will be a shrinking pool of facts on which those at the ideological extremes will be prepared to agree and a growing sense among the skeptical that debate is pointless because everything is ultimately a matter of opinion.</p>
<p>So, when do facts matter? And how can we distinguish them from fabrications?</p>
<h2>Down the Big Ben rabbit hole</h2>
<p>In my case, the clip hit a nerve. I was born in London and emigrated to Israel 25 years ago. I’m familiar enough with London, Jerusalem and Middle Eastern geopolitics to have smelled a rat. So, I had motive to investigate. </p>
<p>But, were it not for recent research, I might not have had the means. In a recent <a href="https://cor.stanford.edu/research/">series of pioneering studies</a>, Stanford cognitive psychologist <a href="https://sheg.stanford.edu/">Sam Wineburg and his History Education Group</a> have shown how bad people are at assessing the credibility of what they read online. With the notable exception of professional fact checkers, <a href="https://cor.stanford.edu/research/lateral-reading-and-the-nature-of-expertise/">we’re all bad</a> at it: professors no less than schoolkids; digital natives no less than digital immigrants. </p>
<p>Based on what fact checkers did differently, Wineburg’s group developed online lessons to teach <a href="https://cor.stanford.edu/curriculum/">“lateral reading”</a> – which involves quick comparison across sites and sources rather than close reading of the target source. This enables readers to “<a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-why-students-cant-google-their-way-to-the-truth/2016/11">determine where information is coming from before they read it</a>.” </p>
<p>So, going lateral, I went straight to Wikipedia to look up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben">Big Ben</a>. Contrary to snobbish dismissals by some academics, Wikipedia is perhaps the most robust <a href="https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/asi.23691">engine of peer review</a> ever created. Although it can be edited by anyone, and entries on controversial topics are occasionally inaccurate, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editorial_oversight_and_control">Wikipedia’s processes of editorial oversight and control</a>, including insistence on accurate citations to substantiate claims, make it a useful first stop on any fact-checking journey. </p>
<p>I discovered (well, duh!) that the bell was cast at Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London and installed in the Palace of Westminster, with much pomp and circumstance, in 1858. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The outside of the brick building that houses the Whitechapel Bell Foundry." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388276/original/file-20210308-23-1jyw54v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Turns out the Big Ben bell was made here at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, and installed in 1858.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-the-whitechapel-bell-foundry-which-has-news-photo/85195771?adppopup=true">Oli Scarff/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next, I checked the Wikipedia entry on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Gate#Ottoman_clock_tower">the clock tower at Hebron Gate</a> in Jerusalem and discovered that it was not built until 1908 – a full half-century after Big Ben’s installation in London.</p>
<p>Next, I tracked down the Twitter account from which the clip had been forwarded. It belonged to a pro-Israel satirical site, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheMossadIL">TheMossadIL</a>, which <a href="https://www.jpost.com/OMG/The-Mossad-twitter-account-that-fooled-the-world-522644">masquerades</a> as the official Twitter feed of Israel’s secret service. </p>
<p>But the clip hadn’t originated there – it had been reposted by that account as an object of ridicule. I noticed that the clip had a TikTok “watermark” – a stamp that appears automatically at the top and bottom of every downloaded TikTok video, comprising the TikTok logo and video creator’s username – which identified the clip’s author as <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@aliarisheq?">@aliarisheq</a>. So, that’s where I went next. </p>
<p>The feed, seemingly curated by a young Arabic-speaking woman, contained additional clips featuring the woman in the Big Ben clip and advertisements for jewelry.</p>
<p>Using the View Page Source (Ctrl + U) function in my Chrome browser, I learned that the clip in question was uploaded at 17:12 on Dec. 19, 2019. The woman claiming that “Big Ben” was stolen in 1922 looked like she was in her 70s. To have witnessed the alleged theft, she would have to be a centenarian. So she wasn’t a witness: What we had here was an oral tradition, of which she was, at best, a second- or third-hand bearer. </p>
<h2>Protecting from pollution</h2>
<p>All of which means that unless the many corroborating sources cited in Wikipedia’s Big Ben entry are an elaborate hoax of QAnon proportions, her claim doesn’t have a leg to stand on. </p>
<p>Big Ben was not stolen from Palestine and has no place on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jun/29/should-museums-return-their-colonial-artefacts">lists of controversial cultural artifacts</a> like the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2017/03-04/parthenon-sculptures-british-museum-controversy/">Parthenon Marbles</a> that former colonial powers are being asked to return to their countries of origin.</p>
<p>I emerged from this rabbit hole reassured about my ability to ferret out fakery when it matters. But it had taken hours. And I could think of few people to whom the outcome of my investigation would matter. </p>
<p>For me, the moral of the tale is threefold. </p>
<p>First, the idea that a person can, on any given day, sift through every incoming story, sorting fact from fiction, is increasingly implausible. There’s just too much of both.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Second, this doesn’t mean that the fact-versus-opinion distinction should be retired as a quaint idea from a bygone era. When it matters, there’s little we can’t eventually figure out. </p>
<p>Third, the greatest challenge fake news poses may be an ecological one: namely, how to protect precious natural resources – our time and attention – from its pollution. </p>
<p>Disproving fake news is time-consuming. But ignoring it corrodes trust.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eli Gottlieb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A tweet led a scholar to consider how misinformation is changing the ways we evaluate information and trust others.Eli Gottlieb, Senior Visiting Scholar, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1299932020-01-15T13:04:29Z2020-01-15T13:04:29ZShould the government crowdfund a Big Ben Brexit bong?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310244/original/file-20200115-134797-mzqpvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brexit-london-english-european-flag-442486735">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An unexpected debate to emerge from Britain’s planned departure from the EU at the end of January 2020 has been over whether Big Ben should ring <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/boris-bonkers-bung-bob-big-21278133">to commemorate the moment of Brexit</a>. The clock tower of the Houses of Parliament is undergoing <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/elizabeth-tower-and-big-ben-conservation-works-2017-/">renovation</a> and Big Ben – the name of the bell within it – is out of action. </p>
<p>To allow the clock tower to “bong” for Brexit would cost an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51107756">estimated £500,000</a> – £120,000 on installing the bonging mechanism and a temporary floor, along with up to £400,000 on the cost of the delayed construction work. Not wanting to appear flippant with taxpayer’s money in this instance, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51107646">suggested</a> that the cost could be directly funded by the public. Though none have gathered steam yet, a successful campaign could shake up government financing and set a precedent for future spending on public projects.</p>
<p>The traditional method of tax and spend governance has undergone a process of transformation in the last three decades. For example, Private Finance Initiatives (PFI), where the private sector joined in the provision of public services (with often questionable results), have been around <a href="https://theconversation.com/pfi-has-been-a-failure-and-carillion-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-90487">since the 1990s</a>. </p>
<p>Plus, as the <a href="https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf-uk-giving-2019-report-an-overview-of-charitable-giving-in-the-uk.pdf">persistence</a> of charity fundraising has shown, the public is not averse to giving large amounts, so long as they choose where the money is going. One could argue that the opposition Labour Party’s failure in the recent election to make headway on a traditional <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/labour-launches-tax-and-spend-manifesto-j7pgr0ll6">tax-the-rich</a> economic programme, demonstrates a wider popular shift away from taxation as a method of funding public spending.</p>
<h2>Government funding for the future?</h2>
<p>If one discounts borrowing as a way of raising money for governments due to costs (or ideology), perhaps involving the public directly is the best way forward. The phenomenon of crowdfunding private projects took off with the rise of websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. Applying this idea to public projects <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2434615">soon followed</a> and civic crowdfunding has been around <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/crowdfunding-public-services-tapping-into-the-crowd-to-finance-public-projects/">for a few years now</a>. A number of <a href="https://www.localgov.co.uk/Crowdfunding">local government projects</a> have been financed this way. The main benefit is that citizens get to choose directly what and when to fund. </p>
<p>So it would be possible for the prime minister to crowdfund a temporary suspension to the renovation of Big Ben as part of its Brexit-related fiesta at the end of January. There is nothing technically wrong with this, nor is there any legal impediment, so long as government spending (after funds have been raised) complies with relevant <a href="http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/145481/1/Financing%20For%20Society%20-%20DAVIS%20Report%20v.final%20%28small%29.pdf">procurement</a> rules.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310251/original/file-20200115-134768-182osp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big Ben is undergoing restoration work, which is why it will cost up to £500,000 to ring the bell for Brexit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/scaffolding-around-elizabeth-tower-more-commonly-757133005">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But should the government run with this idea and expand public fundraising to other, larger projects? It is always tempting to policymakers to fund their pet projects without raising taxes or increasing external borrowing. The executive may also have more <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-ioannis-glinavos/trump-mexico-wall_b_14423138.html">flexibility</a> in setting up such schemes, avoiding parliamentary <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/parliament-and-elections/parliament/the-estimates-parliaments-role-in-authorising-government-spending-plans/">scrutiny</a> that applies to other types of funding. </p>
<p>There is precedent of a sort for this. One example of project-specific fundraising carried out by government are war bonds. These, leading up to and during the second world war were an essential part of financing the war effort in Britain and the US. They were also used during the American Civil War and the first world war. They were effectively loans from private citizens to the government and helped alleviate reliance on external borrowing during wartime. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stanley-baldwin-asked-britains-rich-to-help-pay-off-the-national-debt-after-world-war-i-but-it-didnt-work-97125">Stanley Baldwin asked Britain's rich to help pay off the national debt after World War I – but it didn't work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the US they also became an iconic part of the home front war effort through a series of propaganda <a href="https://www.history.com/news/world-war-ii-propaganda-posters-photos-united-states-home-front">posters</a>. They were promoted by highly recognisable Hollywood stars of the era and buying these bonds was deemed a patriotic act, a small sacrifice compared with that of men drafted to fight. But bonds, by definition, pay interest upon redemption. Crowdfunding differs in that it is a grant of money from the public that would not be repaid.</p>
<h2>From bongs to Brexit and beyond</h2>
<p>The idea of using something like a war bond to finance targeted modern-day government spending was floated during Obama’s expansion of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/weekinreview/03story.html">military operations in Afghanistan in 2010</a>. Could a bond issuance be used to fund a larger specific project, like Brexit or even President Donald Trump’s wall with Mexico in the US? Technically yes, but it all depends on whether enough people can be persuaded to participate in the fundraising. </p>
<p>There is little precedent of this being successful during peacetime. A programme by the US Treasury Department to sell so-called Patriot Bonds after 9/11 <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1220/p14s02-wmgn.html">raised limited amounts</a>. Lack of public uptake could be an embarrassment for a government and even sink a high-profile project. It could also expose thinning support among the electorate for a project, or indeed the government. Large-scale fundraising exercises could also reduce consumer spending, eating into economic growth.</p>
<p>Dangers aside, crowdfunding politically charged projects such as making Big Ben bong for Brexit will be tempting to Downing Street. It opens an avenue for funding that is cheap, politically useful and novel. As the amount sought is relatively small, it could gather enough support to become a successful test case for alternative financing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ioannis Glinavos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Boris Johnson has proposed the public ‘bung a bob for a Big Ben bong’ to commemorate Brexit.Ioannis Glinavos, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/906612018-01-30T09:49:49Z2018-01-30T09:49:49ZParliament may not have what it takes to fix its crumbling house<p>Back in 2015, a detailed analysis of the Palace of Westminster concluded that “the risk of catastrophic failure is increasing … a major failing of the existing service infrastructure is inevitable”. As the subsequent joint committee of both Houses <a href="http://www.crickcentre.org/westminster-briefing/">recommended</a> in September 2016: “It is essential that the R&R [Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster Programme] now proceeds to its next stages without delay.”</p>
<p>Parliament is well known for working at a glacial pace, but even by its standards, “without delay” would not normally take the nearly 500 days it has taken to get a response. And what a response: the leader of the house of commons, Andrea Leadsom, <a href="https://restorationandrenewal.parliament.uk/government-announces-debate-date.html">scheduled a debate</a> on the R&R of the Palace of Westminster for January 31. The debate will consider two motions, both in Leadsom’s name – and the pair of them are highly contradictory.</p>
<p>Translated into simple English, the first motion might read: “This House accepts that a crisis is all but guaranteed if we don’t stop messing around and invest some serious money in the building”, before noting that “this is going to be a hard sell with the public in a period of financial austerity”. But the answer to this thorny issue, it seems, is to keep applying sticking plasters – that is, for the government to keep doing exactly what created this problem in the first place and hope it’s not in power when the “catastrophic failure” comes to pass.</p>
<h2>Redundant and irresponsible</h2>
<p>The second motion is only slightly less pusillanimous. Coming on the heels of several reviews, reports and inquiries, it commissions a new Sponsor Board and Delivery Authority to undertake detailed analyses of three options (full decant, partial decant and retaining a parliamentary “foothold”). In reality, this will delay the need to make any substantive decision for several years and may cost the taxpayer an additional £500m. </p>
<p>It seems that after years of non-debate, this political football is about to be kicked well and truly <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/71/1/144/3884435">into the long grass</a> (again).</p>
<p>Whether you call the whole thing a farce, a conspiracy or a cock up, these cowardly motions add up to little more than a cry of “not on our watch!” Both fall far short of the recommendations of the Joint Committee in 2016, which <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/joint-committee-on-the-palace-of-westminster/news-parliament-2015/restoration-of-palace-of-westminster-report-published-16-17/">drafted its own proposed motion</a> – one that set out a clear way forward for proceeding without delay with the necessary works. </p>
<p>After 16 months, the government’s position as set out by the Leader of the House of Commons could not have been more bizarre. It also could not be more irresponsible. To bring this long-running saga to an end demands political will, leadership and a willingness to take difficult decisions. Indeed, these are critical skills for politics more generally, and whether the House of Commons can muster them is still open to question.</p>
<p>Muddling through is no longer an option, and yet ahead of the forthcoming debate and vote, the situation is a complete mess. It all bespeaks an institution completely unable to put its own (literal) house in order.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Flinders receives funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.</span></em></p>Two toothless motions on repairing a decrepit parliament speak volumes about the state of British politics.Matthew Flinders, Founding Director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/827152017-08-21T13:30:25Z2017-08-21T13:30:25ZBig Ben silenced: Britain’s bong furore is a sign of national insecurity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182776/original/file-20170821-27160-1kwep4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Loud and proud.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-big-ben-early-morning-6-518224789?src=rPb9WbEqcZSj0vM132VqLg-1-81">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Big Ben, the iconic bell in the Elizabeth Tower of the British Houses of Parliament, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40995854">has fallen silent</a>. Its familiar chimes will not be heard again for four long years. </p>
<p>The last extensive works were carried out 31 years ago, and <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/elizabeth-tower-and-big-ben-conservation-works-2017-/all-your-questions-about-the-works-answered/">officials have since found</a> numerous significant problems – and could yet find more. There are cracks in the masonry, leaks, erosion, and severe rusting. The clock is to be dismantled and its hands and pendulum repaired. The tower will also be brought in to line with modern fire prevention guidance, and health and safety measures. </p>
<p>It has been decided that after years of neglect, Big Ben is in need of a big fix.</p>
<p>Since it first rang in 1859, during the reign of Queen Victoria, the bell has stood proudly at the heart of the Palace of Westminster. The clock tower came to symbolise not just the seat of government, but London – then the capital of the British Empire.</p>
<p>It’s true that Big Ben has been silent on a number of occasions since – but never for such a long period of time. </p>
<p>During the Blitz of 1940-41, when the Houses of Parliament were badly hit by bombs, Big Ben stood defiant. It was damaged, but the clock kept on ticking, and the bell continued chiming. Like St Paul’s Cathedral nearby, it symbolised a spirit of defiance and survival, no matter what the fascists threw at the city. </p>
<p>Prefacing BBC wartime news reports, its deep booming peals resonated across Britain and on the BBC World Service. They were the reassuring sound of a democracy under siege, overcoming the enemy. Since the war, Big Ben has continued to mark BBC radio news bulletins, and was part of the soundtrack, as it were, of ITV’s News at Ten on television. Big Ben has chimed its way into the British national consciousness.</p>
<p>The media interest in Big Ben’s four-year silence is a strong indicator of its importance. Television news channels have run features on it. Broadsheet and <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4251521/silence-chime-londons-big-ben-four-years/">tabloid newspapers have questioned</a> why the bell will remain dormant for so long. Prime Minister <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/16/big-ben-backlash-mps-review-plans-silence-bell-four-years">Theresa May argued</a> that “it can’t be right for Big Ben to fall silent for four years”. Even experts in the clock-making industry <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/17/nonsense-silence-big-ben-says-clockmaker-tended-decades/">have stated forthrightly</a> that the bells don’t need to go quiet for so long. </p>
<p>MPs who approved the £29m renovation project claim they weren’t informed that Big Ben would be out of action for so long. On the first day of the bell’s silence, a small group of politicians, calling themselves “traditionalists” stood beneath the tower, heads bowed, in protest. (Meanwhile <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/big-ben-brexit-bong-conservative-mps-britain-tory-eu-idiots-a7901551.html">pro-Brexit MPs want to organise a pause</a> in the renovation schedule that would allow Big Ben to sound out on the day Britain leaves the EU.) </p>
<p>The renovation contractors argue that Big Ben’s deafening sounds would create health and safety problems for those carrying out the essential maintenance work. They say it wouldn’t be practical to sound the bells once the workers have gone home for the night.</p>
<p>So unless there is a change of plan, the live reassuring chimes of Big Ben will be denied to London residents and to the tourists who flock to Westminster. </p>
<p>No doubt recordings will continue to be used to introduce news bulletins. But the actual silence is somehow symbolic of something that isn’t right with the world – or more specifically, with Britain. </p>
<h2>Bongs gone</h2>
<p>The current UK government is in disarray, and the seriousness of the maintenance issues affecting the clock tower appear to reflect that. How could the houses next door have let the problem reach almost critical proportions? </p>
<p>The neglect of Big Ben symbolises a failure of management in the heart of Westminster. Britain is facing huge problems over the next few years. The government has proved incapable of devising a clear policy on Brexit. Almost every month the capital city and other towns and cities across Britain and Europe are threatened by another form of fascism – religious terrorists who hate modern democracy and want to impose an authoritarian theocracy across the world. And now, thanks to neglect and poor management, a much loved bell tower, once a symbol of victory over extremism, will fall silent.</p>
<p>The sonorous booms of Big Ben are the sound of tradition. They are a sonic reminder of the gravitas of parliament (albeit a gravitas undermined by recent incompetence). Those who mock or misunderstand the significance of shared national icons across a multicultural landscape fail to grasp that in a fast changing and insecure world, Big Ben appeals (no pun intended) to people from many different countries and cultures. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mNlugNFwLII?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It is an essential component of the landscape of London, and of the pantheon of national icons that present “Britishness” to the rest of the world. Its silence will be a soundless reminder of current insecurities – and an interruption to the projection of Britain as a self-confident nation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Clapson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The bell is a noisy and much loved national icon.Mark Clapson, Reader, Social and Urban History, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/585372016-04-29T11:07:09Z2016-04-29T11:07:09ZInside Big Ben: why the world’s most famous clock will soon lose its bong<p>London is soon going to lose one of its most familiar sounds when the world-famous Big Ben falls silent for repairs. The “bonging” chimes that have marked the passing of time for Londoners since 1859 will fall silent for months <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/bigbenconservation">beginning in 2017</a> as part of a three-year £29m conservation project. </p>
<p>Of course, “Big Ben” is the nickname of the Great Bell and the bell itself is not in bad shape – even though it does have a <a href="http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/bigben.htm">huge crack in it</a>. The bell weighs nearly 14 tonnes and it cracked in 1859 when it was first bonged with a hammer that was way too heavy. The crack was never repaired. Instead the bell was rotated one eighth of a turn and a lighter (200kg) hammer was installed. The cracked bell has a characteristic sound which we have all grown to love, so maybe best leave it alone. </p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="59" data-image="" data-title="Big Ben strikes." data-size="939660" data-source="UK Parliament" data-source-url="" data-license="" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/393/bigbenstrikes.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
Big Ben strikes.
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Parliament</span><span class="download"><span>918 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/393/bigbenstrikes.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>Instead, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/26/big-ben-to-be-silenced-for-months-by-tower-and-clock-repairs">it is the Elizabeth Tower</a> (1859) and the clock mechanism (1854), designed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Beckett,_1st_Baron_Grimthorpe">Denison</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Biddell_Airy">Airy</a>, that need attention. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120546/original/image-20160428-28053-rfazyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big Ben in 1858.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Illustrated News of the World December 4 1858</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any building or machine needs regular maintenance – we paint our doors and windows when they need it and we repair or replace our cars quite routinely. It is convenient to choose a day when we’re out of the house to paint the doors, or when we don’t need the car to repair the brakes. But a clock just doesn’t stop – especially not a clock as iconic as the Great Clock at the Palace of Westminster.</p>
<p>Repairs to the tower are long overdue. There is corrosion damage to the cast iron roof and to the belfry structure which keeps the bells in place. There is water damage to the masonry and condensation problems will be addressed, too. There are plumbing and electrical works to be done for a lift to be installed in one of the ventilation shafts, toilet facilities and the fitting of low-energy lighting.</p>
<h2>Marvel of engineering</h2>
<p>The clock mechanism itself is remarkable. In its <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/key-dates-/1840-1976/">162-year history</a> it has only had one major breakdown. In 1976 the <a href="http://moneyweek.com/5-august-1976-big-ben-breaks-down-for-the-first-time-in-117-years/">speed regulator for the chimes broke</a> and the mechanism sped up to destruction. The resulting damage took months to repair.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120661/original/image-20160429-10480-isoczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Big Ben’s clock has had only one major breakdown, in 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Parliament</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The weights that drive the clock are, like the bells and hammers, unimaginably huge. The “drive train” that keeps the pendulum swinging and that turns the hands is driven by a weight of about 100kg. Two other weights that ring the bells are each over a tonne. If any of these weights falls out of control (as in the 1976 incident), they could do a lot of damage. </p>
<p>The pendulum suspension spring is especially critical because it holds up the huge pendulum bob which weighs 321kg. The swinging pendulum releases the “escapement” every two seconds which then turns the hands on the clock’s four faces. If you look very closely, you will see that the minute hand doesn’t move smoothly but it sits still most of the time, only moving on each tick by 1.5cm. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120678/original/image-20160429-10493-1xb06cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pendulum suspension from a Smith of Derby clock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hugh Hunt</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pendulum swings back and forth 21,600 times a day. That’s nearly 8m times a year, bending the pendulum spring. Like any metal, it has the potential to suffer from fatigue. The pendulum needs to be lifted out of the clock so that the spring can be closely inspected. </p>
<p>The clock derives its remarkable accuracy in part from the temperature compensation which is built into the construction of the pendulum. This was yet another of <a href="https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/mechanisms-systems-devices/john-harrison">John Harrison’s</a> genius ideas (you probably know him from <a href="http://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/longitude-found-john-harrison">longitude</a> fame). He came up with the solution of using metals of differing temperature expansion coefficient so that the pendulum doesn’t change in length as the temperature changes with the seasons. </p>
<p>In the Westminster clock, the pendulum shaft is made of concentric tubes of steel and zinc. A similar construction is described for the clock in <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=temperature">Trinity College Cambridge</a> and near perfect temperature compensation can be achieved. But zinc is a ductile metal and the tube deforms with time under the heavy load of the 321kg pendulum bob. This “creeping” will cause the temperature compensation to jam up and become less effective. </p>
<p>So stopping the clock will also be a good opportunity to dismantle the pendulum completely and to check that the zinc tube is sliding freely. This in itself is a few days’ work.</p>
<h2>What makes it tick</h2>
<p>But the truly clever bit of this clock is the escapement. All clocks have one - it’s what makes the clock tick, quite literally. Denison developed his new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escapement#Gravity_escapement">gravity escapement</a> especially for the Westminster clock. It decouples the driving force of the falling weight from the periodic force that maintains the motion of the pendulum. To this day, the best tower clocks in England use the gravity escapement leading to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-remarkable-accuracy-of-the-trinity-college-clock-and-what-makes-it-tick-57195">remarkable accuracy</a> – better even than that of your quartz crystal wrist watch. </p>
<p>In Denison’s gravity escapement, the “tick” is the impact of the “legs” of the escapement colliding with hardened steel seats. Each collision causes microscopic damage which, accumulated over millions of collisions per year, causes wear and tear affecting the accuracy of the clock. It is impossible to inspect the escapement without stopping the clock. Part of the maintenance proposed during this stoppage is a thorough overhaul of the escapement and the other workings of the clock. </p>
<p>The Westminster clock is a remarkable icon for London and for England. For more than 150 years it has reminded us of each hour, tirelessly. That’s what I love about clocks – they seem to carry on without a fuss. But every now and then even the most famous of clocks need a bit of tender loving care. After this period of pampering, “Big Ben” ought to be set for another 100 or so years of trouble-free running.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Hunt is a Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge and is Keeper of the Trinity College Clock.
</span></em></p>It’s not the bell that needs attention, it’s the Elizabeth Tower that houses it and the Great Clock that makes it chime.Hugh Hunt, Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/571952016-04-06T09:41:51Z2016-04-06T09:41:51ZThe remarkable accuracy of the Trinity College clock – and what makes it tick<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117511/original/image-20160405-28973-uvxbca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C374%2C1697%2C1743&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keeping time: Trinity College, Cambridge.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-113364994/stock-photo-clock-on-king-edward-s-tower-at-great-court-in-trinity-college-cambridge-united-kingdom.html?src=TIxiLTkT9E9_wPSL0FerLg-1-23">Fotokon/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This is a brief history of time – or at least how one clock tells it. In 1910, a new clock was installed in <a href="http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/%7Ehemh/clock/clock.htm">Trinity College, Cambridge</a>. The maker, <a href="http://www.smithofderby.com">Smith of Derby</a>, had long been recognised for its top quality “tower clocks”, clocks that sit high up a tower, usually a church, and often have only one small dial. Its main function is to ring bells to announce the hour, and perhaps the half hour and quarters. </p>
<p>The most famous tower clock is the one in London’s Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/enquiries/">“Big Ben”</a> – although this actually is the name of its Great Bell. It was designed by <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Beckett-1st-Baron-Grimthorpe-of-Grimthorpe">Edmund Beckett Denison, 1st Baron Grimthorpe</a>, who was educated at Trinity College, and constructed by the famous clockmaker <a href="http://www.dentlondon.com/about/history.php">Edward John Dent</a>. It was completed in 1859 and boasted Denison’s brand new “double three-legged gravity escapement”. </p>
<figure> <img src="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/img/gravity_escapement.gif"><figcaption>Gravity escapement in motion.</figcaption></figure>
<p>In a clock, the escapement converts the force of a falling weight into the periodic alternating impulses needed to keep the pendulum going. The weight also turns the hands of the clock. Denison’s “gravity” escapement has the virtue of remarkable accuracy because it decouples the driving force of the falling weights from the periodic force that maintains the motion of the pendulum. The well-established <a href="http://www.my-time-machines.net/remontoire.htm">“remontoire”</a> mechanism that was commonplace in Europe does a similar decoupling, but this new English gravity escapement is so much simpler and arguably more accurate. </p>
<p>To this day, the best tower clocks in England use the gravity escapement – and the Trinity College clock is one of them. It was not the college’s first clock. The clock tower was rebuilt to house the first clock in 1610 and in 1726 the then Master Bentley insisted on having one of his own. It didn’t last very long, however, and the college was soon without a clock. </p>
<p>In 1910, Lord Grimpthorpe’s great nephew paid for a new clock that boasted the gravity escapement – about 50 years after his great uncle had invented it. By then, Smith of Derby had perfected it. Indeed, the gravity escapement in the Trinity clock manages to keep the amplitude of the pendulum’s swing virtually constant. </p>
<h2>Pigeons, wind and snow</h2>
<p>This is no mean feat. For instance, if snow settles on the hands or if there is a driving wind then a conventional escapement will be disturbed and the clock will speed up or slow down. This is because the force driving the pendulum and the force turning the hands both come from the single falling weight. But the two “legs” of a gravity escapement are separate from the hands and so the pendulum is given a gentle tap on each swing that is not disturbed by wind and snow.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117351/original/image-20160404-27129-qxzl6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The clock’s gravity escapement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/img/escapement.gif">Hugh Hunt</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pigeons can also play havoc with time. This is no fault of the escapement, just a bad design flaw in the dial that means there is plenty of room for pigeons to sit on the hands. And if two birds perch on the minute hand at quarter-to-the-hour, the clock will stop. Again, no fault of the escapement. The falling weight doesn’t have the power to lift two birds. </p>
<p>To counteract this, in February 2011, I fitted an <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=pigeons">anti-pigeon wire</a> to the minute hand. Since then, the clock has been free from stoppages due to overweight pairs of pigeons.</p>
<h2>How accurate is it?</h2>
<p>One of the hardest things to do is to measure how fast or slow a clock is running. Have you ever tried to time the second hand on your watch? The first thing you need is a more accurate time reference than the clock you are measuring. Then you need to figure out a way of automatically comparing the two clocks. </p>
<p>In 2009, a monitoring system was set up with the help of Rick Lupton, a fourth year engineering student at Cambridge University. He fitted an infrared switch to the pendulum so that it would cut the infrared beam each time it swung past. He then compared the pendulum signal with the one-pulse-per-second output of a GPS receiver. This was <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=instrumentation">achieved by feeding</a> the two signals into the stereo sound jack of a PC and processing the data with some C++ and Python code. </p>
<p>Not only can precise pendulum timing be deduced, but temperature, pressure and humidity data are also collected every 30 seconds. <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/">The data are stored</a> on the PC (running Linux – other operating systems are not up to the job) and they are all uploaded to an internet server. </p>
<h2>Temperature compensation</h2>
<p>Temperature can interfere with time, too – by causing the pendulum to expand or contract and to become longer or shorter. But in 1726, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/19/clockmaker-john-harrison-vindicated-250-years-absurd-claims">John Harrison</a> came up with a neat way of controlling the change of length of a pendulum due to thermal expansion. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117639/original/image-20160406-29002-1hnxsja.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gridiron temperature compensated pendulum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BanjoPendulum.png">Leonard G/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He invented the gridiron pendulum which uses two metals with different thermal expansion coefficients (such as steel and brass) so that the overall length is insensitive to temperature change. From then on, clocks became accurate to within a few seconds a week. The <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=data&from=01/01/2016&channel=going&channel2=temp&to=26/03/2016&scale=auto&type=xy">technique</a> was adapted and perfected over the centuries and the Smith of Derby compensated pendulum comprises <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=temperature">concentric steel and zinc tubes</a>. </p>
<h2>Atmospheric pressure disturbance</h2>
<p>The remarkable gravity escapement and the astonishing bi-metal temperature compensation technology enable accuracy to within one or two seconds a week. But better accuracy is hampered by the effect of barometric pressure on air density and so the buoyancy of the pendulum bob. </p>
<p>Strange as it may seem, an increase in air pressure of only 20mbar will cause any pendulum clock with a steel bob to run slow by about a second a week. This means that the clock might lose a few seconds during a prolonged spell of settled high-pressure dry weather and then regain this lost time when stormy unsettled low-pressure weather arrives. </p>
<p>It has been known for some time that a mass suspended by a pressure-sensitive actuator (known as an aneroid stack) could be attached to the pendulum and used to <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=barometric">compensate for barometric pressure variations</a>. Such a system was installed in the Trinity clock in 2010 and the effect has been remarkable. Since November 24 2015, until the present day (this article was written on April 4 2016) the clock has lost less than <a href="http://trin-hosts.trin.cam.ac.uk/clock/?menu_option=data&from=20/11/2015&channel=drift&channel2=pressure&to=04/04/2016&scale=auto&type=two">one second over a period of over four months</a>.</p>
<p>This remarkable accuracy is normally expected of modern electronic timepieces, but the quartz watch on your wrist is probably only good enough to achieve a few seconds’ accuracy a week. The Trinity clock with its various clever compensation systems is a remarkable testament to the importance of sound science and the longevity of good engineering.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57195/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Hugh Hunt is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has been 'Keeper of the Clock' since 2004. He is a mechanical engineer and applies his knowledge of mechanics and instrumentation to the ever-increasing perfection of the Trinity Clock.</span></em></p>The science behind an old clock and how it keeps up.Hugh Hunt, Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.