'homegrown ceramics'

Britain is always on the lookout for a better teacup.

(ooo yes, milk, no sugar, thank you)

Sugar, no milk. Ah, that's better. A nice cuppa.

Sugar, no milk. Ah, that's better. A nice cuppa.

Doctor Syntax,

Don't think I've met anyone who has black tea with sugar.

I'm a Whoopi Goldberg myself (black nun).

Paul Herber being a Julie Andrews (white nun).

Black tea with sugar - I think it's a Russian / central Asian thing? Certainly not that unusual, though perhaps not so common in the UK.

I have been known to resort to it, when the office milk supply runs out.

I prefer NATO standard - milk, 2 sugars.

Paul Herber,

I think we've got the teacup problem solved. And have done so for decades, if not centuries.

It's the teapot lid that is the problem! I've broken maybe one teapot in my life, but at least 6 teapot lids. This is the reason I transitioned to a stainless steel teapot 3 years ago. But here, we have the solution. Given our historical military investment into tea making facilities, I shall be deeply disappointed if this vital research isn't completed as a matter of priority.

On a less serious note, I'm surprised the aerospace and/or motor racing industries didn't have this tech already. I believe they've made the UK one of the leaders in carbon fibre tech. I bet they'll be thinking about using it in future.

[how have El Reg still not got a teapot icon?!?!]

The British Catering Industry Standard Teapot is guaranteed to dribble when poured irrespective of whether it has a lid or not.

And have you checked out the Cadogan teapot?

Doctor Syntax,

Never heard of the Cadogan teapot before. Now I really want one!

I am perfectly satisfied with my Wedgwood Hibiscus teapot and other crockery, thank you very much.

https://www.wedgwood.com/en-gb/collections/all-collections/hibiscus/hibiscus-teapot-40003912?srsltid=AfmBOopg35qmkuyXkcf5otWMFLwnpriq31iYEs65DquxuwLk0hRYl3jl

I bought my lot after realising, on retirement that all my home 'drinking vessels' were mismatched mugs, so I splurged on some dishwasher safe posh porcelain. Fortunately I bought mine a year or so before the 20% price rise.

As for tea, if brewed properly it requires neither milk nor sugar. Those are only necessary if the tea has been stewed and is therefore full of obnoxious tannins. I humbly suggest that those who need milk or sugar experiment with different temperatures and lengths of brewing their tea, and decant it, once brewed into a second teapot* so that it does not stew.

*Oh yes, I brew in a stump 'teapot for life' ( https://suki-tea.com/collections/teapots?srsltid=AfmBOooGDzNUsBPRA3NwGXHLN-mpMZse699FixarXjnFgmaxrRQAaQaC ) and then pour from my Wedgwood, we Brits may have lost an empire, but we still have our standards. (Where is the 'I'm a snob' icon when you need it?)

"Britain is always on the lookout for a better teacup"

For that it appears that we first have to thank a Mr Thomas Frye, the person who put another composite ceramic "on the map": bone china.

Nearly 300 years later Britain appears to have achieved a step change in performance...... (OK ignoring ceramic composite turbine blades)

I like this "white heat of technology" [0] aspect of progress. Not that a tea cup ever had had to survive 1000 C......

[0] First delivered in a party conference speech by former Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1963.

Wilson's white heat was more of a white flag - "we'll just buy from the Yanks instead".

Not for the faint hearted:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/12/you-be-the-judge-should-my-housemate-stop-warming-her-mug-and-then-pouring-the-water-back-into-the-kettle

I'm shocked, truly shocked!

Surely it would be simpler to outsource this and all other military equipment research and procurement to Fisher Price. Their products are known by all parents of small children to be utterly indestuctable and should easily survive hypersonic speeds and explosions. The bright primary colours may take some getting used to for a military more used to muted khakis and greys.

Unfortunately Fisher Price would be like depending on Lockheed Martin for Trident and F35. They are American to the core and owned by Mattel.

But Chad Valley? Hornby? Now we're talking.

Forget missiles. Just scatter Lego bricks on the battlefield. Probably against the Geneva Convention but who takes any notice of that these days?

re "scatter lego bricks"

Yes, but for maximum effect you will need to persuade the opposition to take their boots off first.

I once saw a 2x2 white lego brick embedded in concrete on the roadway of a Greek island. It was the first time I had seen it used as an alternative aggregate.

Lego is for amateurs. Try a 3 pin plug for real pain.

We could just buy containers of Lego and drop them from the planes at the enemy.

Luckily for Denmark that they are such a strong arms industry.

An energy-saving suggestion. Just use the raw material. The heating on re-entry will fire it in flight.

Cover your reentry vehicle in a paste of Weetabix and milk. Heating during ascent and re-entry should bake it into a coating harder than any substance known to man. Weetabixium! Which is 10x stronger than Unobtainium - and then we can leave those giant Smurfs in peace at last.

It was in fact invented in France. They called it Huitheurebix due to the time in the morning when it should be eaten.

How do you set up a facility with that? That barely covers salary of a one skilled engineer, their equipment, insurance.

Breaking news.

Cross Manufacturing has been acquired by a US (or Chinese) Tech Giant and all production in the UK will cease immediately. 500 people will lose their jobs as a result of this deal.

They won't say that the Directors have decamped to a tropical island to enjoy their golden parachutes.

SOP for anything that is designed or developed in this country.

No idea why you got the downvote, it's a well-known problem for the UK

Thanks for that vote of confidence.

My dad lost his job when Mr Gannex (Harold Wilson) canned the TSR2 and we bought the Phantom F4 instead.

I could list many other technologies that we pioneered that were either canned by Whitehall or given to the USA.

We have sold a few things to the Yanks but they prefer to steal it instead.