Experts concerned at Big Ben's angle of dangle

Britain's Houses of Parliament, and Ben Ben, are not on entirely safe ground. The tower is visibly leaning half a meter at its spire. [Reuters]

A construction expert who worked on the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy and a multi-storey carpark under the houses of parliament in central London, said there was nothing to worry about, and it would take 10,000 years to reach an angle of concern.

The other "angle of concern" famously contemplated by the British establishment is that found in any given pornographic movie.

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http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers

Big Ben is not the tower, it’s the bell.
- http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza
  
  Both!
- Wreckrob8
  
  Correct. The tower is the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster.
- kartwaffles
  
  OK, but what’s Ben Ben?
  - Neil Austin
    
    You have to put a #corrections tag in there.
  - Wreckrob8
    
    Big Ben is the nickname of the bell.
Wreckrob8

From my side of the river it leans to the right. To make it lean to the left I have to cross the river to Parliament Square risking the attention of the security services for ‘wearing the wrong clothes’ ‘being on drugs’ in the vicinity of a Government building and scaring the tourists. Maybe there’s a message there.
http://twitter.com/g5maniac Rod Middleton

Big Ben is dangling over Glasgow now?
Tom White

He worked on the leaning tower of Pisa before the carpark under the bell tower? No wonder it’s skewiff!
Shinkuhadoken

Lets see. An article about the “angle of dangle” of London’s Big Ben as illustrated by a map of Scotland…

It’s a backhanded compliment to the “gravitas” of Scottish men?
- kartwaffles
  
  ”Is anything worn under the kilt?”
  “No, lass. Everything is in perfect working order!”
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Oh, ye of little culture.
  
  The angle of the dangle is equal to the tilt of the kilt.
  
  Nae joke. Joke!!
http://scavenger-ethic.blogspot.com/ scav

The angle of the dangle is proportional to the heat in the meat, when the throb of the knob is a constant.
- dculberson
  
  And inversely proportional to the mass of the ass.
http://twitter.com/parkylondon Paul Parkinson

Two things. Why is there a map of Scotland at the top of this article? Last time I checked Big Ben was in London…
Also, Big Ben is the bell, not the tower. The Tower is The Clock Tower and not St. Stephens Tower as some confused souls call it… but most importantly, it is in LONDON and not GLASGOW…
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  Rob is British, he’s well aware of this (unless you’re not aware Rob, feel fee to step in). The map is illustrating the ‘angle of dangle’. You do have to click through to the wiki page if, like me, you weren’t aware of what this is.
ChicagoD

So, 10,000 more years if the rate of dangle increase is constant, right? Because if it moved .5 meter in, say, six months, you might want to get out of the way.
http://twitter.com/likethehorse Mare

If you click the last link in the article you’ll understand why a map of Scotland is accompanying this post.
- Ipo
  
  I’m guessing that the continental drift, assuming the British isles can be allowed to have any of that, would cause for the big bell-tower to fall over in an area currently occupied by Scotland, in about ten thousand years.
  Now I’ll read the article.
http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios

I could have been dreaming, but I thought I read somewhere recently that Big Ben had an odd moment back in the 1940′s when a bunch of birds landed on the minute hand and kept the bells from chiming by a minute or so because of their combined weight.
jarmstrong

The terms “Parliament” and “angle of the dangle” should lead one, within moments, to think of Funkadelic’s “Jimmy’s Got a Little Bit of Bitch in Him” and to boogie as one sees fit.
Ipo

The Mull of Kintyre is just as limp as Florida.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  Not as warm though.
MrBillWest

Look at the map closely. Pay special attention to the islands on the left.
GregS

Is this even news? I remember hearing (on a TV show) years ago that the clock tower has had a slight lean to it ever since it was built in the 1800s. The story doesn’t say anything about the lean increasing or the rate of increase. So is the lean getting worse, or is this just the original tilt that’s been there for the last century and a half?
aethelberga

That is also not the proper Mull of Kintyre, as it goes very ‘mirror-image-y’ there at the pointy end. The real Mull is much ruder looking.
mguffin

Ah, the angle of the dangle and the Mull of Kintyre explained: must be what Macca was referring to in the song of the same name when he sang about “Flickering embers growing higher and higher”, no ?
stayzuplate

Poster hijacks own post with Mull of Kintyre “angle of dangle” reference.
http://twitter.com/WpgCameraMan Rock Hardwood

For an ‘expert’ , I didn’t hear about any yearly survey data being checked on… it’s like the whole lean thing has just been by eye and oral tradition since day 1.

And the selling to the Russians or Chinese.. there’s some sorta ruse going on, how could something so absurd ever take up debate time in the House?

I smell bullshit.