It’s been ages, two days, since the last ferry fiasco story, likely to affect the voting behaviour of almost no voters of course but you can be sure there will be a big one on Wednesday night, maybe even on the day of the vote? Look and laugh.

What will you not hear?

Well-known examples

1. Hinkley Point C (UK nuclear power)

• New-generation nuclear plant
• Costs rose dramatically from initial estimates
• Years behind schedule
• Classic case of combining regulatory complexity with first-of-type engineering

2. Crossrail (London rail project)

• Highly innovative urban rail integration
• Opened several years late and billions over budget
• Now widely seen as a success—but only after difficult delivery

3. Boeing 787 Dreamliner (aviation)

• Introduced new materials (carbon composites) and systems
• Major delays and cost overruns
• Eventually successful and widely used

4. Airbus A380 (aviation)

• Technologically ambitious flagship aircraft
• Production delays and wiring issues
• Commercially struggled despite engineering achievement

5. Sydney Opera House (Australia)

• Iconic today
• Took 14 years instead of 4
• Cost about 15× original estimate

**6. California High-Speed Rail

• Still under construction
• Costs and timelines have escalated repeatedly
• Mix of innovation, politics, and land acquisition challenges

What about the MOD?

UK Ministry of Defence examples

Ajax reconnaissance vehicle

• Intended as a next-generation armoured vehicle
• Programme delayed for years
• Major technical issues (notably noise and vibration affecting crews)
• Costs rose significantly

👉 A classic “too much innovation at once” case—new design, new systems, rushed into production before problems were solved.

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Type 45 destroyer

• Highly advanced air-defence destroyers
• Entered service with propulsion reliability issues
• Required expensive retrofits (“Power Improvement Project”)

👉 Not a failure overall—but an example of cutting-edge systems creating unforeseen operational problems.

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Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier

• The UK’s largest ever warships
• Costs increased substantially during development
• Design changes (notably around aircraft launch systems) added complexity
• Delivered years later than initially envisaged

👉 Important nuance: despite overruns, they are now considered highly capable and strategically successful.

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Type 26 frigate

• Next-generation anti-submarine frigates
• Programme delays and rising costs before construction fully ramped up
• Export success (e.g. Australia, Canada) suggests strong underlying design

👉 Shows how long development timelines can coexist with eventual success.

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Nimrod MRA4

• Rebuild of older aircraft into a modern surveillance platform
• Severe delays and cost overruns
• Ultimately cancelled after billions spent

👉 One of the starkest examples: innovation + redesign + legacy systems = programme collapse.