Waste your Friday afternoon by exploring what our friends across the pond did to investigate whether aliens were visiting England. Recently released documents from the UK national archives document various military inquiries and reports over the decades. The British, ever ones for proper procedure, eventually handled the matter very decorously in the House of Lords:

The last time the Government made a full public statement on its policy was in January 1979 when UFOs were the subject of a lengthy debate in the House of Lords. This was initiated by Lord Clancarty (Brinsley le Poer Trench), a ufologist who had written several books on the subject. Clancarty believed the MoD were covering up the truth about UFOs and he tabled a motion that called on the UK Government to set up an inquiry and for the Defence Minister to make a televised statement on UFOs. In the Lords, the Government's response was delivered by a retired Royal Navy officer and Labour peer, Lord Strabolgi (David Kenworthy). His closing remarks were: ‘…as for telling the public the truth about UFOs, the truth is simple. There really are many strange phenomena in the sky, and these are invariably reported by rational people. But there is a wide range of natural explanations to account for such phenomena. There is nothing to suggest to Her Majesty’s Government that such phenomena are alien spacecraft’.

To me, the documents are not fascinating because they deal with flying saucers — they are fascinating sources of social history. Enjoy.

Via i09.

Last 5 posts by Ken

• Anatomy Of A Scam Investigation, Chapter Ten - February 5th, 2012
• Marc Stephens Threatens Me Some More - February 3rd, 2012
• Now I Belong To The Ages - January 31st, 2012
• The Road to Popehat: The Oracle At Popehat Edition - January 27th, 2012
• Step Right Up For The Thursday Censorious Asshat Roundup - January 26th, 2012