re: Meanwhile
"Surely anything to inspire the little ones is better than nothing?"
How about a proper appreciation for science and engineering, rather than "vroom, vroom" and a presumed dose of Jeremy Clarkson and pals drooling, with little other than "I want to choose the colour" and "I want to be a middle-man - when can I open a dealership?" coming forth from the little ones as the fruits of that inspiration.
You could hand a million over to the people who make Blue Peter for one big "special assignment" binge - maybe that'd inspire the little ones, too. It wouldn't make for good science policy spewing forth from Lord Wooster, either.
"whether its a 'penis-waving stunt car' or a skycock. Oh yeah the car team want to 'fund raise' 10 Million through Multiple sources not the 10 Billion the black-member wants from the tax payer."
Ooh, skycock: so amusing! As far as I can see, Reaction Engines has been looking for a decent share of the funding pot for quite some time, and with an approach which differs somewhat from that of the US military-industrial complex (whether it's the Shuttle, uprated ICBMs or "Apollo Reloaded") and that of the other space contenders, it's worth considering.
Of course it isn't cheap, but then you're investing in expertise and genuine capabilities (national, industrial, scientific): vastly different from another supersonic car record-breaking jaunt. When government ministers get enthusiastic about putting up public funds for such jaunts, while telling the science community to be more relevant, it becomes legitimate to regard such antics as a one-off penis-measuring exercise, typical of the "all show, no substance" nature of the current government and modern British culture in general.
"Geeze skycock gets 6 million quid of our money, and you are slagging bloodhound? whats wrong with you?"
Oh that's right: Bloodhound it is, yes. Paid-up fan club member, are we? As others point out, 6 million quid pales into insignificance compared to a bank bail-out, and I'm sure that the traditional passengers of the government gravy train for, say, aerospace get more than that every week.