Yet another farewell

[Phil H]

Thanks to the utter stupidity of self-serving politicians (and I make no distinction between any of them) another bit of the once Great Britain is about to be lost. This time it's HMS Ark Royal on whose flight deck I took this today:

 

[lozcb]

Yep know what you mean Phil , another great British iconic show and power case , bites the dust , you would know more about the finances of keeping it going against mothballing it / cutting it up to bits than i , added the fact we are left slightly vulnerable if all our allies were to abandon us , therefore making us beholden to the f/ kin french of all people , not clued up enough to know whether its a good thing or bad thing savings wise , but what ever savings are made i know **** well it wont reduce my tax bill , or the tax on petrol ,

Another sad day in British history for sure ,my commiserations to the families and lives that will be turned upside down because of her loss


regards loz

 

[BennyD]

It makes me shake with anger at the wholesale destruction of our services brought about by the stupid, supercilious morons that masquerade as our elected representatives. It's about time these idiots spent time on the front line and appreciated the support our servicemen need in order to fight the wars thrust upon them by these self same idiots. Blair should be publicly flogged for getting us into a war that very probably can't be won, whilst screwing the services financially. As a life long Conservative I am not impressed by the axe wielding still being carried out in the name of fiscal responsibility. Harriers, Nimrods, Sentinels, Tornado, half the Navy and a good part of the army, all gone. There are other budgets that can be slashed before cutting into the bone of defence however politically unpalatable that may be. Rant over. Nice photo. It gives the impression of the sun setting over a long gone empire and a welcome to the dark side of operations with the french! In time that flag will have to be white to make the french feel at home!

 

[dem maser]

other nations are getting stronger we getting weaker.......

 

[Easyplan66]

Even the queen had to get rid if her own Yacht, we used to run the world now we can't even look after our own country. Rant of an old man over.

 

[safrane]

May-be the opposit view but the UK does not run 1/2 the world anymore and we are a small contry with little money to pretend to be anything else

 

[Phil H]

Correct Safrane. However, successive central and local government departments have always found money for grandiose schemes like the Millenium Dome, Olympics, marble town halls, or simply gerrymandering, whilst telling us that there's no money for essentials whether they be the defence of the realm or quality care for the elderly in their old age.

Having spent all my working life in the defence world both in uniform and in civvies I have witnessed numerous defence cuts, but never have I seen the UK left so exposed. Forget playing world policemen, we can't, but with the immediate loss of so much capability I suspect that just from the domestic standpoint many of the decision makers must have their fiingers very firmly crossed behind their backs.

Perhaps it's time to pull up the drawbridge and reassess our true priorities.

PH

 

[2b1ask1]

The shear lunacy of the images today of half built Nimrods being gas axed!!!!! Progress???

Just a few weeks ago I was privilaged enough to see one of the last of the Harriers fliying out to form up for the last flight....

I'm not a millitary man but I alarmed that all three of these high profile trophy axings are just for political gain.

On a lesser note a few years back (as a protest to Maggies restrictions to local government budgets being capped) my local council closed the local leisure pool and blaimed central gov'twhen they tried to reopen it a year later the side had collaped in as it should never have been emptied!!! we now don't have a pool in our town...

 

[lozcb]

Correct Safrane. However, successive central and local government departments have always found money for grandiose schemes like the Millenium Dome, Olympics, marble town halls, or simply gerrymandering, whilst telling us that there's no money for essentials whether they be the defence of the realm or quality care for the elderly in their old age.

Having spent all my working life in the defence world both in uniform and in civvies I have witnessed numerous defence cuts, but never have I seen the UK left so exposed. Forget playing world policemen, we can't, but with the immediate loss of so much capability I suspect that just from the domestic standpoint many of the decision makers must have their fiingers very firmly crossed behind their backs.

Perhaps it's time to pull up the drawbridge and reassess our true priorities.

PH

Pulll up the drawbridge and out of Europe , im with you on that one Phil , back to proper border controls , and transponder implants at the time of stampng visa's at passport control , should have applied for the job as home secretary me

regards loz

 

[Andyk]

Correct Safrane. However, successive central and local government departments have always found money for grandiose schemes like the Millenium Dome, Olympics, marble town halls, or simply gerrymandering, whilst telling us that there's no money for essentials whether they be the defence of the realm or quality care for the elderly in their old age.

Having spent all my working life in the defence world both in uniform and in civvies I have witnessed numerous defence cuts, but never have I seen the UK left so exposed. Forget playing world policemen, we can't, but with the immediate loss of so much capability I suspect that just from the domestic standpoint many of the decision makers must have their fiingers very firmly crossed behind their backs.

Perhaps it's time to pull up the drawbridge and reassess our true priorities.

PH

Or the Olympics...What a waste of our money in these times of tightening the belt.......But also agree with Pete, we are no longer a dominate power as we where in days gone by. Still think its a bit sad though as what a great ship...

 

[dem maser]

no longer GREAT, its just britain now....................

as for the border controls, ive been saying for years thing are wrong, ive seen areas ruined because the council put refugees in nice homes and give them money every week to stay at home and watch this morning...nice areas with house prices of 700k literrally being filled with these people as the council rent them 5 bed houses as they have not got the room to put them anywhere else.....some are good, some are har working and really nice people, i have employed cleaners and helpers in the past and they were lovely but the majority dont want to work, they come here because of what is promised to them, money, houses, benefits.......

 

[safrane]

10 year old designs...almost like the 4200 Info-entertaimnet system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12281640

And look at the size of the new ones!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12205253 Bottom of the page

 

[RSM Masser]

The shear lunacy of the images today of half built Nimrods being gas axed!!!!! Progress???

Just a few weeks ago I was privilaged enough to see one of the last of the Harriers fliying out to form up for the last flight....

I'm not a millitary man but I alarmed that all three of these high profile trophy axings are just for political gain.

On a lesser note a few years back (as a protest to Maggies restrictions to local government budgets being capped) my local council closed the local leisure pool and blaimed central gov'twhen they tried to reopen it a year later the side had collaped in as it should never have been emptied!!! we now don't have a pool in our town...

One of the last Harrier jets - doing its job for real, I actually worked on this aircraft as an apprentice in the early eighties, which is why I ended up joining the Army and not the Air Force!