Sunday, January 30, 2011

My Manifesto Item 2 - Ditch Trident

Here's another no brainer in my humble opinion-The Trident project. Millions, or is it billions spent on keeping nuclear submarines at sea to protect the country from this invisible threat. A little like the fabled weapons of mass destruction story that America spun used as the basis for invading Iraq this imminent threat of destruction is used by the powers that be to justify having this defence capability.
Now we all know about boys and their toys, and I have no problem with that if the country can afford it. However when financial hardships result in us leaving families with special needs children to fend for themselves without assistance, to cut down on police and fire services, cut teachers in schools, nurses in hospitals, staffing of social services in order to build some super cyber torpedo one must draw the line. Like the non rehabilitated alcoholic the politicians know that the cupboard is empty but decades of unrestrained spending has created a habit that is hard to change and they just can't help themselves.
One minute we're going ahead with Trident, and the next we're scrapping perfectly good aircraft carriers. However don't despair. They are soon to be replaced with new ones at a cost of a few more billion. There is one minor catch, the classic good or bad news scenario. Once we pay for the aircraft carriers we can't afford any aircraft to equip them with. In the meantime our troops are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan with inadequate weapons, inadequate vehicles and inadequate supplies. Is it just me who doesn't get it? Maybe.
Mr Cameron goes on and on about tough choices having to be made, and in that respect at least I agree, but the really tough choices are swept under the carpet. Could it be that big money is influencing the decision making process.
With apologies to my British colleagues I do wonder why anyone would want to invade Britain in the first place. Could they be after the integrity of our political system, or maybe the professionalism of our bankers. They can't be after treasure as we're told the barrel is empty. Mining has closed down and manufacturing has moved to Asia. So as Kojak would say "What would be their motive?"
Add to this the fact that we have the best defence system ever devised-the British weather Item 2 on my manifesto is definitely - Ditch Trident.

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