From the SNP’s Election manifesto
Instead of cutting £500 million next year from the money Scotland has already earmarked to invest in recovery – at a potential cost of 9,000 jobs – we believe they should find the savings from those things that most Scots don’t want – for example, by scrapping the £5 billion ID card project and the £100 billion replacement for Trident.
From todays Telegraph
Perhaps people who voted for the SNP’s campaign to scrap Trident can register their displeasure here
Maybe not!
Politics before principles again.
We shouldn’t laugh, well, not too much.
only if you mean it!! Did anyone catch bob “oxygen thief” crow on radio 2 he tried to blame public sector cuts on trident, what a tool. Luckily in the first minute jeremy vine shot him down in flames.
The SNP has long maintained its stance of total pacifism backed by a 600 frigate navy.
We have had the same in Wales. Lobbying for the StT Athan Military training college PFI by senior ministers.
The Welsh Lib-Dems first supported this PFI project on the narrow grounds of “jobs” in Wales, but now Wales lib dem leader Kirsty Williams AM is hosting a dinner at the Lib-Dem conference next week for Metrix to give this private company access to the Ministers, Dennis Anderson and Nick Harvey.
probable attendees at the Lib-Dem dinner on 19th Sept.
# Danny Alexander MP and Julia Goldsworthy (Special Adv)
# Nick Harvey MP
# Jenny Willott MP for Cardiff Central
# James McGrory and Polly MacKenzie (No. 10 Policy Unit)
# Chris Saunders (Special Advisor to Nick Clegg)
The two Ministers are engaged in the review of this £14 billion project, so dining with Metrix should surely be out.There’s every reason to avoid a 30-year long PFI. This one has inflated £3billion (up from £14 billion) in price during negotiation and shrunk in size from 6000 to 2700 trainee places. It’s clearly a case for fundamental review against alternative integration of training on existing MoD bases (the PCS union says it could be accommodated on two bases, or even one if the Defence Review cuts standing forces by 20 or 25%). Nick Harvey’s answer in the Commons 5th July “to change course now would undo a great deal of investment… and add considerably to the final cost” sounded like Metrix’s case and gives no confidence of a genuine review.
And Alun Cairns is at it today and will host a DINNER for Bell Pottinger at tory conference.
Private Eye piece disclosing the lobbying campaign targeted at Welsh Lib-Dems as a route through to the Defence Minister – which appears to have succeeded. See it here..
http://www.antimetrix.org/2010/09/kirsty-williams-hosts-bell-pottinger.html
Anne, if you want to produce a piece for think Defence on St Athan I would be happy to publish
When you put Bob Crow into google you get this,
http://bowcrow.tripod.com/
So obviously he doesn’t like things that swim beneath the waves!
Scrapping Trident means scrapping the town of Barrow. Plus there are a huge number of other companies up and down the UK that are dependent on work spun off from Vanguard. But it is typical of the Left to believe that “things” they don’t like come out of a vacuum. If the UK was more like France we would be placing extra orders with BAE Barrow to pump money back into the economy. (A dubious method of wealth creation, but….)
Jedibeeftrix, re: loathsome odious etc. The laws of defamation still apply on the internet. However, they are Civil laws (torts) not criminal ones, so technically you can say what you without fear of being arrested, as long as you don’t threaten anyone with violence or try to inspire racial hatred etc. However, dependent on what you say and who you aim it at could potentially leave you open to being sued, and using a pseudonym may not always guarantee anonymity.
Putting your own honest opinion is classed as fair comment. I may do a short piece on defamation so we have a better idea of where we stand. To be safe, I’d stick to fair comment.
X, It’s a shame that towns like Barrow will suffer if Trident is cancelled. Were the two QE carriers ordered to guarantee work in the shipyards or because of a legitimate requirement?
I believe we ordered over two hundred Tornado F.2/3′s during the Thatcher era, to ‘maintain aerospace jobs and skills’. So on occasion we have been like France.
Like you said, a very dubious method of wealth creation.
thank you richard.
I think there is an element of job protection in all HMG home sourced capital projects. And I think CVF bashing is just fashionable.
If it had been Somalia instead of Afghanistan “we” had invaded I doubt there would have been any questioning over the importance or need for carriers. And I think there is a symbolic aspect to the carrier which doesn’t seem to be understood. Symbolism is important in international relations.
I don’t think many, even the more defence orientated, appreciate just how complicated and technically advanced is the modern conventional submarine, let alone nuclear powered boats. When those skills die the whole country suffers.
I fear that the thoughts of Reverend Salmond (Parish of Head-in-Borough) are but of little consequence. One doubts if 80% of the population no of whom he is.
Re: Mr Stockely, defamation requires a reputation to tarnish. I doubt an English jury would find Mr JBT guilty, save for stating the obvious.
Admin: Any new news on containers….
North Wales News Chef who posted anti-English comments on Facebook fined
Aug 26 2010 by Hywel Trewyn, Daily Post
A CHEF who posted anti-English comments about his ex-boss on Facebook was yesterday handed a £380 court bill
On that day he’d asked his employer for the day off to take one of his children to hospital to have their grommets removed. When he got home he received a phone call from his parents saying his father had cancer and he arrived late for work that night.
Jones wrote: “Anyone got a job 4 me? Just walked out from the Queens last nite. Who do those f***ing English think they are? F***ing w*****s.”Mrs Edmunds, who wasn’t in court, said in her statement: “I am English by birth and I’m offended by Gwion Jones’ racist comments.”
see call him anything just don’t start it with the word scottish or you’ll be up for being a racist!!!
Oh dear,
It’s in the article. It is to be included in the “cross-party submission” to the Scottish Governments proposals.
In otherwords, if they did not allow discussions on it the 3 tweedles wouldn’t come out to play.
The reason Trident was not up for discussion was that the SNP position is VERY clear on Trident and that it would simply distract from other matters. Just as the CON/DUMs have done with their Defence Review.
Still never let the truth get in the way of a Telegraph headline
Replace Scottish with UK in line 2 on my previous.
“I believe we ordered over two hundred Tornado F.2/3′s during the Thatcher era, to ‘maintain aerospace jobs and skills’. So on occasion we have been like France.”
I dont know about that, but the (a?) Tory Minister who was responsbile for Typhoon said it was to keep the design teams working, and was a waste because they’ve been closed now JCA is the American designed F35
“Like you said, a very dubious method of wealth creation.”
Its not any method of wealth creation, defence spending is wealth destruction.
The arguement that it “preserves skills” isnt really aplicable when the yards havent built commerical ships for a generation.
@ DominicJ
Defence spending is wealth creation whether its the family wage or the BAE share price that keeps the UK pension funds buoyant.
And though I think I your understand your statement about commercial shipping I think it is ill founded. BAE Barrow builds submarines. Could it build other specialist shipping? Yes. Is there any need for it do so? Not at the moment.
x
wealth isnt created, its transfered, from taxpayers to tax receivers.
Resources and manpower that could build and operate a fishing fleet that could feed men, who could forge more steel for more fishing ships, ect ect.
What the pensioner receives from bae dividends is always less than what the pensioner pays in taxes.
Defence exports are a different matter usualy.
Thanks for the post admin it just shows what I’ve always suspected about the SNP they are not a serious bunch to be considered as they will say what they need to get the votes. When Faslane was not under any threat they were more than happy to campaign against it now they need those thousands of jobs.
@ dominicj
If you have had to suffer a semester of economics or GPE studies you will realise that any monetary system is an abstract. That is to say it isn’t real. It takes more than pensions contributions to keep a pension fund buoyant.
I am going to stop. It is obvious we are talking at cross purposes.
X
I can break out my Hayek if you like :p
But agree, its not likely we’ll come to a solution.
DominicJ,
‘Resources and manpower that could build and operate a fishing fleet that could feed men, who could forge more steel for more fishing ships, ect ect.’
They could if the seas weren’t overfished, plus they would have to compete with Taiwanese factory vessels and low wages. Given that recently Iceland and Norway have vastly increased their fishing (Mackeral?) quota and stuck two fingers up at the EU, then we may see a return to the Cod War style conflicts of the Seventies. And this is frm what we consider ‘friendly nations’!
Is the RN prepared for gun boat diplomacy on our door step? Abd do our Fishery Protection Vessels carry something useful like a 20 mm Oerlikon?
RS
Although true, its not really relevent to military spending.
The EU can hardly complain, given the qunatities of fish it kills and dumps back into the sea in pursuit of its own cack handed quotas.