I have remarked before how worried I sometimes am over Richard North's blood pressure. Visiting his blog, EU Referendum, is rather like peering over the top of Mt. Etna and watching the steam arising from the red-hot, bubbling embers below; one is never quite certain when an eruption will take place. I thought this piece from last Tuesday might have set him off on one but, rather amazingly, his tone verged on placid, er, well, that's 'placid' as in Richard North terms:
Having dumped Portillo's folly, aka Nimrod MR4, at a cost of some £4.2 billion, the UK now lacks a vital maritime surveillance capability. Not only does this leaves us gravely weakened, it means we are also without the important and very necessary assets needed to deal with major maritime emergencies.
Well, yes, MoD/HMG piss £4.2 billion up against a wall, so no change there, then! However, it is Richard North's great virtue that his "surveillance capability" over the media is so comprehensive that he is able to mix and match with ease:
India, is in the process of acquiring eight state-of-the-art maritime surveillance aircraft (pictured), only one less than the nine Nimrods that we have scrapped after a Tory defence secretary made the wrong choice.
The Indians, of course, being a great deal wilier than us managed to buy their 'planes off the shelf from Boeing for a mere $2.1 billion. OK, OK, I hear you muttering, so the civil servants and the top RAF types (rarely the brightest) were stuffed by the defence industry crooks - again - so what? Well, and here you come to the detonator cap in the whole story, you see this week HMG announced, with pride, I gather, their new targets for overseas aid which included - stand by - a hefty donation to India. Indeed:
the cost of the [Boeing] deal at $2.1 billion, which includes an element of support, has a purchase price which is roughly equivalent to the amount of UK aid we pay to India.
I waited with breath bated for a North-style explosion somewhere around 8.7 on the Richter scale but not a bit of it, he remained laconic and frightfully British. I, on the other hand, had a somewhat different re-action to the news that 'Call me Dave' is spending my money helping the Indians to raise the standards of their maritime defences whilst we are forced to scrap ours. "Bloody, bloody, buggering, useless, retarded bastards" is simply some of the shrapnel left over from my explosion.
David,
I reckon you are being seriously nasty to all normal 'retarded' people by placing them in the same line-up as trash like Cameron & company!
Posted by: Mike Cunningham | Sunday, 06 March 2011 at 22:29
Quite right, Mike, and I apologise to those concerned but, alas, rage ruled the day.
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 06 March 2011 at 22:35
David
Not only that India has a smsller surveillance aircraft for closer range work. They are selling some to Sechlies (sic) for any piracy work. Maybe the UK could buy some.
Posted by: hank | Sunday, 06 March 2011 at 23:29
Now, Hank, I thought you were a proper Christian gentleman and yet here you are rubbing my nose in it! And apart from anything else, we haven't got any money.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 07 March 2011 at 09:10
It can't be good for Richard North to get that angry. He should try counting to 100, taking a deep breath and remembering it'll all be forgotten soon enough!
Posted by: H | Wednesday, 09 March 2011 at 11:30
Yes, I worry for him some times!
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 09 March 2011 at 12:42
I have a solution for your MoD David - one on which all you Brits can contribute to the surveillance deficiency.
Kites. Well, kites and those cellphones which have cameras. Maybe some duct-tape... you do have duct tape in the UK?
Tape a phone to a kite, place yourself backside toward Parliament and the wind should be sufficient to zip your kite into the stratosphere.
Posted by: JK | Friday, 11 March 2011 at 03:08