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By and large, I have always been of the view that it makes sense to replace the Trident Missile Submarines when required which is, I understand, in about 20 years time however and such is the gestation period of these things, we must start now. True, given the parlous state of the UK Finances, better not to have to find the estimated £20 billion cost but…

It should be the purpose of any personal blog to explore and consider ‘ideas’ that are outside of the mainstream or at the very least, “question” the current perceived wisdom. Wednesday bought the following: “The government should scale back the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent to save money, a think tank has said. The Royal United Services Institute urged ministers to consider dropping the requirement of always having a nuclear submarine on patrol at sea.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10784192

This has prompted a number of thoughts…

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There was an interesting piece in the Independent concerning the murder of 10 Charity Workers in Afghanistan: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-aid-workers-and-armed-force-2047112.html

Whilst the British Media will inevitably concentrate on the one Briton killed, the following quote from this article, does provoke some thought:

“But the dependence of aid workers on the military for security, and the reliance of the military on aid organisations for the civilian reconstruction projects that are vital to winning over the local population, make for a volatile mix that risks endangering all concerned.”

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There was a piece in today’s Independent by Dominic Lawson in which he stated that “Our Banks are doing a good job”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-our-banks-are-doing-a-good-job-2041713.html

In fact and whilst not a fashionable view, I suspect that he is right and to a large extent, they are rather caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea whatever they do over the next few years and in this, are in a similar position to Members of Parliament.

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The current ‘big story’ is the leaking of some 90,000 US documents on the Wikileaks website concerning the Afghan War between 2004 and 2009 and revealing many, previously unreported incidents which amount to ‘collateral damage’ or, the killing of innocent civilians by ISAF Forces whilst conducting military operations. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10758578

For all the ‘noises’ made by all concerned, I do not think that this material will make one iota of difference because there is absolutely no ‘amazing revelations’ of say a “My Lai Massacre ”. Though many no doubt will seek, incorrectly to say the killing of people at a wedding party by bombs or missiles is the same which clearly it is not. Poor or bad intelligence does not equate to an Officer losing control of his men and they, then going on a deliberate killing rampage of the people in front of them.

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Andrew Marr writing on the BBC web site made some very good points concerning “new media” and whilst I would agree that “News Content” should be paid for, the real problem is that the current Media Barons haven’t sorted out the answer to the basic question which is, HOW ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10745720

To my mind the reason for this is that no one is sufficiently daring enough to really “think outside of the box”. The focus seems not to have switched off from the past business model of a cover price + advertising revenue for the physical delivery of a paper product. The fixation on pay walls for access assumes that all you do is get the customer to switch from paying for a paper copy to paying for computer/mobile access and that is wrong.

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I suspect that the “Media Honeymoon” over the Coalition Government will soon come to an end as the reporting over these past few days seems to signal. Though not, I might add because serious questions are being raised by Government policies, it is not the way the British Media works.

The problem for media people is that they are reactive to events not proactive. “No news”, or even worse, “Good news” is bad for business, there is just no ‘story’ to chase so in the end these “media children” will… Well we all know what the Devil does in making work for idle hands… so, the media will get restless and like children on a journey, keep asking“Are we there yet ?”

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Last Saturday, I attended the Fairford “Air Tattoo” and what a splendid event it was with hours of continuous flying marred only by taking an hour and a half, to get out of the car park after the ‘show’ and despite delaying departure for a couple of hours after flying ceased still, there you go…!

However and in the run up to Farnborough and defence spending reviews, a number of ‘issues’ have come increasingly into focus via the Media and especially a ‘bete-noir’ of mine, the willingness of Governments to spend on high cost capital projects whilst ignoring the ‘military realities’ of the PBI – Poor Bloody Infantry. A very interesting article in the Telegraph, is worth reading: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamescorum/100047944/americas-armed-forces-are-at-breaking-point-its-time-for-a-republican-fightback/

But I want to both use that whilst taking the ‘concept’ further…

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Ever since I was a child, I have been totally ‘entranced’ by the whole concept of flight although as a ‘city boy’, this was confined to aircraft. It was only when I moved down to the Somerset Levels and on my daily ‘photographic bike rides’ that I realised bird flight was just as fascinating particularly when watching Herons landing and taking off or those masters of flight, Seagulls in action.

Over the years and as the opportunity arose, I liked to go to Air Shows and every year down here is the Yeovilton Air Day held at the Royal Naval Air Station and I last visited it in 2006 but not since due to looking after my Parents both of whom have subsequently died. A neighbour of mine persuaded me to come with him and some months ago, we booked for both this show and the one at Fairford in Gloucestershire next weekend.

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Is it me or are ‘commentators’ totally weird ? Since it was announced that British Forces would hand over Sangin to US Marines, there have been so many ‘Defeat’ articles as to be unbelievable. One in the Independent was by some ‘Nut Job’ who has written a book on Iraq:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/richard-north-another-halfhearted-war-another-defeat-2023711.html

To me, the most worrying thing about our deployment in Afghanistan is how we got to this point. Nine years ago, SAS and SBS units helping the “Northern Alliance” was about right but John Reid as Defence Secretary casually starting this deployment with a public view expressed in The Commons, that they (troops), “Will probably come home without a shot being fired…” is indicative of where we are today and how we got there, we got here via complacency.

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I saw on the BBC web site in their “Magazine Section”, an article that posed the question as to whether London ‘sucks’ the life out of Britain. The link is as follows: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/10508673.stm

In most ways, I suspect that the ‘proposition’ is an ‘Aunt Sally’ and the author is playing a “Devils Advocate” role which I was quite prepared to participate in as follows:

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