The Iranian Model is Hitler | Lawrence J. Haas
No.10′s Andrew Cooper Should Look at this Poll | Douglas Carswell
Livingstone Has Form on Homophobia | ConservativeHome
Investors HBack Over RBS Meddling | CityAM
Riddled With It | Pink News
I Went Mad in the Seventies | Ken
Guy Newsroom Splits | Indy
Polly’s Voodoo Polling | UK Polling Report
Labour SpAd Backs the Bill | Mark Wallace
Guido Goes for the Lobby | Press Gazette
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Max Clifford says…
“Most people want to read nasty things about people, not nice things.”
DisgustedOfMitcham2 says:
Maybe if they really wanted to “decontaminate the Labour brand” with business people, they shouldn’t have totally buggered up the economy?
Just a thought.
I see LordDarzi has just resigned. He carried out the landmark review of the NHS which culminated in the report High Quality Care for All, published in June 2008. Obviously doesn’t want to be associated with the High Quality Rip-Off for all………… HERE
He and the rest of the government are more goatse than goat.
Leave goats out of this!
Leave Goatse out of this!!! Anyone who doesn’t know what goatse is, whatever you do don’t look for it on the web.
No really, don’t! Especially if on a work computer!
Ah, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, have a quick peak.
Concur. DO NOT LOOK.
Unless you’ve got a brain backup and you can go back to your original state, before you saw it.
I’ve just been sick you dirty bastard.
Anon 234
How many “Don’t look at this” comments do you need? Don’t say you weren’t warned!
Looking forward to mental midget Cameron show us his lame tough guy routine, again.
He came. He saw. He was very nice
Yes it was pretty lame! Clegg did better. The Newlabour front bench, – so-called socialists,- looking smug, skin like burnt orange (where do they get that orange tan from?). Jack the Straw still sucking his lips, harriett gazing upward admiringly toward the gorgon as with that slime ball shaun woodward. The Gorgon wearing his purple clerical tie (makes him look more like a presbyterian minister. He’s as pasty faced as hain, woodward, darling, johnson etc are orange. A shower!
PMQs are absolutely pathetic, and dont’t help the country , in any way.
LABOUR ISN’T WORKING
The latest unemployment figures show a sharp increase in the jobless total, up by a record 281,000 in the three months to May.
Unemployment figure soars to 2.4 million Play video Unemployment up at 2.38m
Jaguar to stop X-Type production, cut 300 jobs
Jobless rate strikes 7.6%
The number of people out of work now stands at 2.38 million, with some analysts warning that the total will reach 3.2 million next year.
Oh dear dear me…..Labour certainly isn’t working. It never did.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090715/tuk-unemployment-up-at-2-38m-dba1618.html
It’s called a sunbed tan. Fake, like the lot of them.
I thought the new Speaker was going to stop non-questions from mouse-like nonentity (mainly women) Nu-Liebor MPs? Yet still we have to listen to their bullshit praising Gorgon.
How is Bercow any different from Gorbals Mick? There are still a disproportionate amount of questions from Nu-Liebor. As for that woman banging on about child poverty.What a joke.If children are poor in this country it’s because their parents are spending the money on drugs and booze.
As for the debate on defence …all the soldiers will be dead before they have decided what to do.In a purchasing/procurement environment,anything is possible if you have the right people.But you have to have a ‘can-do’ attitude.Something it seems sadly lacking in the Government/MOD procurement deparment/civil service in general. Cut the crap just get on with job…..
Cleggy certainly sounded quite edgy and riskee today.
Maybe he had his breakfast toast burnt in the toaster, but his irritation with the status quo of British Politics better caught the public feeling.
If he carries on like this they may even get round to awarding him the headship of some commission or other. Wonder what they’d call that one?
Shame he is a troughing hoon himself – might make him more believable & less of a treasonous unilateralist hypocrit.
And BOB the bus driver Ainsworthless sucking a lemon.
I was with some of the chaps last night.
That small time shop floor steward Ainsworth is really the final insult to the Forces.
One CO clearly stated that he believed the story doing the rounds that Ainsworth hasn’t even got a direct line into Downing Street, such is his low standing.
Another recycled Marxist with the fate of British troops lives in his sweaty incompetent hands.
He only got worked up on his last question. He can rattle them when he speaks up, shows a bit of passion and generally works things up a bit. A shame he doesn’t do it all the time.
He will always be gutless, a failure and generally pointless.
As opposed to Gordon’s usual immense performance. Which big lies will we see today?
PMQ’s almost forgot – last one before recess – do hope dave will get his act together –
I’d should like to see gordon lose his temper in the HoC just once and throw his mobile phone at Dave. Not because I want to see Dave hurt but because I’d like to see gordon exposed to the world for what he is.
Thats the way to do it.
Definitely a youtube winner!
But alas, the massive doses of largactil that he’s on have taken the edge off his violent temper. A side effect being that he can’t answer any questions put to him, either.
I too thought he looked drugged. Mandy must have slipped him something beforehand so that we would be spared the sight of spontaneous human combustion live on TV.
Ah, now that would be a youtube classic…. A voter can dream, can’t they?
He is starting to make Ming look quite youthfull maybe the Libs acted a bit hasty.
gordo would miss anyway.
Britain’s economic fundamentals have their wires crossed. Before we get into a discussion on the economy, politics, or the current media storm, this is the root of all things. It’s why shaking off the clinging to failed ideologies and the past is so difficult for Britain. People claim to want better, and most people do, but a tiny minority can’t get over themselves. Sound headline goals, a slow squeeze on bad business and communities, and patience is all it takes.
12 years is long enough.
12 minutes of this lot was to long, it looks like we will have to endure just less than 12 more months as there is no killer blow that will put this government down…or is there?
CMD is waiting for his orders before he can go on the attack. Lisbon needs ratifying and then CMD will suddenly discover he can kick the ball into the empty net after all.
Until then however, CMD will let the country slide into oblivion, you see, CMD is Bliar2 and just like Bliar1, he has nothing to offer except spin, soundbites and platitudes either.
Cameron will only get the job,when Mandy decides so.
“[LabourList is] a mirror of a collapsing government being run over by an opposition with a free pass. Wake up.”
Charles Hardwidge @ 5:07 pm, Wed 8th Apr 2009 on LabourList
Crossed wires are the root of all things? We need to shake off clinging? We need to get over ourselves? Headline goals is all it takes?
These phrases contain some honest words that have meant things in the past, could mean things now and no doubt will do so in the future.
I knew someone like the Prime Minister once. The guy was insightful and cared for people but just couldn’t get it together. He needed shaping by being told what to do, where to stand, and what to say because he’d never had the real world practice. Eventually he went too far and (I kid you not) nearly set fire to himself in a domestic accident. I wouldn’t have minded so much but I was visiting at the time. Gordon Brown is in a similar head slapping position.
Charles Hardwidge @ 8:33 pm, Wed 29th Apr 2009 at LL
I remember a guy at a workplace like Gordon.
Quite quiet, and a bit secretive. No one really liked him. Women particularly disliked him. He would try to join in the banter but he had no experience and it was always disastrous.
Woman B “I’m going on holiday. I had better get a new towel”
ManA. ” “Better get a big one”
WomanB “I always like a big one. ”
ManA “I have a big one. Its great if you want to dry something thats just got wet”
WomanB “Really? like what?”
Gordon “Would you like to sniff my cock?”
Poor man. Not quite able to join in.
{That was a WHILE BACK. Under NuLabour both ManA and WomanB WOULD have been prosecuted for demeaning sexual expressionist behaviour and be under house arrest}
{That was a WHILE BACK. Under NuLabour both ManA and WomanB WOULD have been prosecuted for demeaning sexual expressionist behaviour and be under house arrest}
Heterosexist hate speech!
Doubleplusgood duckspeak.
Is it me, or is it a bit slow going on pmqs this afternoon ?
Cameron is asking the type of questions that allows Huhne face to waffle on and on!
he’s “getting on with the job” in his response to Cleggy. Wish he wouldn’t.
Dave did OK but Cleggy did better.
gordon of course never answered any of the questions they raised.
Why I wonder weren’t the names of the eight young men brought home yesterday read out as is usually the case.
Just had a planted question from a smirking woman with shares in Max Factor
Brown usually reads out the names of one or two dead soldiers to try and show how statesman like he is… reading out the names of, what, 13 dead since the last PMQs would only show what a complete disaster his policy in Afghanistan is.
When Brown weighs up paying tribute to the dead soldiers against highlighting a flaw in his political strategy, which do you think is going to decide his actions…??
Yeah – a bloody disgrace. I emailed the Daily Politics to ask why the glorious leader hadn’t read out the names of the dead – needless to say, it wasn’t read out.
I’ve just emailed david cameron and 10 drowning with the question – because even if gordon didn’t want to read out the names dave or cleggie could have done it.
I feel really upset about it – especially for the families of those men.
There wasnt enough time.
They were read out on Monday when Gordon/Dave/Nick were in HoC
I always look forward to his readings from the Anthology of Hoontingdonshire Deadmen.
Child Poverty??? Now that wouldn’t by any chance be a planted question…would it?
Was Jack Straw trying to “shut that door”? He has a lot to flap about. Anyone else see that?
another one with no spine, follower yes, just a yes man.
I thought he was signalling to someone on the opposite bench to sit down.
He said something about remembering our military will be watching this as well when Cameron got a bit close. I hope he realises that they all think he’s a gutless Hoon as well. For an author on ‘Kerridge’, he ain’t half a fookin’ Jessie.
Hello, Gordon looks a bit rattled.
Cameron posturing on the corpses of soldiers, charming.
Gordon’s dead soldiers, MB. remember that.
You too then Mr Too Scat.
Cameron claims to support the UK’s military mission in Afghanistan.
Do you?
Not as it stands or as I understand it.
He doesn’t support sending them to war without enough resources or proper equipment.
MB, would you send a son or daughter to die for Gordon?
No but he’d happily send others to keep brown in power. Whats a few more stiffs matter in the struggle for the socialist utopia which only chairman brown can bring?
With respect, No-one sends their son or daughter.
People join the armed forces through choice.
it was bliar who sent them there but gordon who sent them there with substandard kit.
They were even supplied cheap substandard eastern european 50cal ammunition that DIDNT FIT their heavy weapons. When they raised the issue they were told they were incompetent and should clean their weapons more often. Thats your caring labour PM since it was the treasury that forced through the contract in the face of opposition from the Forces.
He sent squaddies to die without ammunition! a total cnut!
Their blood is on New Labour’s hands MB. It aint ever gonna wash off, no matter how hard you wring ‘em.
Them and the dead of Iraq.
Pity your lot arent as eager to even assign a half competant secretary of state for defence, let alone equip the troops properly as you are when it comes to prosecuting them for “war crimes” carried out in your name in an illegal conflict no fucker wanted.
When you’ve served mate, then you can comment. Until then, wind your fucking neck in.
Having now had a chance to give your comment due consideration you should be aware that you shouldn’t have posted it.
Four U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan on Saturday 11 July, the U.S. military said on Sunday, the latest casualties in an escalation of insurgent violence.
helicopters?
Who’s using the dead now then?
Hypocrite.
There’s is no posturing in this, it is a statement of fact, US soldiers are being killed in Helmand in spite of having proportionately far more helicopters in the relevant area of operations.
Cameon is posturing on the corpses of soldiers by intimating incorrectly and knowingly that the soldiers died due to a shortage of helicopters. Not only is that a lie it is a savage and crual attack on the grieving berieved who are led to believe Cameron’s slimey News of the World spin.
You really are an idiot, a sick & twisted one at that.
You’re nasty….
and pointless.
You can’t get killed by a roadside bomb in a helicopter.
Soldiers are fighting an intense battle. They are going to be killed. We must accept that. Probably far more US soldiers would have been killed but for the fact they have more helicopters and more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles at their disposal.
Its the job of the opposition to question government policy. the fact that the govt run away from answering the questions shows them to be culpable. The harsh reality is that we are undermanned and unequipped for the job we are trying to do. We are wasting our defence budget on projects for the next war not the one we are currently fighting. Thats the govts fault.
Yes. Casualties could have been worse without helicopters. Please read this post:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5186218/helicopters-hover-over-pmqs.thtml#comments
Warning – it contains facts not assumptions and soundbites
This exposes the miserable lies being spouted by our non-descript political classes and defended by even more miserable apologists like you.
Which quango/think tank do you work for?
He is a frontline footsoldier in the socialists class war on the toffs. sad innit
91#
More fucking tractor statistics MB. Warping the stats in an effort to try and wash the blood off your hands. It aint going anywhere mate, its still there.
Never mind the dead who you happily give a one way ticket to then avoid like the plague when they return, your lot cant even look after the survivors and the badly injured.
Compare what Ben Parkinson was originally told he was going to get on the infamous “sliding scale” compared to some half-wit time serving civil servant who ricked his back lifting up a printer. Over two hundred fucking grand. Ker-ching!
Or the WRAF typist who sued for RSI. Half a fucking million for RSI, an occupational hazard for a fucking typist!
More money for your pet quangos… how come the National Lottery Heritage Fund has as many employees and costs MORE to run as the Treasury?
Theres enough to tip a few million into Fred’s pension, pay Northern Crock’s bonuses, theres enough to spend on legal fees trying to keep info about MP’s expenses out of the public gaze even though you brought in FOI, theres enough to give away 12 and a half billion on a utterly pointless VAT rate drop, theres enough to try and bribe the poorest in society you claim to represent by chopping the 10p tax rate….
NL make me sick to my fucking back teeth. Anything to keep you lot in power, whether its sucking the unions dicks before you stab ‘em in the back, whether it’s making non-jobs for the boys – your lot dont care how low you stoop, so long as you’ve still got the keys to No10.
Cant wait to fucking emigrate.
Pompous the Pilot, so what’s your position on Afghanistan?
Your fake hufty tufty empty bravado means nothing.
Are you with the government and the Conservitude Party?
Do you want more 18 year old English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish boys sent to Helmand against proven seasoned fighters defending their homes, culture and religion?
Would you like everything we have in money and men poured in to that country, just to rearrange the sand and some boulders?
Would you like us to emulate the Russians and lose 50,000 young men?
Where do you draw the line?
Grow an imagination you moth.
I’m mostly focused on quality, teamwork, and the long view so don’t have the petty point scoring and partisan attitude that is common in here.
Get a life.
From Nick Robinson’s blog
At 5:53pm on 08 Sep 2008, Charles_E_Hardwidge
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Pontius, your eloquent rage is appreciated. And I agree.
You really are the nastiest piece of shit that inhabits this place..and that includes that ignoramus CEH.
No you’re the nasty one, so there!
Oh my oh my…I feel chastised and humiliated.
Your brand of sick commentary speaks volumes for your intellect,Sonny Boy.
Go away and waste some more of your mutant sperm.
For once before you start ranting and calling people moths,try and research the facts. You really are an odious creature.
Well that’s you told!
Hey MB, why not go try some of your comments on a Forces website such as Arrse.co.uk? With luck someone on there will find you and discuss things further, maybe face to face.
155#
OK, MB, I’ll answer your questions. Fuck knows why, because with apparatchiks like you, regardless of how many of YOUR questions I answer, you lot NEVER answer any of ours. Just wave your hand dismissively citing racism/sexism/northernism/ageism/whatever other -ism has been dreamed up in Islington this week and figuring that anyone who doesnt agree with you HAS to be a Tory or otherwise warped.
But, I said I’ll answer the questions so…
“Pompous the Pilot, so what’s your position on Afghanistan?”
A pointless money pit and not worth the blood of our kids and my mates who are still serving. Get the fuck out of there and leave them to it. You cant import a western democracy to a tribal theocracy. Utterly pointless. The problem for the West isnt Afghanistan, its the stability of Pakistan, the nuclear armed state next door. THATS where we ought to be concentrating our efforts, not necessarily exclusively military ones either.
“Your fake hufty tufty empty bravado means nothing.”
You’re entitled to your opinion.
“Are you with the government and the Conservitude Party?”
Meaning? They’re fundamentally both as bad as each other in being completely devoid of leadership, imagination and honesty. Work out what buttons to press in order to gain power and keep it. Thats only my opinion though.
“Do you want more 18 year old English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish boys sent to Helmand against proven seasoned fighters defending their homes, culture and religion?”
Fuck no. I served for 16 years myself and having seen the battlefields and landing sites at San Carlos, Ajax Bay, Tumbledown, Goose Green and been in the Brit cemetary and seen “Aged 18/Aged 19/Aged 18….” on line after line of headstones, fuck no, definately not. No disrespect to the Afghans, but it aint worth it. Sometimes a blood price has to be paid in order to preserve freedom, democracy and values and all of that bollocks… but this is NOT, IMHO one of those times. My mates who served in FI, Gulf War 1 and Iraq and Afghan recently, have thank fuck, come back alive.
“Would you like everything we have in money and men poured in to that country, just to rearrange the sand and some boulders?”
My point is, if you’re going to do it, if that is the political masters bidding then to expect them to do it on the cheap, to not supply them with the kit they need to do the job is as bad, if not worse than sending them in to lose their lives with at least one arm tied behind their back. If you cant afford to do it properly, then get the fuck out. Or, stop trying to punch way above your weight, accept the days of being a serious world power are behind you and scale back your commitment accordingly.
“Would you like us to emulate the Russians and lose 50,000 young men?
Where do you draw the line?”
See above, also titled “Fuck No”. The Russians didnt exactly play by the Geneva convention and still lost. Somewhere there is a lesson in there. One that we should have learned during the time of Kipling. Anyone who attempts to take Afghanistan by force, short of gassing every fucker who lives in it is doomed to failure. A big hint in my book. I would draw the line at the end of the runway at Brize Norton.
“Grow an imagination you moth.”
Reverting to type again, MB… Dont you wonder why people have become so thoroughly sick of politics, feel disconnected, unrepresented, that no-ones listening? Why do you think the far right are making the gains they are?
But, hey there you go, democracy in action. You can waste your vote on whoever you like. Me, I’m emigrating at the end of the month and although I’m disappointed to be leaving behind the country where I was born in, lived in and served, all my life to date, I’m not prepared any longer to live under a regime which is purely there to keep a half blind megalomaniac in the top job because he figures he was born to do it. I’m sorry to say I cant wait to leave.
Over to you MB, I’ve answered your questions honestly and openly. I’ll be listening.
Fine, well done but don’t be so sensitive if you’re going to visit this site. If you’re offended for being called a moth you need to grow a pair, really.
You don’t actually ask any questions.
However presumably you would like to, so here are some guess answers to your guess questions.
Should UK forces be in Afghanistan.
Answer: The UK is obliged within limits to do Washington’s bidding.
Should the UK pour more money, troops and resources in to Afghanistan?
Answer: As much as is necessary for the operations the UK undertakes.
Should the UK undertake operations in Afghanistan?
Answer: As few as possible.
Hopefully even you will be able to keep your emotional nappy on long enough to contemplate the answers properly.
After which, hopefully you will understand how offensive it is for many people to witness the Conservitudes posturing on soldiers’ corpses about helicopters.
244#
MB, I’m not offended at being called a moth, I can assure you I’ve been called much worse and have developed a very thick skin over the years.
You can call it sensitivity if you wish. I call it an almost pathalogical aversion to people who live in big glass houses chucking stones.
I didnt ask you what you thought, because you made it amply clear. And, without turning to ad hominem, I’m afraid “as much as possible” and “as few as possible” arent really the basis on which you can build much of a strategy when you’re dealing with the lives of a volunteer, non conscript, professional armed forces. Its a bit vague.
Its all well and good saying pour as much money in as the mission demands; well the mission demands extra UAV’s, it demands extra heavy lift helo’s, it demands more boots on the ground, it demands ISTAR capability that the creaking old Nimrods are no longer able to safely do.
So, in return, although the UOR budget is reasonably open ended, what do we get in return? The Nimrod MRA4 project running years behind schedule, plus the R1 replacement being cancelled, scaling back on the amount of UAV’s, Helo’s, I think we know all about and 700 extra troops instead of 2000.
Sorry for being a cynic MB, but that doesnt strike me as “as much as possible”. It strikes me as “as little as we can possibly get away with.”
Now, I’m not saying the Tories would make any better a job of it. Bunter Soames was, to my mind, even including Ainsworth and Geoff Hoon, the biggest cnut ever to occupy the position of SecStateDef. The Major administration tried to reap a peace dividend at the end of the cold war, but unfortunately left the single service chiefs to decide where the economies could be made. So, instead of scaling back their command structures and getting rid of a few 1*, 2* and 3* chums, they chopped all the nurses, doctors, hospitals, outsourced aircraft maintenance to BAe, left the accomodation to rot and wallowed in past glories instead of planning for the future. Gulf War 1 should have been a warning sign that the old cold war equipment could barely cope and a longer view should have been taken during the strategic defence review. But it wasnt.
Hence the position we’re in now.
What we need is LEADERSHIP from the top, both in the military and in Govt. Unfortunately, Gordon is not best placed to deliver it. His performance in the Defence Select Committee questioning yesterday was awful. MB, the man can not wrap himself in the union flag when decisions he made as PM and chancellor have had a direct impact on the numbers of dead who are coming back wrapped in the same flag onboard a C17.
These are real people MB, real families being bereaved. Men and women displaying the kind of courage (no insult intended) under battlefield conditions that you and I will barely ever comprehend. Sorry, unless you’ve served, you wont understand it. I’ve been lucky not to be in a combat situation where people are shooting at you, but I’ve known scores who have, and I’ve known them for many years and seen the effects its had on them.
We have a simple choice. You, Gordon as PM, agree the scope of the mission with NATO, and you provide the appropriate men, equipment and support to accomplish it. If you cant do that, either dont do it at all, or scale back your commitment and dont ask them to do as much with as little for as long. But dont for Gods sake say you’re doing one thing when the evidence points to the contrary.
244#
Incidentally, I’m generalising when I say those who lean towards NL do not answer questions from those they figure to be Tories (ie, those who are anything but NL
)
Certainly the case over on Toenail’s blog. Contributors over there are constantly asked “well, what would YOU do? What would CMD do?” as against “Government have had the opportunity to do this…. and they havent done it”.
The electorate have had enough of tractor stats and avoiding the answers. Simple answer to a simple question. If the Tories dont understand that, they wont get in either.
*yawn*
JOHN HUTTON BEING SPANKED BY ANDREW NEIL !!
GO BRILLO !!
UK unemployment rose by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million, in the three months to May, official figures show.
It started in America, of course.
That’s a massive 10% rise in unemployment.
and nothing said at PMQs about it ….. 82 days fcuking holiday they’re off to …. bstardas
Holiday is good. They can do much less harm on holiday – no damaging new laws, no expense claims, less airborne crap. The country will go on governing itself, the media can make up some entertaining stories, we can all relax and things may improve a bit.
Has it been decided to no longer list the names of all the servicemen killed each week? I did not hear Broon listing them and Cameron did not make any comment.
See 13 and 40 above.
“Cameron did not make any comment.”
Absolutely appalling from Cameron, he should have read every name and then asked Brown why he was ashamed to name them.
Why is Cameron ALWAYS so useless against such an easy target as the snot gourmet?
This was why I wondered whether there had been some agreement between the party leaders though it would seem strange if there had been.
As I replied above,the names were read out on Monday when Gordon/Dave/Nick were in the HoC
So the Chinooks have so far been 8 years in being adapted for Afghanistan them? What they trying to turn them into FFS?
Ask Gordon —- he said that the terrain amd climate is different, and the crew need ot be trained, etc etc, etc. Of course,nyou and I might think you could build NEW helicoptors in that time, but that’s cos we don’t understand the problem…… so says Gordon. He thinks we are all complete fools.
How many MKs of Spitfires, Hurricanes and other types of aircraft were designed and built between 1939 & 1945?
How many aircraft in total?
Britain developed the helicopter and vertical take-off aircraft!!!!!!!!!!!
yes…. and then between them Westland, Bae & the MoD made a complete and utter fucking horlicks of it.
There has been ample time to sort those 8 SF Chinooks out. Ample time and opportunity.
The fact they still arent done is down to MOD, who fucked up the procurement project, (royally) & the Treasury who are so fucking tight they only fucking breathe in.
Man on Clapham Omnibus:
The “militaryfactory” website gives the following numbers:
Spitfire: 22,139 (inc 1,788 Seafires)
Hurricane: 15,421 (inc 1,190 Sea Hurricanes)
Anson: 11,020
Mosquito: 7,781
Beaufighter: 5,805
Typhoon: 3,317
Swordfish: 2,396
Beaufort: 2,080
Firefly: 1,702
Tempest: 1,422
Defiant: 1,075
etc, etc, etc
On the Heavy Bomber side:
Wellington: 11,461
Lancaster: 7,377
Halifax: 6,177
Stirling 2,368
Whitley: 1,656
etc, etc, etc
These are just the main types with wartime production figures in excess of 1,000 each…!
Shows what can be done when you have to. Mind you, the Germans built 35,500 Me109′s and 20,000 Fw190′s just for starters…
Sikorsky invented the helicopter !
When That Mental Twat Brown says he’s increased the nUmber of helicopters in Afghanistan by 60% That means from 4 to 10 !
You also asked for a total.
I make the above: 103,197. You can add a few thousand more to that for all the various types of which less than 1,000 were produced (e.g. Albemarle, Manchester, Meteor (jet-most produced after WWII) etc etc).
In addition there were large numbers of Horsa and Hamilcar gliders.
Oh – there were, of course, also quite a few ships, tanks, guns, small arms, bombs, mines and other items of hardware being built at the same time(!!!)
Isn’t there going to be a problem having enough metals to make any war machinery given the tendency for it to be nicked by entrepreneurial East Europeans?
Hawker tornado.
Dehavilland Vampire.
Newgirl, there has been dispute over the software code for the navigation system. our engineers want access to be able to make the necessary system changes, the septics keep denying access as the code is “classifed”.
How utterly ridiculous..
Why don’t they just by new satnavs down Halfords?
I don’t really know what the software is, or what they want to change …. you’d expect the software from Boeing would actually do what you wanted it to do.
And this wasn’t known when the contract was placed????
But that would mean the IPT’s would have the faintest idea of what they are doing….
Not a fucking chance. Bet the hoon who drew that contract up is still in the civil service as well… fucking hoons…
Probably not, or was seriously overlooked during the requirements phase.
Food mixers.
Fucking disgraceful. A product of yet another government (both Con and Lab) project astronomical fuck up.
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) – Part of the difficulty British forces face in Afghanistan, where 15 soldiers have been killed in the past two weeks, can be traced back to mistakes made in procuring helicopters more than a decade ago, experts say.
In 1995, Britain ordered 14 U.S.-built Chinooks, hoping the twin-rotor, heavy-lift helicopters would enable troops and equipment to be shuttled around a battlefield like Afghanistan.
The helicopters were delivered by Boeing in 2001, but eight of them could not be used because software source code needed to certify their airworthiness was not supplied. Access to the code had not been specified as part of the contract.
As a result, the helicopters have spent most of the past eight years sitting under wraps in hangars, while the Ministry of Defence and Boeing have engaged in protracted negotiations.
In the meantime, the cost of the helicopters has risen by more than 70 percent to 422 million pounds ($690 million), and is expected to top 500 million by the time they are finally fit to enter service, probably some time next year.
Parliament’s public accounts committee, in a report published in March, called it one of of the worst procurement mistakes it had seen, ‘bordering on irresponsibility’, and said it could put the lives of soldiers in Afghanistan at risk.
In the past two weeks, public anger over the rapidly rising death toll has prompted opposition politicians to criticise the government for failing to get enough helicopters to the warzone.
‘If you want to move more troops around the battlefield, you need more helicopters,’ David Cameron, the leader of the opposition Conservatives, told Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a parliamentary question-and-answer session on Wednesday.
Brown defended the government’s record, while reiterating a promise to get more helicopters to Afghanistan by next year — a reference to the troubled Chinook programme.
‘Loss of life is tragic, but it is not to do with helicopters,’ he said, to jeers from the opposition parties.
MORE HELICOPTERS, MORE CREW?
With at least 10 of the 15 British troops killed this month hit by roadside bombs, public anger has focused on the increased dangers soldiers face when they have to move by road. U.S. troops moving by road have also faced a heay toll.
Given the vast distances involved — Helmand province, where Britain’s 9,000 troops are based, is bigger than Switzerland — heavy-lift helicopters are the best, safest solution.
General Richard Dannatt, the head of Britain’s army, acknowledged the need for more air assets as he visited the front line in Helmand on Wednesday.
‘Air mobility is a key enabler and I know the commanders need a lot of that,’ he told the BBC, referring to the Chinooks.
‘We are reworking a number of Chinook helicopters, eight of which will come on line quite soon,’ he said.
While the Chinooks may be ready for deployment next year, air defence experts say that may not be sufficient — training of crews and support staff also has to take place.
‘If you gave the air force those eight Chinooks tomorrow, they couldn’t do anything because there aren’t the crews and maintenance teams to support them,’ said Andrew Brookes at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
‘Unless the money is spent on training extra crews for the Chinooks, and you’re going to need 12 or 13 crews to support eight more aircraft, they’re not going to be much use. It’s a lot more complicated than just increasing the number.’
Access to the codes not specified as part of thecontract? WTF? So Boeing cheerfully suppliedus with helicopters we couldn’t fly?
That would be Boeing off the list of preferred suppliers then.
Simple.
You’d like to think so but these tools have it all sewn up – EDS, Crapita, Jarvis, Balfour Beatty etc etc etc
“code” not “codes”
do you know the difference?
Didn’t Prince William get into trouble for taking jollies while being on week’s familiarisation on the Chinook? May be they could send him out to Khandahar to help up the numbers?
“For good or for ill, air mastery is today the supreme expression of military power and fleets and armies, however vital and important, must accept a subordinate rank”.
“Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter”.
They do not have enough kit nor flyers. McDoom decimated the forces around 2004 and we train only maybe one tenth of the flyers than before. With US kit they do not release all the top secret operational info because it is classified and only available eg to a US citizen. When RAF borrow US kit (yep, they borrow it) even the (Brit) pilots don’t get all the info required to fly them! Same goes for tank training which is undertaken without tanks, yes siree the crew sit on top of landrovers as they go round the course; well at least it’s not Jones’ butchershop wagon as per Dad’s Army. You can’t blame the Yanks for the UK being a twat Socialist country where nothing works. For that you can blame ZNL voters.
The Chinooks which are stuck waiting for delivery are for use by special forces and have all sorts of fancy electronics. They will turn out to be a waste I suspect an appaling waste.
But the issue is why did we not start procuring more helicopters years ago.
As ‘Defence of the Realm’ blog points out Lynxes are useless and cost a fortune to maintain and have been withdrawn We could have got a suitable number of helicopters off the shelf but we have not – Hueys and modified Hueys.
The govt (incl MoD) have been useless and pathetic over this, we have grossly mismanaged our helicopter strategy. The MoD are complicit in this but the govt carry the can.
6 Ukrainians die on Moldovan chopper in Afghanistan Reuters 14 July
Should’nt of nicked it!
Is that another name for a pork sword?
Tell the whole story, wanking crank.
What was shot down was a Soviet-era Mi26 that was being used for a humanitarian mission by a civil firm : Pectox-Air.
Back in 2006, it was known that the Afghan Mujahidden has access to around 20 re-equipped Stinger missiles – a threat to both Soviet and NATO aircraft (source : India Defence). So anything not equipped with current ECM or flare measures flying within 12,000 feet of someone with one of these units is at high risk.
Don’t really know what point you’re trying to make. Chances are that hitting a civilian operation was simply a target of opportunity for the Taliban.
The toady was trying to justify the lies by the government that we dont need more Chinooks out in Afghanistan and that the deaths would have happened anyway.
Ps: best I can do, alas. Even a slime glazed Labour propaganda twerp like me finds it hard to deal with old saggy face Gordon as he drowns in his own ineptitude on military, and some may say all, matters.
Time for a nappy change
‘Ere stop messin’ abahht!
We’re off to South Africa in August, I told her it’s winter but nothing will hold her back.
Ooops
MB sounds like the kind of person who would send others to do his dirty work for him. A bit like his boss. Shame MB doesn’t realise he’s being used like a little political bitch.
a “useful idiot” as Stalin called them
Wasp is a thick circular argument idiot.
Accuses someone of being the type that is used to do dirty work and only uses others to do the dirty work.
Are you a Conservitude as well as being spectacularly dim?
It looks like a circular argument but it isnt.
Look closesly, its a bit like paul daniel’s ring
HUH … moderated.
“It looks like a circular argument but it isnt.
Look closesly, its a bit like firstnamewithdrawn daniel’s ring”
Tim, methinks you fell over a bear trap placed by our honourable host.
Of course, we all know MB comes on here because of self-esteem issues. He’s probably a complete nobody in real life – someone who was bullied at school. That’s why he’s taken to trolling. I imagine he masquerades as a Tory on Labour newsgroups as well.
Of course, he wouldn’t dare stand up for his opinion in front of the families of those killed. They’d kick sand in his ginger hair.
Perhaps MB is Gordon Brown? Fellow cowards.
Also, the argument isn’t circular. It’s perfectly rational for political bitches like MB to use others to spread his word just like he himself is being used. Communists are experts at such tactics.
Of course I bet you wouldn’t say this kind of stuff to my face either. Of course, now you’ll tell everyone you were a “pongo” or some other ex-army type…
You do realise MB that the MOD are leasing those very same unsafe Moldovan choppers to ferry our troops around in, dont you?
Thats right, the MOD lease them from the Moldovans and although they are known to be unsafe and unreliable, our caring leader still has no shame when forcing our troops to use them.
McSnot has no shame, no honour and no morals either.
Moldova probably one of the most backward and impoverished states of the old Soviet Union. Must be getting them rustbucket deathtraps pretty damned cheap.
Get used to it, your bastard prime mincer is doing the same to your country.
Reuters Four U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan on Saturday 11 July, the U.S. military said on Sunday, the latest casualties in an escalation of insurgent violence.
Hmmm………helicopters?
You have no argument you poisonous creep. Helicopters vital kit, millions of poundsworth mothballed. Labour don’t really do the miltary well. But how they like to use them!
I bet MB wouldn’t have the balls to make these comments in front of the families who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan.
He surely must be a Tory plant.
If not, he obviously gets his kicks from the British dying.
Some tasks can be done with helicopters or ground vehicles
Some operations need to be done on the ground. (unless you just bomb everyone).
Simple.
USA = 8000 troops+120 Chinooks
UK = 8000 troops+8 Chinooks
Go figure MB, and come back when you have grown up.
Go over to Defence of the Realm and se where an entire Anglo US Canadian Afghan operation was cancelled because the Brits turned up without enough water (and lots of other gear as well)
Do tell us about the close ari support fighter jets, the air refuelling, the B52 bombers, the satellite surveillance, the unmanned aircraft, the aircraft carriers, etc. etc., you dolt.
Your objective is to make a fake point about support for the troops.
Now how many Germans, French, Dutch and other NATO allied forces are in Afghanistan?
Answer: not very many.
Now roll along dung beetle.
There are 60,000 Coalition troops in Afghanistan supporting 90,000 ANA soldiers. the US is currently increasing its forces.
The US has 26,000 and the UK 9,000 meaning the rest are contributing 25,000 troops.
From the figures below the UK which is doing a major share of the fighting have the least airlift capacity in proportion to their commitments.
The Durtch for example have 6 Chinooks supporting 1770 soldiers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Security_Assistance_Force
MASTER BAITER GO FUCK YOURSELF.
If he had to stutter through so many names there would be no time for any questions
O/T Good luck freddie!
Thanks for all the great times.
Now finish the convicts off!
Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown of the economy, your Government has decided to implement a scheme to put workers 40 years of age and older on early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early).
Persons selected to be RAPED can apply to the government to be eligible for the SHAFT scheme (Special Help After Forced Termination).
Persons who have been RAPED and SHAFTED will be reviewed under the SCREW program (Scheme Covering Retired Early Workers). A person may be RAPED once, SHAFTED twice and SCREWED as many times as the government deems appropriate.
Only persons who have been RAPED can get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependants & Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance). Obviously, persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTED or SCREWED any further by the government.
Persons who are not RAPED and are staying on, will receive as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. The government has always prided itself in the amount of SHIT it gives out. Should you feel that you do not receive enough SHIT, please bring this to the attention of your local MP. They have been trained to give you all the SHIT you can handle.
Sincerely,
Gordon Brown
Brill
Excellent!! I need some of that SHIT Gordon…
I’d just like to thank all the brave soldiers in Afghaniraq for dying. This will enable me to write a second volume on the courage of ordinary people being blown to bits.
I would also like to announce another monthly increase in semen production during the Wimbledon period. The party expects another similar increase during the Strictly Come Dancing season.
I will also be appearing again on Songs of Praise where I will be asking Susan Boyle, Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell how they’ve been coping with the distress of the lovely Scottish Lass losing the Britain’s Got Talent Final. After that, I’ve agreed with the BBC to show “Saving Private Ryan” to cheer up the troops.
Bob Ainsworth will shortly be doing his bit for the troops by appearing in a special edition of Scrapheap Challenge. The special episode will have the presenters trying to build 10 helicopters from old Ford Mondeos.
Raise your victory gin one and all.
ps. “Courage” – available at all good bookstores.
A new series of Scrapheap Challenge is scheduled to begin next May. It features a break with the past inasmuch as the contestants will be asked to come up with radical ideas to rebuild a badly broken country without using any clapped-out ‘solutions’ from the Nu Labour era.
it’ll take a lot longer than 3 days.
Is there any truth in the rumours sweeping the internet, that Gordon Brown is an incorrigible, one-eyed sack of shit who lives in a fantasy world totally detached from reality?
I bet Gordon plays World of Warcraft.
Only the single player version.
Almost certainly a pleasure of MB’s as well, given his persistent references to Orcs and his new found expertise on military matters.
Gordon only plays with himself !
Gordon Brown and his cabinet play wargames at http://www.nukezone.nu
Leave Gordon alone! He was very nice to me on the phone. He hasn’t got time to ring celebrities AND the families of those killed in Afghaniraq! He’s a busy man you know, what with writing important books like “Courage” (available at all good bookstores).
My good friend, Katie Price, tells me she’s given Gordon lots of advice on how to fake humility and sincerity. Or was it the other way around?
Oh I forget! Tee hee!
Afghanistan was the theme today – deny, deny, deny thrice did Gordon spake.
Just like that hoon Bill Rummell did the other day – disgusting – do NOT watch if you have high blood pressure
Just donated £25 to the JacqBoots fund.
Bitch needs taking down in more ways than one.
That fat, sweaty Huhne Smith needs a diet more than anything.
BOLD LABOUR, NOT OLD LABOUR.
This is getting closer to the essence of the sort of Labour and Britain I’d like to see develop.
Confidence isn’t about passive anger or a bullying attitude, or getting too caught up in the razzle dazzle or falling back on buggy whips just because they worked in the past. It’s something better than that.
EAT SHIT AND DIE SMALLWIDGE !
From my breif look at the Ghurka issue there’s both practical and historial considerations. The Ghurkas have done very well out of their relationship with the British military and nobody had a right of residence at the time they signed up. The fact that they’re foreign nationals who, mostly, return to Nepal and there’s a long history of involvement makes things tricky but it’s not the great defining issue of our time or human rights crusade some people are trying to turn it into.
Wake up.
Charles Hardwidge @ 10:32 pm, Wed 29th Apr 2009 at LabourList
Speaking of buggy whips brought this to mind….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTysqw6_P8
Hardwidget you are nothing but a pencil necked geek
http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/07/is-british-court-about-to-decide-future.html
Fucking hell, thats potentially quite bad…..
Lost me
What it basically means is that if you think the cost of borrowing is bad now, if you think its hard to get a mortgage as it is, it aint gonna be for nothing if that goes through and securitization is brought to an end…
basically its saying that if you cant lay off the risk anywhere, then some fucker has to carry the can and the lead just got a hell of a lot shorter.
If it ends securitization, then yes, there will be a lot less Masters Of The Universe type hedgies around, but the mortgage market would revert back to the stone age.
And, as America has put soooo much taxpayers cash into keeping the existing system afloat, are they really going to let a British judge decide on what is potentially the future of huge Wall St institutions, let alone the impact that it would have over here?
I know the link is full of complex shit, but its worth following. The important bits are highlighted.
I’d reccomend this being made a sticky link so we can keep up with it…
This is not intended as an essay or a lecture, merely some random thoughts in today’s wealth making world of Exotic Government Expenditure, Banking, Finance Industries, CDS and OTC trading etc.
BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES:
Entities produce goods or services for sale
• Revenue production for suppliers of materials
• Job creation and employment creating revenue for individuals (population)
• Individuals pay tax to Government
Government uses tax income and national debt to run the country
Entities earn profit
• Profits are taxed for Government revenue
• Dividends are paid to Shareholders
• Retained earnings keep the company solvent and allow expansion investment, etc.
POPULATION NEEDS:
Accommodation
• Should be affordable at lowest possible ratio of income to purchase price. If accommodation is continually increasing in price and changes the income purchase price ratio adversley, it is self defeating as it inevitably leads to a recessive devaluation and non affordability of accommodation for the population majority.
Accommodation purchase/Loan facilities
• Personal wealth
• Building societies
• Thrift funds
Clothing
• Personal choice and generally widely available. Could be made at home worst case.
Food
• Has to be produced domestically or imported from areas where food is easier to produce.
• Needs to be collected and distributed
• If there is a conflict of land for food versus accommodation, industry, natural reserves etc. the population could have too high a cost of food or a lack of food supply.
Medical facilities
• Requires vocational practitioners and equipped facilities cost can be borne from:
• Individuals
• Government
• Combination of above
Transport
• Personal
• Communal
• National
Power generation
• Personal
• Communal
• National
Security/Defence
• Personal
• Communal
• National
OT
China’s foreign reserves top 1.2 trillion quid.
Do you remember when our miracle economy, modestly acclaimed at every single opportunity as being his own work by the miracle chancellor, Gordon Brown was going great guns? You remember, from 2001 to 2007.
When house prices were going up 10 and 15% per year even though our wages were only going up 3%? Do you remember?
When we were remortgaging our houses, borrowing 100bn quid a year and buying foreign holidays, foreign cars and foreign plasma TVs? Do you remember?
When Gordon Brown was borrowing 40bn quid a year more than he was receiving at the peak of the biggest boom in history? On top of all his hidden PFI expenditure.
And modestly acclaiming himself as a miracle worker and ‘prudent’ and that he would never go over total debt of 40% of GDP. Even though he’d already doubled national debt since 2001.
Do you remember?
Do you know where all that borrowed and squandered money ended up?
You do now.
Yep, the Chinese were very stupid IMHO.
The west just inflates and they lose their cash-pot. They should have SPENT the money on improving the internal economy of china rather than over-servicing the needs of rich westerners via exports.
I thought they were spending on infrastructure. Anyway – I’m off to Shanghai next week so I’ll be able to get a better feel in person but all the stuff I’m reading suggests that the Chinese definitely are spending the money on their own infrastructure.
Hard to get excited if the Western economies just inflate away the Chinese cash-pile though. What’s that going to do to all our own savings and pensions?
Don’t answer that.
Ask Martin Wolf, he will tell you ultimately the old and the saver will be sacrificed. It’s is only natural, they produce nothing.
You mean they consume nothing. Which is a far greater sin in Brown’s miracle economy.
Welcome to the new millenium.
Perhaps you should learn Mandarin, it’s not so difficult.
Also dye your hair like Rupert Murdoch does, grey is most inauspicious.
Home Secretary – “i Won’t Put A Cap On Immigration”, Labour’s supposed saviour just kills himself off. Talk about something Labour with be battered with come election time over and over in ads with Alan Johnsoton as the star.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199781/I-wont-cap-immigration-vows-Home-Secretary.html
Former Labour Minister Frank Field, who runs a cross-party group called Balanced Migration, which campaigns to limit the number of immigrants to manageable levels, was dismissive of the Home Secretary’s claims not to lie awake at night. He said: ‘It must be a misquote because it should be.’
Home Secretary Alan Johnson last night refused point blank to cap the number of immigrants coming to Britain.
And he said he does not ‘lie awake at night’ worrying about the population hitting 70million.
Official figures show at the current rate of increase the British population will hit the milestone within 20 years, with a further seven million immigrants placing a burden on public services.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has pledged that the Government will not allow the population to grow to that level. But last night he was apparently undermined by his boss.
Speaking at the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr Johnson said he would not bring in a cap because it would harm the economy, claiming the argument that immigration had made a contribution to the economy was ‘irrefutable’.
‘I do not lie awake at night worrying about a population of 70million,’ he told the cross-party group of MPs.
‘I do not lie awake at night worrying about a population of 70million,’ he told the cross-party group of MPs.
Course he doesn’t. He knows that by the time it gets to be a real problem he’ll be sunning it in the Lords or dead.
Couldn’t be because he believes immigrants are a good source of Labour votes – could it?
Gets a real problem? It’s a real problem now, you Charlie.
Where the fuck are the jobs for these ‘immigrants’? Who’s going to pay all the social costs? Oh, I know those 5 guys who work at the last factrory still making widgets in the UK.
Gets a problem? Get a f*cking life!
Imigration is one of the reasons the defence budget was cut .
Good. Thats him fucked good and proper if CMD, UKIP etc make enough noise about it.
That will go down well with the usual suspect knuckle dragging Labour voters, not.
Great, fuck off Alan Johnson.
Christ on a bike – Blair for EU Pres. Bloody Kinnockios behind it. Do we get a vote?
May the good people of Ireland vote NO to the Lisburn treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8152099.stm
(Anyone know any decent blog / other sites re. the vote?)
(Lisbon)
That explains his ‘conversion’ to Catholicism. Europe is still essentially a slush-fund for Catholics. Best description I ever heard.
We will NEVER surrender to the Papists,
unless they give us political jobs with lots and lots of money.
Please explain….
The theory that Mandleson is only propping Brown up until the Lisbon Treaty is passed,and Blair is well on the way to EU president,looks ever more real.
What power he commands!
Wow,
That’s the best thing that ever happened to UKIP!
I think Darwin had it right, we have evolved from apes. Monkey’s spend a large part of every day scratching each other’s backs.
Hm.I read somewhere yesterday that tony doesn’t stand a chance of the presidency now because sarkozy and merkel have stopped swapped their allegiance to the spaniard barrosso.
Don’t think I could stomach cherry as first lady of europe.
eeeeeeuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cuthbert and Dibble were different people, not a single entity.
That is single entityist – I am offended!
Don’t panic folks! All this talk of a “President of Europe” doesn’t mean we’re heading towards a European super-state. Federalism? Not likely! You’re all conspiracy merchants!
and Bob Ainsworth ranks as high as many in Wome.
http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2009/07/gen-sir-mike-jackson-on-bob-ainsworths-cabinet-wanking.html
2nd Lt. Knob Worthless. No Service – Limited Intellect in extremis Commission from the Wanks.
I FLATLY DENY WANKING !!!!
Just look at my name…..
Someone looking for me ????
“No wupert, no wodger no woderwick?”
Nope – just wiggy jobsworth and his bunch of fellow w*ankers !
D T Suzuki comments on the sword that gives life versus the sword that gives death. His hamfisted and often misinterpreted comment speaks of the expert, or mere technician, and the master: one must be open and flexible.
The Tao mirrors this by saying that the sage is without principle or allegiance. This suggests that clinging to tightly to a view or party is doomed to failure. Again, one must be open and flexible to reality.
Miyamoto Musashi, the revered sword saint of Japan, states that the strategist must have a firm but light grip. Again, he raises the issue that being too rigid or floppy in a situation impedes correctness.
Leadership isn’t just about aiming for goals but, also, forming ourselves to goals. Winston Churchill knew this: “First we build our house then our house builds us”.
Labour understands this.
Really? Wake Up Charles. The only thing Labour understand is that they will have to pull something huge out of the hat to even get into the running at the next election.
I doubt Gordon has given Tao, Mushashi or anyone else a second thought.
The nice thing about ‘wisdom’ like that it that it can’t be wrong because it doesn’t actually say anything. Whatever happens, the sage can say that he predicted it. You can get a nice warm feeling from it without being any the wiser, in the same way as if you put a Government Green Paper on the fire.
At 6:39pm on 08 Sep 2008, Charles_E_Hardwidge wrote on Nick Robinson’s blog:
Frankly I’m no longer bothered how Gordon Brown fills his time. At least while he’s in
Birmingham he’s not passing another piece of ill-thought-out legislation at Westminster. I say send them all on a cruise for the next 18 months. Complete bargain.
Did Brown say the UK has the second largest defence budget in the world?
I think he may be mistaken: 1. US 2. China 3. France 4. UK
I am not sure what France does with their spending though, other than have nice parades on Bastille Day.
Much French defence spending goes on equipping kit with integral white flags, cheese knives etc.
To their great credit, the French are good at sex.
According to them.
Try standing next to people who don’t use soap
The shortage of helicopters is due to the fact that rotors have been converted into windmills
Not at Vestas on the Isle of Wight any more they won’t.
No match for the Germans, eh ?
No doubt that’s why bob ‘not up to the job’ ainsworth has re-christened them ‘elicopters.
French Defence spending is allocated for tall trees on either side of the roads from Germany, so that the Boche can walk in the shade.
Yes, the French, inexplicably, seem to like the Germans better than they do the Brits.
Well that’s it then!
All over till the Queen’s coach rolls up again in the Autumn and the door gets vandalised anew by that mace-wielding psychopath. No – not Michael Hestletine., but a guy in black tights whom I’ve never met before.
Isn’t it a good job it’s not for real!
Why does Brown not treat us with some sort of respect? He argues strongly with Cameron that helicopters are not needed and won’t save lives (may be he’s right) , but then boasts at tedious length about all the action he’s taking to deliver that apparently totally worthless objective. I particularly liked the boast about the joint helicopter fund that we set up, which has £30m in it (mostly from us I bet), and which to date has delivered (nearly) one extra helicopter, towards a grand total of……….. eleven!!!. Meanwhile the US provide their similar-strength contingent of troops with over 100 helicopters just to get going. Nice one Brown, you really have been doing everything you can haven’t you?
Still on the helicopters, someone up above here got there percentages wrong, a 60% increase would be going from say 10 to 16 or from 20 to 32. A rise from 6 to 10 is 66.6%. Important to get your tractor stats and spinning of figures correct.
Correct – Budgie at 129 claims 4 up to 10 is 60%, it’s not it’s a 150% increase. Never mind Budge probabaly got an A* maths A-level from New Labour, so that’s alright then!
Sorry – I’m good at Maths, but my typing is rubbish.
Nimble brains all.
The government and the army’s point is that the equipment and troop numbers available are appropriate for the operations being carried out.
If you increase the equipment you can carry out different operations.
If you increase the troop numbers you can carry out different operations.
This process could be expanded until even you understand it.
Gordon got a degree in History. That’ll stand him in really good stead.
I assumed it was a rise from 5 to 8 – I do have A level maths
Well, there’s my tenner and doubtless my name on a future arrest list
Guido. I missed PMQs due to a meeting.
Do you have the mindtracking survey link up yet? I’m sure it’s more effective to do it the first time you see the event…??
It’s been and gone steve- I missed it too.
Guido said it was from 1pm all afternoon (on the live chat) – I just got back and was looking for it before I go and watch PMQs online
I guess he must have got the number of participants he was looking for and has taken it away to process the results.
oh, were you at your crackheads anonymous meeting steve?
well done for facing up to your addiction and the terrible mess you are in: you are just a homeless crackhead tramp.
you have taken the first step towards rehabilitation. good work!
chin up tramp, you can make it.
maybe.
actually, probably not, you’re just a crackhead c’unt. and a fucking tramp.
note to reader: even if he begs, don’t give steve any money he will only spend it on drugs.
ha ha ha – even I had to laugh at that one. You really don’t have a fucking clue, do you?
Yes I was at Crack’eds Anonymous. You may remember we bumped into each other, I was just leaving and you were on the way into Internet Trolls Anonymous
The reason they won’t actually increase the number of Chinooks in Afghanistan is simple… they can’t.
If they increase the number out there, they will have to train even more pilots, that requires more helicopters for training. More helicopters in theatre means more spares required, the ones in the UK (and in storage) will probably already have been ‘robbed’ (stripped) of everything they have to keep the others going. I’m not sure where else Chinooks are deployed, possibly there are some down in the Falklands and certainly there will be a lot of helicopters of other types down there as it’s the only way to get around. Aircraft will also be needed in the UK for pilot and troop training.
To increase the numbers of Chinooks in Afghanistan means deploying even more RAF personnel to support them and they are probably struggling to find enough qualified engineering staff now for only 8 (and pilots and other flying crews).
It goes on and on. Some prat from the Sun (their defence correspondent – there’s a joke) said “we have 40 Chinooks, they should all be flying”. WOW! what a genius.
So presumably none should be undergoing maintenance, upgrades or repair? None are sitting around waiting for spare parts?
To have 40 available Chinooks, you’d need to buy about 70. With only 40, to have 20 airworthy at any one time would be good, especially as 8 are sitting in storage doing nothing.
Gen.Sir Richard Dannatt is touring Helmand today in an American Black Hawk!
Questioned about his mode of transport he snapped ” self-evidently if I moved in an american helicopter it’s because I haven’t got a British one !”
Interestingly he added that he wanted the supply of more equipment to be carried out with greater urgency.
gordon’s statement at pmq’s then that our commanders in afghanistant are perfecty happy with equipment and have everything they need , was a LIE.
What a surprise.
Mr Brown said: “The purpose of our mission is very clear: to prevent terrorism coming to the streets of Britain.”
THIS is what the services are there for? This is Missing the Bleedin’ Obvious 101.
Anyone know how many Somalis there are in the UK now? No point fighting the Taleban/Alky Ada in Afghanistan when Alky Ada has moved house.
I remember Alky Ada before she took to gin
And a word from our sponsor – Pimms ~(mwah mwah)
Do you reckon he had lessons from from Dubya’s…’Nukie Lea’?
Seriously though, Nell, he is a wop-ning LIER
“One of Britain’s biggest employers in the green energy industry is to cease production within hours of a government announcement today pledging as many as 400,000 green jobs by 2015″
“All 7,000 turbines that the Government will commit today to installing over the next decade will be manufactured overseas, mainly in Germany, Denmark and China”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6710815.ece