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July 12, 2004

Defence of the Realm - Part 2

Well, now we know where this government's priorities on defence lie. It does not put any faith in tanks, ships, or aircraft. Nor does it think it needs any fighting troops or sailors or airmen. Heaven forbid we should have any of that lot around; after all, they need expensive (and useless weapons), they need uniforms (ghastly elitist things!), and they need feeding and housing and all those nasty things that are just a nuisance to manage.

No, the answer is simple. Cut them all out of the picture and spend £342 million pounds refurbishing our offices in Whitehall for the 3,150 faceless wonders of the Civil Service who now infest the MoD's Whitehall HQ. Equip each one with a special chair costing £1,050 and we have this whole defence thing sown up. These figures can be checked by any who wish, simply by following this link to the story in the Daily Telegraph.

By my reckoning that £342 million would have gone a long way toward keeping the aircraft we need flying, or towards updating the seven ships they are scrapping, or maybe even making sure the troops actually had ammunition and the proper kit in Iraq. You will note that the Minister, the laughable Hoon (I note that in Australia "Hooning around" means to act the fool or to get up to nothing in particular.) will sneak the announcement about his latest decimation of the armed forces on the day that Parliament rises for its three month hols. Perhaps withholding their pay for the three months they are jetting around the world at our expense, may focus their tiny minds on the fact that this is now beyond being unacceptable. In fact, three months taken out of their pockets will pay very nicely for the retention of the troops to be chucked out of service.

Todays "Big News" is that the Chancellor is expected to announce a spending programme which will result in the loss of 80,000 civil service jobs. Big deal; its not nearly enough and it is only so that he can hire more of them through the back door to staff up even more money and time-wasting sections elsewhere.

It really is time to teach this shower of cretins where to find the English Channel and to practice their diving and swimming - and to take their Civil Service buddies with them!

Posted by The Gray Monk at July 12, 2004 11:40 AM