The Gray Monk

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July 01, 2005

Chickens coming home to roost?

One part of the Civil Service may have blown the whistle on another - and on this government's lies and spin. The National Audit Office has revealed that the Royal Navy, already cut to a mere rump (from 80 ships to 39 in the "Defence Revue"), is unable to maintain its ships in a state of readiness because the money is being stripped from the fleet along with funds from the Royal Airforce to pay for the Army's needs in Iraq!

Essential repairs such as weapons systems and detection gear are not being carried out as there is no money. The only repairs they are doing are those that would otherwise allow the ships to sink! Sonar, radar, and weapons systems faults are not, according to the same shower of complete cretins in Whitehall - the ones who bought boots that melt in the desert, insufficient ammunition for the troops, insufficient body armour, but could afford to spend £345 million (the price of a Type 45 Destroyer) on the refurbishment of their offices: essential repairs!

Where is Martin Tromp when you need him! For those who do not know their history - this is the Dutch Admiral who burned the fleet of Cromwell and Parliament when they laid it up prematurely in the Anglo-Dutch War of the 1670's - and sailed into Amsterdam with a broom tied to his mast and the English flagship in tow. The same argument was used then that is being burbled about now - save money, we don't need the fleet anymore!

So now we have armed forces that have boots that melt, weapons that seize up in heat and sand, aircraft with guns that can't be fired because they are only there as ballast, ships with no sonar, no radar, and weapons systems that won't fire. But, it's all alright because the Minister says we have the highest level of spending on the armed forces for a decade. So we do, but it is an inflationary rise that has done this, not "additional" money, it is purely and simply inflationary rises due to the average 3% inflation we have had since this shower of cretins took charge. That and the fact they have hired more civil servants to shuffle more paper while cutting troops, airmen, sailors, and the equipment for fighting. But, that's OK, too, because all our Civil Servants now have high-tec chairs to sit in at £1,500 each, nice open plan and airconditioned offices, loads of artwork, and the very latest computers which crash every few days.

Our armed forces in better shape to cope with the threats of the 21st Century? You have to be joking!

Posted by The Gray Monk at July 1, 2005 08:22 AM

Comments

Posted by: fdm at July 5, 2005 03:06 PM