[Jack_Macca]

You need to realise one thing. The Labour Party is hardly likely to say that it is building a new fleet is it, especially when Gordon Brown is taking over in six months or so.

The article is a plant to gain support for more military spending. The Telegraph is a Conservative paper. Notice how it mentions France will have a better Navy. This is to get people angry. Think about it.

I do agree with the general sentiment myself though. However, we will have to wait for a Conservative Government before these wrongdoings are corrected.

BTW, I am probably closer to London than you! :)

[DBCJR]

"The article is a plant to gain support for more military spending. The Telegraph is a Conservative paper. Notice how it mentions France will have a better Navy. This is to get people angry. Think about it.

I do agree with the general sentiment myself though. However, we will have to wait for a Conservative Government before these wrongdoings are corrected.

BTW, I am probably closer to London than you! "

You probably are. I do not profess to understand that psychology. The Brits do need a Maggie as much as we a Reagan.

[AFreeBird]

I can appreciate the strategy, still, the fact that they're even considering such a cut is scary. The Royal Navy is down to 44 ships! Forty Four Ships? And they were thinking of cutting the fleet in half!

But what ever the outcome, the article Fred wrote was supported by facts at the time.

Yes, I now see you're closer to London than I. Which means I'm closer to Tennessee and Wash DC than you. So I have a dog in this presidential hunt.

My dog don't like Rudy.

Woof!

[GBA]

You are probably right about the psychology being used to get the public behind upgrading the fleet. We do much the same with our F-15 fly offs with other countries when we lose every encounter. It gets the public behind buying the F-22.

Since you recognize the psychology, you should also see that FDT is doing the same thing and he is essentially right. There is a trend, even in the face of a determined enemy and an even more determined China, for NATO allies to cut back and get even more complacent about what we will all face.

If there is a bottom line, it is that Iran has once again taken hostages and once again it gets a Jimmy Carter-esque response. What is required is a Thatcher or Reagan-esque response. Do you think Britain could do that at the moment as it sacrifices short term security? Apparently, Iran doesn't.