Friday 5 April 2013

Guarding against a repeat of 1066

In 1415 we had the longbow, in 1588 we had fire barges, in 1805 we had Nelson, in 1815 we had the thin red line and in 1990 we had Brian Moore, having been out gunned by the French in 1066 we have never allowed ourselves to be in such an embarrassing situation again.  All the talk of Britain throwing in the towel on nuclear deterrents while the French have the bomb is laughable.

The Prime Minister David Cameron has been busy defending the Trident programme, which is our multi-billion £ submarine based nuclear capability, he said  "The Soviet Union no longer exists (well spotted). But the nuclear threat has not gone away. In terms of uncertainty and potential risk it has, if anything, increased".  He added "Last year North Korea unveiled a long-range ballistic missile which it claims can reach the whole of the United States. If this became a reality it would also affect the whole of Europe, including the UK".  Clutching at straws here I think!


Our current nuclear weapons capability costs on average around 5-6 per cent of the current defence budget, or about 1.5 per cent of our annual benefits bill. Nevertheless its still a very high cost when all we need to do is to lob a 10 megaton bomb across 21 miles of water.  


Over Kill?

Obviously we should keep the bomb but we need a delivery system that is more reliable than the royal mail, cheaper than Trident and importantly doesn't rely on the goodwill of the Scots.



By David Denton 

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