10Bn for two big boats

[jimi]

What do we need them for anyway? I can think of lots of other things I'd rather spend the 10Bn on ..and thats before the inevitable cost over runs. In fact I'd rather have the money myself as tax saving or pension subsidy and then I could do a bit more sailing!

 

[ccscott49]

What two big boats?

 

[jimi]

Aircraft Carriers!

 

[chas]

Carriers are normally called ships.

 

[jimi]

Personally I'd call 'em f#cking expensive

 

[longjohnsilver]

I think they should spend it all on the Olympics and show the world what we can do.

 

[chas]

I hope they are going to be called Ark Royal and Eagle.

 

[claymore]

Are these the ones

that the French are helping aerospace with..
Charming isn't it - an aircraft manufacturer and the company we import our milk from combining to build boats for us.
In the meantime - the nursing home where my Old Mum spends her days is being closed because we cannot afford it

regards
Claymore

 

[jimi]

We've already got an Ark Royal so it can't be called that!

Did we get two for the price of one or what?

 

[claymore]

Lets call them:.....

Tony and Gordon

regards
Claymore

 

[david_e]

We only need these things once in a blue moon, so the cheaper option would be to rent one from the yanks. Alternatively, charter ours to other nations, accepting not only cash but other valuable goods in exchange such as; oil, nurses, doctors, teachers etc)

 

[RayB]

Would have been cheaper to give the contract to a Ben/Jen/Bav consortium!

"Hopefully that won't be too expensive to fix?"

 

[claymore]

Wasn\'t that a suggested option

for Britannia
Didn't work then so there's no reason why it should now!

regards
Claymore

 

[david_e]

Re: Wasn\'t that a suggested option

Thought the teacher suggestion might light a fire!

 

[Twister_Ken]

How does that compare with cost of a few exocets?

Anybody else spot the irony of the R4 news headlines yesterday morning.

Story 2. Strategic Rail Authority* says it can't afford the work on the East Coast Mainline, so is spreading th ework over 10 years rather than 5**

Story 3. T. Blair, esq, mad dictator, decides to pop £10 billion on a couple of carriers. I'm not very good at sums, but I think that's about £200 from every man, woman and child in the UK.

*Isn't the SRA what we used to call British Rail?

**can anyone who is good at sums explain why it's cheaper to spend money over 10 years than 5? I always thought the quicker you got a project finished, the less it cost and the sooner you started enjoying the benefits.

PS to Jimi - don't worry, I'll get onto the Railtrack site in a minute!

 

[ccscott49]

What's that got to do with us, they're french aren't they?

Little ironic that we are buying french built ships, we used to capture them didn't we, I suppose we couldn't do that anymore and why should we be supporting a country that was supplying exocets to Argentina to sink our ships? Or have I uncovered a cunning plot, sell saddam missiles, so he can sink our ships, then sell us new ships??

 

[sailbadthesinner]

i think that if we lose the ability to defend ourselves and our territories conventionally it is a bad thing. the british forces are currently deployed all over the world and are busier than ever.

one problem is that they are not entirely british built when we have shipyard areas in need of work. also we slowly lose the capability to make these things. in addition there is always a massive over spend. the mentality is still the old cost plus contracts.
if each boat has life span of 30 years and the ten billion covers lifetime maintanence and there is a residual value i have no problem with that. i'd feel alot happier if i was a falkland islander and i knew we had a capable navy.

what i do have a problem is with is if the boats are misused and sent into a conflict thaty they do noot need to be in.


Ok brain let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer.

 

[jimi]

Can't see Aircraft carriers as defence , they're an offensive force. To be quite honest if you gave the Falkland Islanders £10M never mind £10Bn to split amongst themselves I'm sure they'd be quite happy to leave the Falklands and then we could sell the Falklands to the highest bidder. Can't see a couple of Islands at the opposite end of the world as the justification for this

 

[sailbadthesinner]

it wasn't that long ago that we needed our navy or we would all have been eating saurkraut.

we are part of a turbulent continent. i think we need to maintain the abiltiy to defend ourselves.

you may well be right about the falkland islanders but if we cannot defend them noone is going to buy them at the highest bid, they are going to take them by force, again.

Ok brain let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer.

 

[chas]

Agree. And, after all, £10bn is not very much - about a tenth of a hospital and a 20 th of a new railway line. I think I read recently that a motorway cost about that per ten miles. You cant bash saddam with a hospital.