Thoughts on the Olympics opening ceremony

[Hauldren Collider]

Makes sense. It couldn't have been the Royal Navy, after all--pretty much the opposite of immense

[MikeH]

Which is a positive thing right? Or are you now supportive of massive bloated bureaucracies?!

[Hauldren Collider]

Is it true that the Royal Navy under current projections will have no new ballistic missile submarines or fixed-wing naval aviation in 15 years? I don't support bloated militaries, but what happened to punching above your weight?

[MikeH]

Is it true: No.

[MikeH]

We haven't had proper fixed wing naval aviation for 40 years - only harriers. And we don't have any fixed wing carriers now, but will have in ~ 5 years.

[Hauldren Collider]

But no planes, apparently? Or is that temporary?

And apparently there isn't funding for new ballistic subs? Lonestar told me during the polymeet that there's a chance Britain will entirely abandon its nuclear arsenal.

[kentonio]

Plus the Trident replacement was approved last year IIRC.

[Hauldren Collider]

Well, I would be relieved to discover that I am incorrect. It would be nice for there to be at least one other allied country that doesn't shirk defense.

[kentonio]

But no planes, apparently? Or is that temporary?

We're going to be using F-35's. We don't tend to bother with fixed wing naval stuff.

And apparently there isn't funding for new ballistic subs? Lonestar told me during the polymeet that there's a chance Britain will entirely abandon its nuclear arsenal.

He was wrong.

[MikeH]

We had our first F-35 delivered earlier this month.

[Imran Siddiqui]

So apparently Eric Idle sang "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" at the closing ceremony? Sorry I missed that. Probably only thing I'm sorry I missed.

And NBC had to bleep out "Life's Full of ****" part. It was great!

[regexcellent]

We're going to be using F-35's. We don't tend to bother with fixed wing naval stuff.

Only because of the Labor government's retarded decision to cancel Britain's CVA-01 design in the '60s. The Royal Navy would have liked to have proper carriers, but they had to sneak in helo carriers as "anti-submarine warfare ships" so they wouldn't sound expensive.

He was wrong.

Defense Week had something about the lib dems wanting to end it, and that there were serious problems with the extension of the British arsenal.

[MikeH]

But no planes, apparently? Or is that temporary?

And apparently there isn't funding for new ballistic subs? Lonestar told me during the polymeet that there's a chance Britain will entirely abandon its nuclear arsenal.

Just politics about when to replace really do we pay for a replacement now or extend the life of the current subs by a few years before procuring the replacements.

Only the Lib Dems don't want to replace them and they have destroyed themselves as a national political force by actually coming into power.

[MikeH]

ie. They compromised pretty much every principle they had for a shot at an electoral reform vote, but only got allowed a vote on a type of reform no-one (not even LibDems) really wanted.

It really was pathetic (and I speak as someone who sometimes votes for them).

[Hauldren Collider]

Why would the Lib Dems want to end Britain's nuclear program? As I recall Britain has no ICBMs or bomber nukes anymore.