moonraker

I do not like Res-Mogg's politics, right wing of the Tory Party and would never give him my vote, however he is the MP for the constituency next to one in which I live and many of my colleagues are his constituents. A number of them have had personal experience of him helping them as their constituency MP and without exception they praise him for his help and his odd personable manner. Like me most of them will not vote for him but neither do they simplify their opposition to him simply on the basis of being a rich, posh, ultra Roman Catholic, they wont vote for him because of his fundamental right wing political believes.

Wes agree it has gone of track, I think it was the Budget post that altered course, back to Corbyn, don't trust him or his side kick MacDonald but it will not be the death of the Labour party.

It does when we were told the £350m a week would be available to spend, hence my statement about lasting a generation we also do not know what the final cost will be. Add to this the NI border problems, the setting up of new customs and border controls at ports and airports (more unnecessary cost) and I stand by my view Brexit is sucking money away from where it is really needed.

Really, have you been in hibernation. The poor economic outlook, the chancellor’s declared Brexit contingency, the cost of the unnecessary and increasingly incompetent department for Brexit, the increasing need for the NHS to hire bank staff due to the exodus of EU staff, the need to plan for the £40m plus settlement. I know you leavers like to deny Brexit has anything to do with our economic problems but I am sorry whilst project fear may have overstated the problems we are facing and got the timescales wrong Brexit is having a significant and harmful impact on our economy and our nation. How’s the brexit crystal ball of all will be rosy the other side of Brexit.

So in terms of safe and unimpeded passage on the high seas, and the security of our coastline, what do you think the potential problems we are likely to face today are? And secondly, how should these be addressed?

Tories being best for the armed forces is one of the greatest myths in politics. History tells us the Labour party does more for the armed forces; only the Tories have ever made servicemen and women redundant and repeatedly cut numbers, from the mid 80's the Tories ordered no new classes of complex surface warship, acouple of OPV's was all they managed, the Blair government sorted out the AWD, Amphibious Capability (that is currently under threat from the Tories) and Carriers within 2 years of assuming office. Since 2010 all the Tories have done is cut and cut. No I don’t think Foreign Aid should be cut to fund the Armed Forces, it should not be a choice, we should fund both adequately, your beloved Brexit is sucking money away from the things that need it and will continue to do so for a generation. I will however say that I am not confident in Corbyn’s commitment to the armed forces, and that is the worry.

We are an Island the sea and the trade routes are vital to us, who do you want to keep them safe for us? Yet again your lack of understanding shines through.

I think your use of the term 'seem to' sums up peoples understanding of what we actually do an what others do, i.e. it is not properly informed. We are an Island Nation our reliance on the sea and free and unimpeded passage thereon is vital to the economic and physical security of the nation and we have a duty to ensure this freedom. This cannot be done without a well-equipped and globally deployable navy and in partnership with our friends and allies. You suggest that other nations do not do as much as we do, or at least do not do their fair share. This is both unfair and untrue. Few navies have a truly global deployment capability, half a dozen at most, of those the USN, the Marine Nationale and the Royal Navy all do their fair share across the whole spectrum of naval capability from warfighting to humanitarian aid, the French have a much larger presence in the Pacific than the UK. Smaller navies e.g. Italian, Dutch, Australian, New Zealand and others also commit significant elements of their fleets to humanitarian aid and international partnerships. Perhaps the mis-understanding is simply a result of British media reporting, which understandably focuses on what the RN does.

And your point is? Humanitarian aid is one of the stated roles of the RN as required by the UK Government and our international commitments. In both cases the commitments to maintain a Naval presence are long-standing, in the case of the West Indies Guard Ship, it is there to protect and support British Overseas Territories in the region. How unlike you to have no understanding of how these things work and yet able to make such a puerile statement.

Believe me there are, 40 plus years of working in and for the RN and I have never known such pressure on so few.

Can’t disagree with that, unfortunately Hammond is hamstrung by Brexit, note nothing for defence in the budget despite the unprecedented problems the Armed forces are facing, particularly the Royal Navy.

Dreadful budget, listening to it Seems Hammond has found the Money Tree, borrowing up, deficit reduction extended, plus lots of smoke and mirrors. Just watched Truss interviewed no clue at all, hasn’t got a handle on the brief, failed to answer most of the questions. While I have little time for Corbyn the passion and emotion in his response was impressive.

Just about to set off with youngest boy and victim supporting stepson and step grandson, meeting No 1 son in Crewe, great family day out, wil all be topped of by a 2-1 win for Saints!

Interesting debate taking place following the under 17's world cup win and the need for managerial stability if young talent is to be given a chance. Mangers who are constantly looking over their shoulder tend to stick with proven if uninspiring squad players. I still believe sacking Puel was mistake, the short termism of the modern game does not do us any favours and todays fans seem incapable of seeing beyond the next game. Whilst the agents of our rise from the ashes of League 1 are all gone the vison and strategy is still valid and must remain, stability is key.

Turnberry with Ailsa Craig, beutiful place when its not raining. As to you question yes.

Sorrry in the belief that it is not superior to others!

A very xenophobic view of a few innovations / inventions. Inventing in and of itself is useless in terms of our economy unless you can translate it to a marketable, the WWW has done no more for the UK than any other economy, hovercraft have hardly revolutionised travel, and manufacturers have come and gone like buses. There are blatant errors and half truths in your list, sewage systems pre dated Bazalgette, by at least 2000 years, check out those pesky southern European Romans, Thomas Savery. , patented the first practical steam engine in 1698, although the Greek Hero of Alexandria designed the world's first aeolipile around 50 AD to demonstrate the power of steam, bloody Mediterranean folk again. Chocolate is hardly an invention, pesky American natives had already discovered the stuff even before that great fraud Columbus arrived in the West Indies. The Frys, great socialist people, did design a new process for the foodstuff. Nicéphore Niépce is accredited as the inventor of photography circa 1826, Fox Talbot developed a more practical solution but cannot be credited as the inventor. While Aspdin developed Portland cement, the history of cement stretches back to the Greeks more Mediterranean interference. Whilst the Tin Can was perfected by Duarand it relied on the work of Frenchman Philippe de Girard, European co-operation at work. There are also some telling examples of our failure to spot a good thing, the Modern Torpedo was rejected initially Britain and again it took those pesky Europeans in Austria to commission the first ones for military use. The less said about telephones, incandescent light bulbs and vacuum cleaners the better. As with most of your arguments it is littered with inaccuracies, delusions, flaws and a failure to understand the bigger picture that it is through the sharing of knowledge, collaboration and co-operation that the greatest achievements of mankind have been made, not by isolationism and control. I also love my country but I do not do so in the belief that it is superior to others.

Good to see you have the answers again. BAE workers moving across, you do realise why that is about the most naive statement I have seen on this thread and that is some achievement.

The only reason we had a referendum was to silence the moaning c*nts in the Tory party and UKIP, now those self-same the moaning c*nts think they have won something and no else is allowed to moan, irony or just plain old hypocrisy?

I am sure it has not been missed by our super informed Brexit Zealots but the nation’s defence is currently the subject of yet another cost cutting review. The headlines have been stolen by the possibility that the UK will lose its LitM Amphibious capability, echoes of John Knotts ill thought plans of 1981. What has this to do with Brexit the Zealots cry, it is lack of money in these austere times they chant, not Brexit. Well think again while the government has put some new funding into the defence one of the most serious early consequences of Brexit has been the depreciation of Sterling against the US dollar. Among other planned purchases, this has made the new F-35 strike fighter, central to both the aircraft carrier program and the modernisation of the Royal Air Force, very much more expensive at a time when acquisition of the new fighter is just getting into stride. So Brexit is having a direct negative impact on our nation’s ability to defend itself, I’m sure you patriotic zealots will agree with me this is very bad. Conversely the weak pound offers little solace to the BAE workers about to lose their jobs due to lack of export orders.

You do make it easy don’t you, the link you provided does not state what you want it to state. Did you manage to get past the headline, here are just two quotes that tend to challenge your certainty “However, City chiefs have warned that London’s supremacy will come under threat if the government does not secure the right kind of Brexit deal.” “However, Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin and Amsterdam – cities vying to win financial services from London as firms consider shifting resources into the EU ahead of Brexit – all added to their scores and rose up the table.” Manufacturing is not going to generate the jobs, it is becoming ever more automated a number of studies have concluded that the number of unemployed persons worldwide is projected to rise, this is not down to the economic crisis alone, but notably the industrial automation of processes previously performed by workers. Deutsche Bank not a lot different to RBS, Lloyds Group from what I can see. I’m not a banking expert so I may be missing something but I seem to remember banks in many countries have had problems recently. As the city generates up to a third of the tax take the treasury will care. But then I am sure as a true brexit zealot you will be happy to pay more to make up the shortfall. Unemployment rates in the countries you mentioned are high for the young, in most it is good to note the trend is downwards. In other news EU countries Germany, Austria, Denmark and Holland have lower youth unemployment than the UK, all countries with economies, culture and infrastructure nearer to the UKs than the ones you have cited. Keep trying my little zealot…

Ah the true Zealot speaketh.

It sure as hell is not over.

The EU is not seeking to punish the UK it is looking after its citizens, the same cannot be said for our excuse of a Government. On another note I think it time to ditch the kipper term, their political hero has run away, their party is finished, and their dream is turning into a nightmare. Neither is jihadis an appropriate term, while our resident leave advocates are fanatical, their beliefs they are not religiously based. As time goes by more and more people are realising the folly of leaving, it is only the true leave zealot that either refuses to acknowledge the reality and / or claim that the pain and damage it will cause is worth it. The stubbornness in defending the failures, behaviour and actions of the of the current dysfunctional, leaderless government marks them out as incapable of acknowledging any flaw in their vison. The right wing, nationalist and isolationist policy is the most detrimental to our nation any post war UK government has ever pursued. These zealots know the argument is being lost, they know that more and more of our citizens are realising that the benefits championed by the leave campaign are undeliverable, yet still they pigheadedly recite the leave mantras, post questionable evidence and grasp at straws to defend the indefensible. They claim democracy is on their side while in the same breath decrying any mention of a referendum on the final deal, a vote that I would hope would be informed by reality and understanding, and devoid of lies and personal ambition. In the words of the Zealot in Chief "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way.” It sure as hell is.

Be fair, he is a striker from Liverpool, I'm sure that's what was meant.