Forget the fact that the Ukrainian Presidential Election looks likely to have been won by a comedian, and concentrate on the fact that it looks likely to have been won by an opponent of Petro Poreshenko. The plates are shifting. They are shifting whether we like it or not, although there is in fact a lot to like, especially by comparison with what has gone before.
A correct answer to “How much would it cost?” is always, “Less than one of your wars.” Due to the newfangled use of military action for purely policy reasons, there must be no British military intervention except in a specific British national interest and with the approval of the House of Commons.
We need an end to this country’s poisonous relationship with Saudi Arabia and with the other Gulf monarchies. We need withdrawal from NATO, which commits us to the defence of Turkish Islamists and of Eastern European neo-Nazis, soon to be joined by Latin American caudillos, while charging us two per cent of our Gross Domestic Product for the privilege.
We need bilateral peace treaties with all other European countries including Russia, with the United States, and with Canada. We need peace treaties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and with the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. There must be no foreign military bases on British soil.
We need the renationalisation of BAE Systems as the monopoly supplier to our own Armed Forces, with a ban on all sale of arms abroad, and with a comprehensive programme of diversification in order to preserve the skills that were currently employed in the arms industry.
Although it is obvious, when said out loud, that nobody is ever going to invade the British Isles, we need the cancellation of Trident in favour of rebuilding the conventional Armed Forces, in favour of care for veterans, in favour of flood defences, and in favour of an all-of-the-above energy policy based around civil nuclear power and around this country’s vast reserves of coal, with the commanding heights in reformed public ownership, with no need for fracking even in its own terms, and with the requirement of the approval of the House of Commons before energy or water prices could be increased.
In the case of Trident, we could pay the affected shipyard workers quite eye-watering sums in compensation, and still save amounts that there were scarcely the adjectives to describe. “Would you press the nuclear button?” is a bad science-fictional question that would not be asked in any serious country. A correct answer to “How much would it cost?” is always, “Less than Trident.”
A correct answer to “How much would it cost?” is always, “Less than one of your wars.” Due to the newfangled use of military action for purely policy reasons, there must be no British military intervention except in a specific British national interest and with the approval of the House of Commons.
We need an end to this country’s poisonous relationship with Saudi Arabia and with the other Gulf monarchies. We need withdrawal from NATO, which commits us to the defence of Turkish Islamists and of Eastern European neo-Nazis, soon to be joined by Latin American caudillos, while charging us two per cent of our Gross Domestic Product for the privilege.
We need bilateral peace treaties with all other European countries including Russia, with the United States, and with Canada. We need peace treaties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and with the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. There must be no foreign military bases on British soil.
We need the renationalisation of BAE Systems as the monopoly supplier to our own Armed Forces, with a ban on all sale of arms abroad, and with a comprehensive programme of diversification in order to preserve the skills that were currently employed in the arms industry.
Although it is obvious, when said out loud, that nobody is ever going to invade the British Isles, we need the cancellation of Trident in favour of rebuilding the conventional Armed Forces, in favour of care for veterans, in favour of flood defences, and in favour of an all-of-the-above energy policy based around civil nuclear power and around this country’s vast reserves of coal, with the commanding heights in reformed public ownership, with no need for fracking even in its own terms, and with the requirement of the approval of the House of Commons before energy or water prices could be increased.
In the case of Trident, we could pay the affected shipyard workers quite eye-watering sums in compensation, and still save amounts that there were scarcely the adjectives to describe. “Would you press the nuclear button?” is a bad science-fictional question that would not be asked in any serious country. A correct answer to “How much would it cost?” is always, “Less than Trident.”
At least in the House of Commons, British political understanding of these matters ranges from the limited to the totally absent. Another hung Parliament is coming, however, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it.
It has become a local commonplace that I am on 30-30-30 with Labour and the Conservatives here at North West Durham, so that any one of us could be the First Past the Post. I will stand for this seat, if I can raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
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