Now is NOT the time for more military cuts
As THE recent widow of a Royal Marines major-general, I am aghast at the possibility that the Tory Government is yet again considering disbanding at least one commando unit in 3 Brigade.
When faced with the possibility of cuts, the Admiralty immediately looks to the Royal Marines.
The Admiralty has two hugely expensive aircraft carriers with no aircraft and too few trained personnel to run them. Ministry of Defence civil servants always underestimate the need for good procurement plans and seem to have made a mess of it yet again.
In 1982, my husband, MajorGeneral John Chester, was brigade major in the Falklands campaign. He often told me it was only by the skin of our teeth that we managed to win that fracas.
As ever, we suffered from having the wrong equipment and poor long-term planning. We now have even fewer warships to take our troops to battle and, should they be needed, fewer merchant naval ships.
Equipment shortages and poor attention to detail mean our troops have been ill-provided with the means to protect themselves and get the job done. As ever, though, the Paras and Marines managed to save the day.
Have we learned nothing over the years? The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were a waste of lives, time and money, and a sad indictment of MoD planners’ ability to read a situation and plan for possible outcomes.
Now, with Russia keen to flex her muscles, the Middle East in turmoil (particularly since our clumsy, ill-planned interventions), the EU unsettled and a U.s. President bombing syria and questioning the value of Nato, this isn’t the time to reduce our frontline military capability.
The UK Government’s main responsibility is defending the realm. I have little faith the future holds any promise of peace and security, let alone that the Tories can make sensible decisions. AMANDA CHESTER,
address supplied.
Spending pothole
so, scottish councils raised over £40million (yes, million) in parking charges last year.
Having published the figures of income received, wouldn’t it be nice to find out where the money goes? Council tax goes up but parking charges just keep on coming in. Potholes galore and no sign of repair work being done.
Is it too much to ask that some of this income is spent to make the life of the beleaguered motorist less traumatic?
STAN GASToN, Rothesay, Argyll.
It’s Shetland’s oil
IT is good news that more oil is being discovered in the area to the west of the shetland Islands.
We can hope that this will give a much-needed boost to the areas of north-east scotland that have suffered as a result of the fall in the oil price.
In the 1970s, much was made of the fact that oil discoveries were in scottish waters. The sNP’s rise was based on its grievance mantra of ‘It’s scotland’s oil’.
Perhaps the sNP should take note that in 2017 it appears that ‘It’s shetland’s oil’. They might also remember that shetland was one of the strongest No-voting areas in 2014, and that, in another referendum, shetland might well vote that way again.
It would be such a pity if the Law of Unintended Consequences dented the sNP’s plans.
Jill STEpHENSoN, Edinburgh.
Fund Indy yourselves!
IN his excellent article (Mail) Jonathan Brocklebank gives a good description of the Leader of the sNP Nicola sturgeon’s jolly to the UsA — ‘A cobbled together, independence-oriented PR stunt which bore no scrutiny and failed to represent the interests of most scots’.
That’s exactly what it was, independence to the forefront. I suspect also that many will be unimpressed by her fawning over Hillary Clinton.
It’s time Nicola sturgeon addressed the various issues of concern in scotland rather than travelling to the other side of the world, at taxpayers’ expense, to promote her dream of independence. lACHlAN M MAClEoD, lochmaddy, North Uist.
Doing us a favour
ALEx salmond was on TV yesterday banging on that the ‘democratic will of the scottish people’ demands a referendum and independence.
Let us be clear that he actually means ‘the autocratic will of the sNP demands’ those things, and they are a minority party at present.
The Prime Minister is doing the scots a favour by stonewalling this demand, which was categorically ruled out by the sNP during the last referendum campaign.
since that time the financial situation north of the Border has deteriorated dramatically; now is definitely not the time to create an independent country which cannot pay its bills. ViNCENT SAUNDERS,
Troon, Ayrshire.
Dairy by design
THE label on my Tesco milk shows a picture of a dairy farmer wearing white slacks and a designer shirt, carrying two old-style pails of the ‘round-the-shed’ type that went out in my youth, 30 years ago.
Clearly, the design team in their cosy London office have never been near a cow in their lives.
No doubt a picture of a modern herringbone milking parlour (or even-more-modern rotary one) wouldn’t engender the ‘happy meadow’ feelings they seek to promote, but it would be honest. STUART CHAllENoR, Melton Mowbray, leics.
Marmite torture
WHEN extolling the benefits of Marmite (Mail), it is as well to mention one downside: having a very high purine content, it is liable to trigger a severe attack of gout in those who have a tendency to that agonising condition.
I learned this the hard way some time ago when, after many years, I decided to try Marmite again for a saturday evening snack.
Two hours later, I was displaying the classic symptom of gout — an acutely painful and swollen big toe — and continued to suffer for the next few days, until medication finally brought relief.
I do love Marmite, but gout is too high a price to pay for it. RiCHARD GAMMAN,
Brighton, E. Sussex.
Useless punctuation
IT’s time we did away with apostrophes (Mail). They serve no purpose in spoken language and merely give fuel to pedants.
The Germans use an ‘s’ in genitive case phrases (indicating possession) without an apostrophe and seem to manage well.
ST JoHN CoX, Taunton, Somerset.