Review? What review? Oh, THAT review ?... snigger.

It appears that the Tories, in the form of Philip Hammond, have shown the Liberals once again how highly they value their input into government policy.

I'm talking here about the Trident replacement.

I'd always had the impression that Liberal Democrats were essentially against Trident, however, I found I was wrong when that party, in government,  suggested that instead of the Trident renewal, costing untold billions of dollars we don't have, we should have something a bit cheaper; a sort of Asda own brand version.

And why not, I say. Clearly I hope that Scotland will have no part in paying for this waste of money, but whatever Scotland does, I expect that the RUK will wish to continue to play a leading role in the world, and for that you need to have nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Sad old world, huh?

As even the outlandishly expensive weapons system that Britain houses in Scotland aren't any kind of a deterrent to any nation that might be likely to use nuclear weapons against us; as we can't use it without not just permission, but information, from the USA, and in reality we never will use it against any of the "enemies" the UK has or is likely to have, why not just have cardboard cutouts?

Anyway, in what appears to have been a sop to the Liberals it was agreed to have a review to look into the possibility of an alternative and cheaper system. 

Almost undoubtedly this was also a complete waste of the enormous amount that these reviews always cost, as rich and influential people get together and charge vast amounts for their services, and lunches... because clearly it is America which decides what we should have. 

In any case it appears that Mr Hammond already knows the outcome of this inquiry, which is not due to report until 2016.

According to the Guardian, Hammond, the posh man's Jim Murphy (in more ways than one), is due to announce the spending of £350 million we don't have on the next part of the renewal scheme that the review has yet to report on.

The Ministry of Defence has , they report, said the  contract would sustain 1,200 UK jobs, adding that the investment made "clear the government's firm commitment to maintaining continuous at-sea deterrence for future decades".

I'm not sure for how long that will sustain these jobs, or what kind of jobs they are, but the cost per job appears to be £300,000, so I hope it is for a very long time, or that they are very good jobs.

Apparently Hammond is visiting Faslane on the Clyde, where the UK stores its WMDs, well away from the South East of England. (I noticed in recent discussion about what the RUK would do with the nukes, when Scotland invites the RUK to remove them, the only English port suitable, Devonport, was rejected on the basis of the high density of population. Devonport itself has a population of around 27,000, but Plymouth has over 250,000!!!). 

Mr Hammond intends making announcements of expansions to the work of Faslane, in some sort of bribe to locals. He seems to be working in concert with Jackie Baillie....(who seems to have an issue with maths, having mixed up the ratio of the figures of 11,000 and 600 to the point that she managed to make it 1 : 1. Thank goodness she's not the spokesman for education, eh!

The MoD is one of the departments of government with no Liberal Democrat minister, their only representative there having been sacked in the recent reshuffle. So Hammond, it seems has carte blanche to operate as if the review has come down in favour of the good old untried and untested expensive option.

I suppose that, given that in 2016 the Liberal Democrats will almost certainly be out of government and/or reduced in number so substantially as to have no influence on policy, and that the two other right wing parties, the Tories and Labour, can't wait to get their hands on yet more WMDs the better to to show off at the UN Security Council, Hammond is on a safe bet.

Mr Hammond says that he is certain that Scots will decide to stay in the UK and offer the UK a place to store these dangerous weapons, within 50 miles of a city of over half a million in a metropolitan area of well over a million. Och well, only plebs, and Scottish plebs at that!