ORDER OF THE THISTLE 1ST CLASS TO DIM BOY HAMMOND

Don't you just love it when one of them, in an effort to pull the rug from under the feet of the Scottish nationalists, shows their contempt for Scotland and its people.


The most recent example is that fool Hammond (who bears a startling resemblance to Chris Langham the actor who played the part of the incompetent moron of a minister in "In the Thick of it"), who has said that we are fooling ourselves to think we could have a Scottish Defence Force. Nobody, he says, would want to join it.

Ah right. Not only are we too wee, too poor and too thick to run anything on our own, it would appear that we are so lacking in pride that no one in Scotland would want to join the Scottish Armed Forces.


Brilliant Philip. Absolutely brilliant. Keep it up.


In the meantime, didn't I read that the British Army is being reduced to a rump now, because you can't afford to run it. That may be something to do with the fact that the MoD, managed by you, spends money on failed contracts faster than Imelda Marcos used to buy shoes! In future you will be obliged to rely on foreigners and contractors (aren't they called mercenaries?), and with all your back office worked provided by private companies (which is fine until Santander buys them over and you go to war with Spain over Gibraltar). 


Well done. All that puts you in an excellent position to lecture others.


Nob!


Pics: Philip Hammond, Chris Langham...see what I mean about the resemblance.

DOES WESTMINSTER'S APPARENT GENEROSITY HAVE A HIDDEN AGENDA?

There was good news this week when the MOD made a series of long term commitments to Scotland which included the retention of RAF Lossiemouth and the transfer of ex-RAF Kinloss and of RAF Leuchars to the army. Additionally Fort St George is to be retained.

The Army is to have a brand new mobile brigade formed from units returning from Germany. This new brigade will be based in Leuchars when the RAF's Typhoon interceptors move to Lossiemouth. Elements will also be stationed at RM Condor outside Arbroath when the Marines are transferred to England, and at Rosyth and Kirknewton, south of Edinburgh.

But, however welcome the increase in our population, bringing skilled-job salaries to the country and, as the first minister pointed out, bringing children who will be brought up in Scotland, helping to rebalance the ageing population, you do have to consider why the MOD's long term strategy is to more than double the number of regular troops in Scotland from 3,500 to 8,500 in the next five to six years, while in England they are reducing the number of regular troops and relying instead on Territorials.

Could it be that the English government’s seemingly generous act in stationing troops all over Scotland is an attempt to garrison the country? Could it be that they are creating a new brigade with no local allegiances and getting rid of long-established units that might not wish to open fire on a local population?

I find it hard to attribute to Mr Fox and the mandarins at the MOD an altruism that flies in the face of what they are doing everywhere else (i.e. cutting to the bone) without there being a hidden agenda.

Before the election in May we were gearing up for severe cuts and, then the SNP won a majority in Holyrood, an independence referendum is now a certainty, and suddenly we are getting three new army bases in the North East of the country, where the oil is (Leuchars, Kinloss, and Condor), and new mobile units at Rosyth and Kirknewton, handy for the capital. They are not expecting us to kick off if we don’t get our way in the referendum are they? Or are they planning to seize the oil in the event we win?