Bu@@er, missed a day.

1282 Llywelyn ab Gruffydd, the last native-born Prince of Wales, is killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge.

1792*King Louis XVI stands trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state of France.

1936*Edward VIII broadcasts to the nation that he is abdicating as king to marry*Wallis Simpson.

1941*Italy, then Germany, declare war on the United States.

1979 Rhodesia reverted to British rule after 14 years of white minority government.

2005 Massive fire breaks out at Buncefield oil depot.

It was two Lynx, with two more on the way. My books are not to hand but I have a feeling there may have been an additional Canberra or two in the pipeline. Harrier had been displayed to the Argentinians several years before (on their carrier too, I believe) and they had not been impressed enough to maintain interest.
BUT there were no Westland Sea King in Argentine service: all Sea Kings were Sikorsky’s, bought after the conflict.

In reference to ex RN ships being renovated for use – it wouldn’t be beyond possibility but it would be quite difficult to proceed without assistance from the companies who built the machinery originally, most of whom are either long gone or probbly part of BAe. Didn’t the Chinese buy the former Russian carrier to copy it and build their own with that knowledge?

I seem to recall the Belgrano was ex R.N.

Close, but no cigar…

You seem to recall wrong – Belgrano was ex USN.

And I believe the condition of such vessels, having usually been through storage without any attention other than to make sure it doesn’t sink and cause more cost, is not great; you will notice that recently former naval vessels have not gone very far to be scrapped, ie not India. Plus the contract of sale (or whatever it is called) probably stipulates that the vessel will be scrapped – no discussion, certainly no sell-on.

And there was I thinking he was a bit of a plank…

The KLF said they were going to do it and they did; it nearly broke them, financially, but it was done as an art performance, so…

If you have a Spitfire you can paint it any colour you like – because it is yours. People can moan, but they are not the owner so it is nothing to do with them. If you have money it is also yours to do with as you see fit – you can buy food, buy diamonds, buy white powder that goes up your nose. It might not be all that popular with society but it is your money. If you want to set fire to it (à la KLF) then grab that box of matches before your next of kin try to have you locked up least you reduce their inheritance to ashes.

If you own a kitchen, any kitchen, an old banger of a car or a fibreglass dinghy you are not redistributing wealth? You do not need to have wealth to redistribute it, just taking part in that bartering system that is buying something that someone else is selling is redistribution.

Also…having cash and destroying it does not necessarily represent flaunting wealth: you personally have to identify that the money is worth something and accept that it is worth what you are told it is worth. I could try and buy your car from you by offering you lots of bits of paper with the Queens head on them, but you might get particular and insist that you do not want several dozen one penny postage stamps. It is only when you accept that that piece of paper that might be worth just a penny has worth as expressed in print on the paper.
I was actually in a charity shop earlier this afternoon, being confused by some jeans; apparently you can purchase donated jeans for £5 or £80! The higher priced jeans were apparently ‘vintage’, some were Levi’s and all were – to me – essentially indistinguishable from the cheaper jeans except for brand tags and price. And yes, people do pay that much for vintage jeans, although the shop displayed them for sale whilst also selling them via their website, for those who are out of the area or won’t lower themselves to going to a charity shop… I didn’t buy any jeans.

Sunday Times restaurant critic AA Gill has died aged 62, three weeks after revealing he had cancer.
The columnist told the newspaper that he had been diagnosed with the “full English” of cancers.
Gill, who was having chemotherapy, had said that he did not “feel cheated” and had been “very lucky” in his life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38276456

I guess his comments can be taken for all of us when facing the great unknown.

The KLF burned £1,000,000 and you could see it being burnt, you knew it had value.

I think the problem with the £5million Punk collection that was destroyed is that it had an unrealised value that was given purely by the owner – I am not saying that it wasn’t worth £5m to somebody, just that unless some museum curator or a collector comes along and moans about items worth (in their opinion) £5m being destroyed then the things were worth between £0.00 and £5m plus auctioneers premium. It must be said that the value of an item is what someone will pay for it – how much is a Spitfire data plate really worth, as a bit of metal with a history attached: a few quid? £500? £100,000? – and whilst Charles Saatchi will pay megabucks for Tracey Emin’s old camping gear or dirty bedclothes then value is in the eye of the beholder, usually the one with money prepared to pay that sort of money for things that other people (ones without money to spend on that sort of thing) wouldn’t dream of wasting on an old tent, a few sheets or a bit of metal.