i was watching an old eu meeting on youtube where gordon brown got told he can’t borrow any more from the EU, he can not repay a debt with a debt he was told, and it was made clear (at the time) just how far in debt this island is. not long after that i think he sent 7 billion or 70 billion to a country that just had a disaster. now the new PM whatever he is called is no better.

why dont we have some one in power that knows what they are doing? this country makes me swear daily.

Your first paragraph is confusing – can you clarify?

As an interested layman it is fascinating to read the range of opinion amongst knowledgable posters in this thread. But it proves one thing that no one has the answer or at least objectively no one does, although each might think he has, so the government of the day has made its decision and we will all have to live with it for good or ill. The ramifications and volume of words will grow over the years to come and we will eventually see, with hindsight, who was right and who was wrong.

But for now it’s a done deed!

I’ll second that last thought! Nothing should have been “ring-fenced” least of all overseas aid.

The divorce is just a part of it, isn’t it? Now you have the tensions of co-parenting with the children split between you. A great chum of mine had a bad time of it but others have managed to work it out well. Fingers crossed it’s early days….:)

Yes, that’s true but what matters is not how much is spent but how it is spent. We could spend 4% of GDP and end up with the wrong types of kit and the wrong servicemen in the wrong places. The BBC and others are obsessed with the cash. But cash is only part of the story.

Regarding your second point, that had always been my assumption. Regarding your first point – as ever Partridge ( one of my bibles ) is precise. And your excellent comments about slang as a form of speech are irrefutable.

Marvellous thread – I was very fond of the Optica and the great Neville Duke conducted the test flight programme, if I am not much mistaken.

I am wondering just how many more pages longer this thread will become as the review will finally be made public and the endless speculation will be over……;) No more “what-ifs” friends, just the unadulterated facts.