Britannia Rules the Waves

The part-time Secretary for Supporting Our Boys, Des Browne, has made the rather remarkable claim that the four thousand million pounds paid by the Government for two new aircraft carriers will not be "at the expense of other areas". Apparently wealth can now be spent on one three-hundred-metre, sixty-five-thousand-tonne thing without affecting the Government's ability to spend it on something else. This is certainly reassuring, particularly in the present economic climate when all of us, even ministers, are having to tighten our belts. The aircraft carriers will "provide our forces with world-class capabilities", once an additional few thousand million have been spent on the American aircraft which they are meant to carry. According to the chief of the air staff, the ships will "provide additional options for projecting offensive air power at a time and place of our choosing"; or, as translated by the part-time defence secretary, "they will support peacekeeping and conflict prevention, as well as our strategic operational priorities"; our strategic and operational priorities being, of course, different from, though not incompatible with, peacekeeping and conflict prevention. The carriers will be called HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, after a couple of other, equally worthwhile investments.