Why Britain Needs Nuclear Weapons.

Robert Farley has suggested that it is not in the interests of the United States for the United Kingdom to renew it's strategic nuclear deterrent.

His argument is that Britain would be better able to support American foreign policy if it spent more money on conventional forces instead.

This is the very attitude which led to this outburst by Ernest Bevin :

"We've got to have this thing.

 I don't mind it for myself, but I don't want any other Foreign Secretary of this country to be talked at or to by the Secretary of State of the US as I have just been...

 We've got to have this thing over here, whatever it costs ...

 We've got to have the bloody Union Jack on top of it."

Ernest Bevin understood that the British people pay their taxes to further their own best interests,not those of the United States.

Falkland Islands Invade South America.

It is often erroneously stated that the four Typhoon fighers based in the Falklands can defend those islands from attacks.

There are a number of reasons why this is not the case.

One of those reasons is weather.

The Typhoons have only a single runway to operate from in the Falkland Islands.

That runway is sometimes closed by the often atrocious weather.

Usually the Typhoons manage to land before this happens.

But sometimes they do not.

In those cases the Typhoons must divert to an airbase on the South American mainland.

This requires a great deal of fuel and it is the reason there is a VC10 tanker aircraft in the Falklands to support fighter operations.

When the runway is closed the tanker has enough fuel to get the fighters to the nearest mainland base.

More accurately,to the nearest friendly mainland base.

Landing in Argentina would cause an international incident.

This is why two Typhoons and a VC10 recently found themselves in Punta Arenas,Chile.

To get to Punta Arenas they had to fly through Argentinian airspace.

This article about this incident was published by MercoPress.