Pongochap - rehashing the Page debate on these means is, as you say, tedious, and my reference to him was intended as a throwaway remark to JN rather than meant to be the foundations for another round of Page-bashing, although I confess I may not have helped with my second post about him.
However, I would observe that attacking those involved in the Typhoon programme now does not get to the heart of the matter. If you will forgive me for quoting myself from later in the thread you linked to:
Remember that the official government position post SDR and SDR New Chapter (i.e. before the Russians found the fuel and aircrew to resume their
long range flights) was that we'd need at least five AD squadrons to maintain QRA and a satisfactory level of defence of UK airspace in the post Cold War era, and taking account of the post 9/11 threat.
So, logically, we now find ourselves with four AD squadrons (if we include XI) to deal with a far greater set of challenges than the five squadrons deemed necessary to meet a much lower threat level.
It's all very well rehearsing the usual inter-service blue-on-blue and blaming the Typhoon force and the aircraft itself, but the problem, quite simply, is that the government, led by a man who claims that nobody has greater respect for the forces than he does, has left the RAF facing the dilemma of attempting to put one squadron in two places at once, and has helped to ease the problem by delaying the delivery of the Tranche 2 airframes.
It can find the money to bail out a failed bank (to protect votes in its heartlands) and can suddenly discover a few billion to offset the effect of the abolition of the 10p tax band (to protect its core vote), and can double the quango budget over the course of ten years, but it seems unwilling to and incapable of finding the money to provide the kit needed - FJ, AT, SH and the array of kit required by pongochap and his colleagues - despite the fact that it has committed the nation to two wars.
Typhoon isn't the issue here, with respect - it's the way in which the government goes about its business.
Attacking the Typhoon contract, debating the accuracy (or not) of Page and throwing observations about hotel-based life simply does the Treasury's work for them. What is needed is not faffing about with contracts for aircraft for which, like it or not, a case can be made (part of the 'fighting the war verus fighting a war' debate that crops up in a variety of unlikely places), but the appropriate level of funding for all three services, not the robbing Peter to pay Paul approach we've seen for the last decade.