Originally Posted by
buoy15
Chugalug
Are you telling me that Bliar has not got a standing Army?
I follow Parliamentry procedures and cannot see where the Army in particular, and the Armed Forces in general, are renewed every year?
Its an old chestnut, buoy. In the old days each service had a separate bill passed every year, ie in the case of the RAF it became the Air Force Act 19xx etc. If it wasn't enacted then theoretically the RAF would cease to exist and similarly for the other services. Now I believe it is all consolidated in the Armed Services Act 2006, etc, which has just been passed, so the pay is good for another year (JPA withstanding)! I think that's about it but no doubt the constitutional experts will correct me. Hence my point that the Army (and the others) is not a standing one, but renewed annually, not by the government but by the will of parliament. Am important distinction, for I share your aversion to Bliar and his cronies. I'm afraid I can't share your undiluted enthusiasm for OC though. He might have accomplished a lot for us, the principle achievement being to keep us out of the Revolutionary fervour exported later from France across Europe. We were able to say no thanks, already got (or had) one! None the less he took power and held it by armed force. Hence all the checks and balances today, of which The Armed Forces Act is an arcane example.