Roguedent
Hang on a mo! I'm on the Sparrows' side. I just didn't see he point in having 2 petitions running when efforts can be focussed on just1 and have more names on that.
As has been well discussed on the other thread, the Reds cost around £5-6M a year, which is really a drop in the ocean for HM Gov plc. It wouldn't even pay for some black tape around some civil servants' telephones or more than a few chairs or desks in Main Building. And if they were chopped, would that £5-6M really be spent on boots and bullets and guns for our front line troops? Really? If you think the answer is "yes", then you're more naive than I thought you were.
There are fewer and fewer symbols that project the armed forces into the public eye these days (at least in a positive sense). Whilst guys are showing utmost bravery on the ground, that doesn't recruit people. The Reds, the Blue Eagles and the RN Historic Flight (they're still up and running aren't they?) don't just recruit pilots. They get people through the doors of the AFCO, and in this day and age when joining the Forces seems anathema to young people, that can only be a good thing.
£5-6M is small fry on the big scheme of things and probably more successful than "You don't have to fly to be in the RAF" and "My job's more important than yours, stick monkey" (sorry Navy).
If it was a plain choice between the Red Arrows and guns and bullets, then I would be signing up to the "Bin the Red Arrows" petition faster than you could say "Diamond Nine". But it's not. Gordon Brown will take the money and give it to some lesbian extremists "asylum seeker" to buy a house and ship the rest of their families over.
So, Red Arrows or more asylum seekers? The choice is yours.