Sirwa, I'm with you all the way. The small-minded doomsayers who continually insist that we are a small, irrelevant country with no place on the world stage really ought to get their heads out of the sand.. .Tony Blair, whatever his personal qualities, is the elected Prime Minister of the world's fourth largest economy. This economy, more than any other in the world, is founded on international trade which, in no small part, is influenced by perceived prestige and national confidence. The VC10 as the official long-range air transport is surely well past its sell-by date. As one of the PM's (or any national representative's) tasks is to showcase and promote our industrial products to the potential customers around the world, it is surely entirely appropriate that the UK should be showing off one of Airbus' current production aircraft. It is also appropriate that our national leader, or senior members of our government, should get an enhanced level of protection from those who would wish to harm them, so the aircrsft should carry at least the level of protective equipment that the VC10 does.. .Perhaps some of the nay-sayers would prefer we had the international clout and respect of, say, Rwanda or similar?