Of course, they're terrific value for money - just not in a way that the beancounters can measure.
I hope that the threat of their disappearance is just a false alarm. The trouble is that, faced with cuts in the RAF budget, their Airships always wheel out the Reds as first in line for the chop, in the hope that this will scare off the Treasury (we've seen the same trick recently with science cut-backs and Jodrell Bank). It's always worked up to now, but with the present bunch of incompetent boobies running the country, I wouldn't bet my house on it working again.
[Are you sure this is in the correct forum ?
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