Ah ha, mentioning the Healy report - you disagree that the UK can afford the cost, and that we really are broke? Well, I guess you have a fair point in the current situation, but that's your belief. I'd view that the most distressing aspect of the whole situation is that even in a period of sustained growth, the defense budget was still skimmed time after time.
Reference BRNC costs, well Andym has messaged me and we've had a bit of a discussion and I can see good reasons for moving it to Raleigh that I havn't been aware of - a Lympstone for the RN. I would still resist such a change but more because i'm a sucker for tradition and, as i've mentioned we can afford the extra £20 million a year - 1/3rd of a Typhoon, the same we give in aid to Ethiopia, the same the Welsh assembly spends to re-invigorate its south western coastal belt, and £8 million less than it takes to run Sandhurst. Not to mention how much more than £20m is wasted on defense procurement decisions. I'd argue still that if you want to find savings (not that we need to) then there are better ways to find it than moving BRNC's duties lock stock to Raleigh. The UK made $2.13 trillion last year. Within that I really believe that we can find the £20m to run a seperate Naval Academy.