Mr McLelland,
Whilst your posts often give the impression that you have some form of deeper knowledge about matters light blue, your earlier post demonstrates that you are shooting from the hip and have no greater knowledge that others on here who get their information from t'internet. I can say this with some justification as the comments you have made about one particular base are just plain wrong.
Anyway, it is never good to lose an airfield, once it is gone, it has gone forever, just like wharves. Pprune seems to have descended into a vast feeding frenzy of speculation about SDR before and after. Without doubt, there are some difficult choices, one of which is if the government are going to stump up the cash that they seem to find so readily for failing banks, single parents, long term unemployed etc.
It also seems that in every single thread, the same mud seems to be flung at the HMS Queen Elizabeth Class programme. whilst I admit that the future of F35 is not assured, especially in the light of the USNs recent comments about cost, HMS Queen Elizabeth will be able to operate a vast amount of other platforms. QEC is not inextricably linked to F35. If F35 is shelved, QEC will still go ahead. It is worth taking a look
here Queen Elizabeth already exists. Millions have been spent already and millions more committed. The steel has been bought and cut, large elements have already been built. Orders have been placed for systems and propulsion, involving the employment of tens of thousands of predominantly UK workers, in many deprived areas. Would you wish them to join the massed ranks and claim even more benefit?
QEC is here, face it, get over it, and save your powder and vitriol for something that really matters rather than allowing a very blinkered view to get in the way of logic.
I am sorry for the thread drift, but CVF was brought into the debate, when the issue was about the closure of airbases. In my personal opinion, there is a whole lot more that could probably be done but, once again, consideration should be made of the effect on the local economy, particularly in Scotland.