Caz,
yes, I never imagined otherwise - equally the redundancy terms from the RAF will originate with government also. That it is HMG driving the cut in aircraft numbers is also a given, although it is arguable that mismanagement of funds has occurred within the services as well as within HMG and CS, ultimately leading to the requirement for the pain we now experience.
My main complaint re-Cameron is that the SDSR was hurried and botched, we should have looked at what was essential to our national defence, then decided what to keep and what to axe - and I don't think for one moment this is what actually happened.
Xenolith - given the opposition did nothing when they had the chance, I regard this as poltical points scoring on a topic that should be above party politics, therefore nobody emerges from the lack of debate with a shred of honour intact.
Politicians have never been trustworthy, it's about time we had some sort of national testing for common sense and coopted the top 100 scorers into parliament... 100 would be plenty, why the hell we have over 600 of the weasels is beyond my understanding.
Dave