ShortfatOne - I didn't say I understood the economics of all the statements - merely that the original statement did make sense from the point of view of readable English
My reference to "niche" refers to the impact of £ per cancellation which I cannot comment on, but all that is needed to save X is one platform then thats all that should be cancelled. The debate is then about which one ......
I'm afraid you are falling towards gamblers logic again - suggesting that if money was continued to be spent on it, it could do anything - but this in only true if it were possible for the MRA4 to actually stick to time and cost and specification, which sadly it has a decade of proving that it is incapable of doing.
Nobody with a cheque book would bet money on the MRA4 ever sticking to a budget. Its a money pit. Nobody on the project has ever made an estimate and stuck to it.
If you took on a builder and 10 years later he still hadn't finished the original building and kept coming back for more money every year to make it the best-est super-est uber house extension, and breaks every cost and time estimate along the way, I submit that you would not give them any money.
Nimrod is no different to a dodgy builder in that regard.