Caspian 237 :
"Given adequate basing facilites and capacity surely Typhoons flying from loacal airbases would be more appropriate to enforcing a NFZ than harriers flying from an aircraft carrier?"
I think that is the point, sadly. Your 'givens' are dubious at best, which is why carriers were always handy to have. Rely on no-one, can sit just out of sight over the horizon, location variable & uncertain. However, without SHAR, which was still a highly capable wee fighter in the right circumstances, the carrier idea is a non-starter.
(RAF GA Harriers, although superb at their GA role, are (were) useless for this purpose. As with the RAF/FAA claims and controversy before the Second World War, the RAF's claims to be able to provide shipborne capability were designed solely to fool politicians.
That those same politicians now appear to be axing everything in sight to pay off bankers debts is perhaps unsurprising. They don't do logic, they do short term convenience. And unfortunately a quick look at this crisis shows how little we can do militarily now. Eheu. I'll bet they draw the wrong conclusions too.)