Decision to axe Harrier is "bonkers".

[Capt P U G Wash]

Italy on £43 a day.

Libyan rebels strike key oil pipeline - Telegraph

Not bad for the height of the Summer season. So much for Sharkey's claims!

£15.6M for 12 months land based ops against the running cost of the carrier...more than enough left over to pay for some extra gas, I suspect.

So, if we now remove the distorted costs argument from the early media storm started by Sharkey, and the current effort can be sustained without the CdG, where does that leave this thread?

I thought the concrete trick in the article was rather neat as well.