WEBF,
The RNHF aircraft are supported by a PT, are the historic aircraft of other display teams. They all have safety cases and are subject to mods (such as Mode 5 / 8.33). They are inherently simpler designs. Much of the support costs are met by charitable trusts. They only have to display,not fight....
Wrt "paperwork" stopping us flying, would you rather we went back to the pre-Nimrod days? There's a big difference between a 2/3/4* being scurrilous to score points and putting his signature to a safety case where the buck stops with him. If the UK were being threatened then perhaps people would take that risk, but just to keep deck crews "current" in a "what if" capacity it is extremely unlikely.
Your arguement re the Titanic is emotive but irrelevant as you could make the same point about almost any capability that's been lost over the past few years - and I'd argue that the replacement MPA is far more important - and I could invent a scenario to support it.
Finally, what else is the RN prepared to scrap to exhume the SHar? A T45, an Astute or the T26 frigate? Give up CHF? That's the bottom line here. SHar was a great jet in its' day, and one of the hardest opponents I ever "fought" - but that was 10 years ago and the game has moved on. Please do the same....