Is it banter .....or is it boring? I'm losing the will to live over this subject.
The UK is/has been undergoing a dilution of assets (mil or civvy) in various shapes or forms since (probably before) 2007. For reasons other than the financial meltdown we found ourselves in (this simply accelerated the process). We (the UK) have outgrown our usefulness from a global positioning perspective and we need to restructure ourselves accordingly and align our current status with those already aligned to the 'new world order' (namely: Norway, Denmark, Germany et al). We cannot continue to run a world leading military order -simples. So paring back is the way to go. RAF SAR lost its raison d'etre - god knows how many years ago. It was surplus to requirement (as a military outfit) and several senior officers and politicians knew it. It just needed the right moment for it to be tipped over the political edge.
The government continued to squeeze further savings after the debacle that was SAR(H) in 2010. - Realising that this was far to generous a package handing over and so they grabbed the opportunity to 'adjust' SARH2 to within an inch of its monetary life by dicing up the new contract into much more manageable chunks. And so we are now left with a wafer thin (rescue) service like a lot of other 'public' services which will almost certainly not stand the test of time (look at the railways, GP practices, social care) without further financial injections at later stages or Bristow operating only to the bare minimum of its contractual obligations - and you can't blame them. Blame the government.
Further - SAR is a 'hidden' public service - the man on the street doesn't have the faintest idea what is going on in SAR, doesn't care and it isn't a vote winner.....don't expect miracles or even a par with its previous incarnation. Voters don't care.........................
