Queen's Birthday Flypast
As a "dissenter", permit me the opportunity to reply.
I get where BV is coming from, really I do. However, I'm long time away from doing fun stuff and am now deeply engrained in the Strategic / Joint arena. I know now exactly what the conversation in work will be on Monday.
Regardless of the actual facts, the facts amongst the vast majority will be that a whole 31 aircraft were publicised and 9 showed up. Out of how many that we operate in NATO's 5th largest budget? The majority of those people, including amongst our sister services that rightly or wrongly we are about to do battle with in the SDSR, won't know or get the nuances of weather minimums, diversion requirements and the like.
They will just see an eye wateringly expensive Air Force as benefits are cut by £12bn and defence programmes are potentially to be slashed. In that context the real reason for scrubbing the fly past is but a tactical detail. Strategically, this was a bad day for the RAF as we run into the SDSR. I hate to say it but politics and spin are what matters for the next 6 months, and without a robust defence of the correct decision today has done us no favours.