Ministry of Defence sinks navy’s cocktail parties
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....saving pennies, wasting pounds.
When I was last in Main Building we were warned that the free tea and biccies had stopped, so we all went to the coffee shop with our rates and spent about £12 on a moca-choca-latte thingy. It just transfers the costs to another budget.
Probably why we're not allowed to take a taxi anymore in our Command. Even if we're sharing and the overall cost is less than a bus ticket each.
Wait out for the real penny-pinching after the election......
When I was last in Main Building we were warned that the free tea and biccies had stopped, so we all went to the coffee shop with our rates and spent about £12 on a moca-choca-latte thingy. It just transfers the costs to another budget.
Probably why we're not allowed to take a taxi anymore in our Command. Even if we're sharing and the overall cost is less than a bus ticket each.
Wait out for the real penny-pinching after the election......
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This really does seem like penny pinching. The Defence budget is in a poor state and only something radical will make ends meet - a wholesale loss of a capability or acceptance that we can't keep doing what we are doing. Hopefully, the SDR will come up with some answers. But let's not forget, that it's the Servivces themselves that come up with savings measures - not MOD or Government.
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I understand that entertainment allowance has been stopped for the RAF too.
Interesting to see if Annual Cocktail Parties still are cancelled or cost mess members more.
Interesting to see if Annual Cocktail Parties still are cancelled or cost mess members more.
I had to admire the Senior Service's style some years ago when I was looking into the reasons why we had immersed a Harrier GR7 in the Mediterranean. The RN had kindly hoisted it back onboard the carrier, leaving it upside-down and rather forlorn in the "graveyard". It was a tense time, leading to the threat of it being dumped again if we got as far as Suez. However, some days later, we actually approached Barcelona, where I was told that we could remove our jet, but not on the first day after docking. The reason was .... the Cockers P! The jet was covered over with coloured tarpaulins and bunting so that it didn't spoil the view, and a good time was had by all. The next day, a very big crane did its job, and off we went back to the UK.
How our shambles of a government ever hopes that the UK can punch above its weight after the decimation of our attaches abroad, massive reductions in NATO personnel and now this fails me. They seem to have lost sight of all things of value just because they cost a bit. Or is this all part of the plan.........
.
Still I'm sure if I overfill my wheely bin by a Kellogs Carton or two some jobs worth will pitch up with a ruler to fine me within seconds
.Still I'm sure if I overfill my wheely bin by a Kellogs Carton or two some jobs worth will pitch up with a ruler to fine me within seconds
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A good quote
I would add that because Gin is cheaper than ammunition it also helps to loosen tongues.
There are many different ways of exercising influence, and one of Britain's most effective methods of doing so has for many years been the Naval Cocktail party
A warship can be a floating embassy as well as a floating battery. Guns and missiles can, of course, overawe. But charm, friendliness and well-lubricated hospitality can make and keep friends in Foreign parts.
If the guests happen to notice - amid the clink of ice- that the handsome ship in which they are being entertained is also a highly-efficient war machine, so much the better
Gin is also a good deal cheaper than ammunition. And in this form of soft Power, the Royal navy still has a potent advantage over the Americans, whose Navy may be much bigger than ours but whose drearily dry vessels can offer their guest nothing more exhilarating than coca-cola.
So the defence Ministry's decision to decommisson the Navy's gin bottles and scrap the Horse's neck cocktail is a grave mistake and a false economy, presumably mandated by puritanical and unimaginative bureaucrats.
There must be a better way of saving the rather trivial sums involved. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth should have the sense to overrule this foolishness whose only effect will be to make this country look cheap and mean in places where it was once respected and liked.
A warship can be a floating embassy as well as a floating battery. Guns and missiles can, of course, overawe. But charm, friendliness and well-lubricated hospitality can make and keep friends in Foreign parts.
If the guests happen to notice - amid the clink of ice- that the handsome ship in which they are being entertained is also a highly-efficient war machine, so much the better
Gin is also a good deal cheaper than ammunition. And in this form of soft Power, the Royal navy still has a potent advantage over the Americans, whose Navy may be much bigger than ours but whose drearily dry vessels can offer their guest nothing more exhilarating than coca-cola.
So the defence Ministry's decision to decommisson the Navy's gin bottles and scrap the Horse's neck cocktail is a grave mistake and a false economy, presumably mandated by puritanical and unimaginative bureaucrats.
There must be a better way of saving the rather trivial sums involved. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth should have the sense to overrule this foolishness whose only effect will be to make this country look cheap and mean in places where it was once respected and liked.
I would add that because Gin is cheaper than ammunition it also helps to loosen tongues.
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I very much doubt the common scum that occupy the ruling government actually "get" the importance of Defence Diplomacy.
I am sure most of them sit reading Chairman Mao's little red book whilst self-flagellating over our collonial past.
I am sure most of them sit reading Chairman Mao's little red book whilst self-flagellating over our collonial past.
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As is de rigeur for Nu Labour, it's another short-sighted cut that will weaken the UK's reputation and standing overseas exponentially more than the meagre amount it saves; while the saving will undoubtedly be wasted elsewhere at the blink of an eye.
Price of everything - value of nothing...
Price of everything - value of nothing...
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Oh errr, forgot to mention that all leave is cancelled until morale improves.
It really DOES have a familiar ring to it doesn't it?
I doubt MPs (even ones with the medals) will curtail their PR activities.
It really DOES have a familiar ring to it doesn't it?
I doubt MPs (even ones with the medals) will curtail their PR activities.
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Anyone like a small side bet that this idiocy will be knocked on the head within 48 hours? In any case, even as an ex crab, I have enough respect for the Royal Navy to suspect that they'll already have a dozen ways around it.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
The following year the Guernaisies paid for the RM and the RN sent two guardships. They have sent a guardship every year since; last year it was HMS Daring.
There are ways and means.
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Am I the only one to get the impression that all this nonsense is a petty attempt to 'queer the pitch' (sorry, RN, no pun intended) for the next Government who will, without doubt, replace the pathetic crew (again, RN, no pun....) we have at the moment.
I wonder how many votes are won (or lost) at Cocker P's?
Oh, I won't count the millions of pounds worth of goodwill the RN earn for this country with the odd G and T and a salty fish canape.
I wonder how many votes are won (or lost) at Cocker P's?
Oh, I won't count the millions of pounds worth of goodwill the RN earn for this country with the odd G and T and a salty fish canape.
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This is a joke -please someone tell me it is - I am of the light blue flavour and despite all of the inter service willy waving and eating ourselves from the inside that H M Treasury is actively encouraging even I see how much value the RN cocktail parties bring to foreign business and international relations.
2 things - has the individual that actually signed off on this dictat ever had the priveledge of an RN cocktail party in a foreign port (i.e. is it an informed decision or one taken after a scant review of an excel spreadsheet before knocking off for the weekend)?
And....
A freedom of information request should be made every month to establish the entertainment and hosting that the current H M Govt conducts, and then review value of such entertainment. I look forward to the justification that every single MP and H M Govt department will now have to go through and prove its value to the British Public. From my experience the RN cocktail party could easily do this - I doubt very much that the remainder of MPs and HM Govt entertainment will survive scrutiny for 'adding of value' to the nation.
But I look forward to being proven wrong.
I totally agree with above posts - a complete lack of appreciation of 'value' when everything is viewed purely as 'cost'.
Someone, somewhere please do or say something - at some stage the sentence ' with all due respect but the answer is NO' must be categorically stated.
2 things - has the individual that actually signed off on this dictat ever had the priveledge of an RN cocktail party in a foreign port (i.e. is it an informed decision or one taken after a scant review of an excel spreadsheet before knocking off for the weekend)?
And....
A freedom of information request should be made every month to establish the entertainment and hosting that the current H M Govt conducts, and then review value of such entertainment. I look forward to the justification that every single MP and H M Govt department will now have to go through and prove its value to the British Public. From my experience the RN cocktail party could easily do this - I doubt very much that the remainder of MPs and HM Govt entertainment will survive scrutiny for 'adding of value' to the nation.
But I look forward to being proven wrong.
I totally agree with above posts - a complete lack of appreciation of 'value' when everything is viewed purely as 'cost'.
Someone, somewhere please do or say something - at some stage the sentence ' with all due respect but the answer is NO' must be categorically stated.
Last edited by MaroonMan4; 14th Mar 2010 at 21:48.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
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I'm willing to take a small bet that this has nothing to do with the cost at all.
Could it be that it is all part of the 'dumbing down' process? Cancel Fox Hunting, scrub life peerages in the H of L, get rid of the H of L altogether, give over areas of green belt to cheap housing, lower exams standards etc. and there are many more, some with the Prescott/Harman stamp all over them.
Could it be that it is all part of the 'dumbing down' process? Cancel Fox Hunting, scrub life peerages in the H of L, get rid of the H of L altogether, give over areas of green belt to cheap housing, lower exams standards etc. and there are many more, some with the Prescott/Harman stamp all over them.
If this is true then I feel sorry for those about to join the RN. Happy memories of many a CP (met my now wife at a CP in Naples). You cannot put a price on the goodwill that these events produce, not to mention the endless trapping and grippo opportunities. The best ever CP I was lucky enough to be at was at anchor under Sydney Harbour Bridge, the good-looking squadron guys went ashore and handed out invites to pretty girls. Problem was that the pretty ones photocopied the invites and on the night we had about 1500 women waiting for a boat transfer onboard. Simple solution, a committe of taste at the gangway to filter the pretty ones down aft (to the wardroom) and the rest shared around the 2 Petty Officers' Mess and the WO and CPOs' Mess, even so it was about 4 aussie birds to 1 RN Officer MAGIC EVENING!!! and reminds me of my fav pussers saying 'Good run ashore even the batchelors trapped'. Then there was Brisbane, Bombay, Hawaii, Venezuela, Mexico, Singers, Honkers, Phillly, blah blah blah.......