About pigging time too. It's a most basic human right to be permitted to defend yourself against attack. Wait for the outcry from the yoghurt weavers though!

About time too. Wait for them to draw up alongside and let rip with 250 rounds of GPMG fire. Bung in a couple of frag grenades for good measure.

Hold on... I can hear the usual dullards warming up to defend their legal aid fees. :mad:

Has our PM been reading or taking advice from this thread (by some of us at least!)? I'm getting worried that he might start acting like a leader or even a Tory. Perhaps there is light at the end of etc....

The Government has been taking advice, but not from here. I think that you will find that the UK government is slightly frustrated with the attempts of a unified, global solution not coming to fruition. Not all nations will allow armed vessels in to port. Egypt will not allow armed civilian vessels to utilise the Suez canal, for example. This solution has been looked at for a number of years.

I believe that the arming of vessels is a short term solution to a much larger problem that the rest of the world will need to deal with. Piracy is only one facet of this problem. The problem being poverty, uncontrolled armed gangs, food shortages and water shortages. There is also a problem with terrorism using this method to fund themselves..

One thing to watch out for is escalation of weapons and tactics used by the pirates.

Convoy routes are another option. Ships have to pass through Suez in convoy. This could be extended at the exit of the Red Sea. Any enemy man of war (read Pirate) approaching a convoy should be immediately attacked