Very possibly Curtis Le May!?

FB

History repeating itself? I have mentioned elsewhere the similarities between the activities of Cummings, today, and Lord Esher prior to, and throughout, the Great War. The import of Esher's activities will not be unknown to a student of political history, such as Cummings, and the 'power without accountability' aspect would be immensely appealing. The lack of clear leadership in the squabbling pack of Asquith, LLoyd George et al, allowed Esher to influence by stealth. The unsavoury activities in Political and Diplomatic circles made Service leaders into targets by self-seeking groups. I have mentioned previously that I consider Cummings to be dangerous. I can see no reason to alter that view.

It seems to me that the very same people who constantly criticise just about every MoD policy and procurement programme for the past 50 years are now apoplectic that the government is actually trying to do something about it. I have no doubt that whatever decisions and changes are made will outrage some and please others, but at present you have no idea what they may be. The childish name-calling and conspiracy theories just make you sound a bit unhinged.

...as opposed to 'classic Dom' who seems to have an over inflated sense of his own importance? Changing his blog to pretend he predicted a pandemic? The patent bull***t surrounding his epic drive to Durham? His belief that everybody else is stuck in the dark ages? You know the sort of guy - new broom, change everything, I'm right you're wrong, don't do as I do, do as I say?

Procurement undoubtedly needs a pull through but thats a subject on its own, not as straightforward as awarding ferry contracts to companies with no ships or millions of poundsworth of PPE contracts to companies with no parliamentary oversight. He's a shyster with an ulterior motive which is not 'the good of the country'.

Video Mixdown

Indeed. Well said.

What I'd like to see Mr Cummings ask: 'What would have prevented (Project X) being a disaster?' This is a military aviation forum, so let's just say Nimrod and Chinook HC Mk3. (Around £5Bn wasted at the time, plus loss of capability).

I'd be astonished if anyone in MoD Main Building told him the truth... 'We should have implemented mandated regulations'.

He could then head down the M4 and ask the same question at AbbeyWood. Someone brave enough, and with nothing to lose, might say the same; but I doubt it.

Mr Cummings might think 'This isn't so difficult', and he'd be right.

He might then ask the question a different way. 'Why is it that more complex programmes, at the same time, were delivered to time, cost and performance, or better?'

There are few, if any, left who could tell him the truth, but it's in the Post Project Evaluation reports. 'We ignored directives, and implemented mandated policy'.

Where he, and the Government, need to be really brave is to recognise these truths, and sod hurting the feelings of the retired officers and officials responsible. The real problem he might face is that some of the politicians who knew the truth, in advance of the failures, still sit on Defence committees; or at least are still MPs or now Lords.

Am I really the first person to recognise the brilliance of that post title ? :D

If I wanted to understand the effectiveness of MoD procurement in detail, I would go to the end users, not the people whose jobs depended it continuing the way it is today.

Two's In

In the UK MoD, there is a formal route by which the Services, specifically the end user (at squadron level, in aviation), may influence the acquistion process, and what is procured. It doesn't always work, but that is for them to address at the most senior levels. Procurement priorities are set exclusively by the Services, except when there is a political overrule. When you read people complaining about 'procurement' here, in the media and in Government, they seldom realise they're usually complaining about shortfalls/failures within the Services.

Fonsini - no! I had a chuckle when I saw it too. Might say alot about me but as you say, brilliant.

Anything that changes the excessive cost of military equipment should be welcomed. We all know the saying that the equivalent civilian item has two zeros added to the price.

If we want an effective Military in the coming years, something has to change. Especially as the country will be mortgaged to the hilt following the Covid-19 costs.

Article in The Times:-
Cummings to tour the MoD with Major Fabrication and Colonel Oftruth

Article intro:-
Worth a read!

Is anyone? :uhoh: Especially if all 3 kick off at once ....

"Are the RAF fit for China/ Korea/ Middle East?" I cannot see any reasonable scenario where the RAF would get involved with China or Korea - remember in 1950 they didn't participate (tho some of their pilots did).

Middle east? Unlikely to be a major set too - just the usual, ongoing punishment bombings, taking out individuals and the occasional fire fight so yes - doable

I've no confidence in Cummings doing anything but buggering up the UK military posture. I fear he has the "time for techno revolution, and it'll be much cheaper!" philosophy. UK conventional forces have no depth at all. Its been said that the Army will be lucky to retain one Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. We'll get a 'less means more' argument for sure to justify what will be a straight forward expenditure raid. The fig leaf on this occasion will be Cummings' Cyber/AI/Space defence revolution. All vital indeed, but dangerous to apply a binary shift away from conventional defence, what scraps remain.

FB

Countdown begins

Seeing as all of those items are paid for at personal expense to the individual that wishes to wear them, then why on earth would any of it matter to DC? It’s the crazy waste elsewhere of public funds that he is after - infra costs, equipment procurement, red-tape, use of people in uniform that have no significant combat or combat-support role, PFI contracts and parochialism are some of his targets. From your outburst are you feeling a bit threatened by his expected areas of digging? :E

We’re on the same page, I welcome his attention as the military does not need a single extra penny, it needs to cut the waste.
An air brick in a room that allows airflow, which stops mould and the expense of cleaning and repainting each year, central Messing, installation of solar, and I could go on.
You are so right about paying for those items, and they’re important, because they say a lot about the pride of the individual wearing them, but I don’t think mine was an outburst, chum, as much as yours was not a tantrum.
Absolutely zero of what he does will have an impact on me, but I agree with his type of character looking at you.

Shed a few VSO positions as well - all those Admirals!!!