I see that the newly painted display Typhoon is referred to as "Blackjack".

Taking bets now as to how long it takes before someone takes offence and it has to be renamed.
Post suggestions for alternates below...

It`s a generation thing I would think, we have to move with the times. That said, sometimes that makes doing the job that much more difficult, when priorities become less distinct.

it’s already been kicked off Coningsby ;) it’s weekending at EGNX as it has a show to do and the RAF is closed on the weekend, but don’t tell the Russians :E it even brought a friend along as a spare.

Dont worry, as someone who is currently serving, I can still distinguish what are my priorities. As can my colleagues.

Being a bit of a Dinosaur I obviously need educating, I'd got my head round the Lettuce, Gherkin, Bacon and Tomato bit of the acronym but surely using the word 'Queer' causes mass hysteria in HR departments and prompts letters from 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' to The Guardian? I get the 'Intersex' bit though because unless we're celibate we're all into sex aren't we..............I'll get my coat:)

And of course..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...tland-57358762

Whats the difference between a skirt and a kilt? Scotspersons have been going to war for centuries dressed in non-binary clothing.

There is a level of absurdity to this debate that I am having trouble coming to grips with.
I am aware that some serving Officers have commented and are generally supportive.
I respect that.
But here in Australia the 900 lb gorilla is China.
And they don’t give a sh#t what the rest of the world thinks.
They are restoring themselves to what they see as their rightful place in the world after 200 years of humiliation.
The impression that these sort of debates leave is simply a lack of seriousness.
Perhaps what we used to call “The West” should concede that its time is past.
The future belongs to China.

What TWFlyboy said.. Recently the Australian Minister responsible for Defiance told the Chiefs to tell the boys and giirls to get on with the business of preparing for defending the nation and drop the fancy dress morning teas. What a novel idea!!

Perhaps this comment attributed to the Ruler of Dubai
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....82f6b3da98.png
is relevant.

China is doing this on the back of the cash the rest of the world pumps into it, and are reliant on the rest of the world to prop it up.

Just like the future belonged to the1000 year Reich and the USSR. Both made the mistake of thinking that the "West" was just a decadent. hedonistic house of cards and that strong dictatorships could shape the world to their will. The funny thing is that the "West" is exactly that but if you threaten it with a dictatorial way of life then it will unite and bring its considerable forces against you. China is no different and the way it is going it will relearn the lessons of past totalitarian regimes.

Nope.
The will to enforce Western values is gone.
Ask anybody under 30 about WW2 , the Great Leap Forward , Cold War etc. etc you will get a blank look.
Its finished.
Our place in the sun is time expired.
The Chinese have more purpose, endeavour and confidence in their place in the world.
Napoleon was right. When they rise they will shake the world.
Better get used to it.

"Ask anybody under 30 about WW2 , the Great Leap Forward , Cold War etc. etc you will get a blank look."

My mother always said the same thing - but admitted she's been totally wrong when the Falklands War took place...............

There is no challenge - or no challenge that the vast majority see - China has maybe 15 years before the rising number of old people become a real burden, their people consume "Western" products and values at an alarming rate - so much that their Govt continually tries to block Western Media. I don't see anyone in the west or the developing world desperately worshiping President Xi and the CPChina. You don't see refugees dreaming of living in China (except from the DRNK) - we've won without fighting (so far)

Whilst the comments attributed to Sheikh Mohammed are relevant to this discussion, it seems likely (attributed to other sources) that he did not say this in one interview. The alleged quotes were put together on Facebook and then spread around the world on social media….a little bit like something else at the moment.

One interview or a dozen.....the question is he right or not?

Focus upon the issues he raised and not the irrelevant and frivolous that you did.

Is Western Society doomed to go the way of the Buffalo and Dinosaur?

As for the Scottish schoolboys wearing skirts in protest at not being allowed to wear shorts in the hot weather we had the opposite problem when I was a boy, shorts were uniform all year round. Ok in the summer but could be a mite chilly in winter especially in the snow. Maybe we should have worn long skirts to keep our legs warm? Except that there was little tolerance for that kind of thing in those days!

Something I’ve noticed here in the UK is the gulf between the stances of the governing party and the civil service on this issue. The equalities minister and her deputy have made robust interventions against gender self-identification and the critical studies agenda, have scrapped ‘unconscious bias’ training as being unproven and possibly counterproductive, and are in the process of banning public agencies from subscribing to Stonewall’s employer scheme. Yet the upper echelons of the civil service are bought into the agenda to such a degree that there has been no visible change despite the political direction being clear. And senior military officers fall over themselves to impress the key senior civil servants due to their influence over appointments.

It is a performative nonsense at the moment. One 2* has gone so far as to mandate the use of personal pronouns in signature blocks, despite this being *against* Stonewall guidance as it could force closeted trans people to uncloset themselves before they’re ready. I think it will eventually need explicit ministerial direction to moderate the approach being taken across the whole of Whitehall. Even Tony Blair recently commented that he is increasingly unsure of what it is and isn’t OK to say any more. You can see a reckoning coming in the increasing media chatter about the proportion of young people going to university. On the face of it it’s about the utility of their qualifications versus their debt burden, but unspoken is the question of why the Conservatives would continue to push students into the tender care of an academic sector obsessed with critical studies and so make their electoral hurdle ever higher? Progressive complaints of a “culture war” are down to them being aggrieved that the other side has finally started to push back…

So very true!

The wisdom of the Old Bull to the Young Bull as they stood on a hillside looking down on the herd of Cows seems lost on the Radical Left these days.

The are going to far....too fast....and that is going to be their un-doing.

Sorry, but I don’t see the problem. Changing the names of the ranks to be inclusive is a problem how? Other than “tradition” which is a bigger problem than most things. Quite a few countries can do it. Corporal, private, sergeant etc…. It does seem it is a particularly British obsession to have male connotations for rank.

Ok, I’ll be a little more blunt for you. Online sources who check quotes and misinformation “allege” this conversation was made up by an attention seeking journalist. Is that frivolous enough for you?