Everybody's favourite geezer at the moment..yes its none other than Defence Minister Philip Hammond, he announced his cuts yesterday in the House and then did the rounds of the TV studios in an effort to justify it all. A fifth of the army is to go...20%, the same number of police are to be axed also...this goverment has a thing about 20%. And cares little for long service or loyalty.
Some talking head on Sky News last night drew attention to the fact that you can now fit the entire armed forces inside Wembley Stadium.
A chilling thought...does the world look safer to you? Is this the time to be cutting back on such a grand scale?
But now they want an army on the cheap. 30,000 reservists were mentioned. These are part time soldiers but the real clever or sneaky bit, depending on your point of view, is that private business pay for it without it seems having little choice. If you are a small business and you have a reservist in your ranks then you may lose than man/woman for up to a year at any given time.
What small business or medium business can do that. None. You would have to replace that man or function below par. In a small business every individual usually plays a vital role. Larger companies may be able to lose a guy here or there but not small to medium ones. As was said last night...the reservist aspect has not been thought through fully.