Continuing the spy news story from a few days ago, I heard today that I'd been on one of the three planes that had been discovered to be involved in the recent Polonium-210 investigation.
And sure enough, I later received an email listing me as a passenger.
As it happens, my trip to Dusseldorf on the date specified had been cancelled, so fortunately there was no need for me to be concerned. And indeed, all three planes have now been given a clean bill of health, so hopefully that particular aspect of the recent alert is now over.
But Tony Blair is keeping nuclear weaponry in the public eye, planning to spend between £15bn and £20bn on new submarines to carry Trident missiles. These submarines are reported to take 17 years to develop and build, and would last until about 2050. Now I checked on the current Trident programme and guess what? its lifespan is 30-years due to end in 2024.
So, wait...if the programme started today, the new submarines will be ready one year before the end of the lifespan of the things they are supposed to carry. A great dyslexic move would be to keep the missiles until 2042 instead and maybe give them a makeover.
As a small illustration, here's a 30 year old British car; if one could still be found, maybe it could be made into a fully 21st Century compliant vehicle.
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