[ritchiebaby]

It would seem perfectly clear that the UK's Trident system suffered a major navigational failure last June. Not a mere degree or so, but instead of heading south east, the unarmed missile headed somewhere between west and north towards the USA. Apparently the submarine and crew were "successfully tested", so it must have been the missile system that was faulty. As alluded to in another thread, the USA has elected a fiery, over-reacting President who is perceived to be trigger-happy. Nervous times ahead!

Despite being repeatedly pressed to answer a question about her knowledge of this before a Commons vote on Trident renewal, PM Theresa May not only didn't answer the question, but she totally ignored it. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is to give a statement this afternoon in the House of Commons. Again not to provide clarity or reassurance, but because he is being forced to. I'm not averse to keeping certain details secret because of national security, but this is such a major incident with our national security under greater threat from ourselves than from any perceived enemy. The basic details are going to come out soon anyway, so why do the Tories insist on keeping this under wraps? I certainly won't be able to trust them over anything that is said in future.

I must admit I'm a supporter of the nuclear deterrent which has been successful for over 70 years, which is why there must be no doubts over the reliability of the Trident system. Hopefully a full explanation will be given this afternoon, but I'm not holding my breath.

[0762]

I believe it is strict political protocol not to discuss such delicate security/defence issues and always will be that way - regarded as top secret stuff. I view Trident in the same way as a huge proportion of the Scottish population - outmoded, unnecessary and massively expensive and I want to see it removed from Scottish soil sooner rather than later!! Look at the WW2 video footage of the horrific events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and learn from it!! Some people have but IMO others have learned 'scooby doo' from such a blatant 'war crime' exacted on a civilian population!!! Visit the shrines in these cities and be humbled!! I'm not gonna bother exhausting the same old arguments re Trident renewal that were debated in Scottish referendum year 2014. It's a moral issue and the majority opinion in Scotland is still to rightly 'get rid' and give it back to the people who foisted this WMD on us in the 1st place - they never liked that idea of plonking it somewhere in the south of England and no surprise with that alarmed response from many English quarters!

[ritchiebaby]

0762, that "top secret" excuse is part of my point about being open. The failure is not top secret. It's in the public domain. I don't want any great detail about the incident - just an admission that it happened and that the appropriate steps have already been taken to address the issue and solve the problem. Obviously that last part might be a total fabrication, but at least they could then be held to account - maybe that's the real reason they're not keen to do it.

Times have moved on swiftly in the 21st century with Wikileaks, etc and there is more and more previously confidential information being made available by insiders and hackers.

I would also add that in my opinion, millions perhaps even billions of people have seen the videos and learned the lesson, which is why there have been no further nuclear bombings.

[0762]

That last line, the deterrent one, is still an opinion and a hypothetical one at that!! The alternative one is just as convincing and, as said previously, millions of people within the Scottish population have listened to the jobs argument (?????) and the traditional deterrent one - they are unmoved by this opinion and indeed want Trident removed as times have moved on as well!
Also the Defence Secretary reveals zilch as previously suggested - no surprise on that one and it just adds 'ammunition' to political and indigenous opponents of Trident to pour scorn and distrust on the shameless people who are running this WMD project on Scottish soil! An eventual £120B to be spent on this WMD project - what a joke!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38714047

[hibeejim21]

The key thing here to remember is that may and cameron knew about this prior to the vote in the commons. Sorry but that is terribly dishonest.

There was actually no reason not to say the missile malfunctioned. Whats happened is the default position of this bunch of arseholes to cover up anything that doesn`t show them in a good light.

This is an incredibly secretive government,their incompetence is prevalent. I predict there`s gonna be a lot more of these scenarios before cruella gets the shove.

[0762]

Shameless is my 'key word' to describe these people Jim. I used it often enough in the lead up to referendum day on 18 Sept 2014. The same crass behaviour prevails and these dishonourable ##### never disappear!!!! The same applies to the RW press who similarly believe this is normal behaviour by their standards and support these #####! Some day we'll bring the lotta them down like a 'collapsed stack of playing cards' when more n more British people see through their shit politics and motives! Sadly that time has not arrived yet!

[ritchiebaby]

0762, the fact is that in the last 70 years no deaths have been caused by nuclear attack. It's not just an opinion, it's statistically proven. Besides, unfortunately in my opinion, you can't uninvent nuclear missiles and the UK not having Trident will not make us immune from nuclear attack from another country.

[0762]

From a Scottish viewpoint, we have no 'great enemies' that are gonna fire a nuclear missile at us and never have had! Being attached to a historically aggressive UK neighbour and major ordnance and arms provider/player called England has never helped Scotland's cause and being landed with a WMD 'on our doorstep' is absolutely unacceptable as most folk in our small country have finally realised!! I've listened to the 'deterrent argument' for years and just 'don't buy it' from a Scottish perspective - it's been historically foisted upon our country and the great reluctance to remove/relocate, with all these billions of quid that the UK gov is so willing to 'throw at it's renewal', is so contemptuous (and obscene during a long period of austerity!!!) but we're dealing with shameless people as previously described.