Tuesday 3 February 2015

But its always been like that

I once knew a man who was libertarian to say the least, he would always think of way in which the Government could cut spending and influence. But he was a strong supporter of the military, he thought that next to education, Defence should be the highest expenditure of the government. This was back in 2009 when the war in Afghanistan was at its most deadly. He did say one thing that was shocking, "We should get rid of Navy,Army,and the RAF and just have one unitary Armed forces" 

Now being the child of two RAF officers and having strong family connections to the military I thought he was stupid and laughed him off. But I thought about it recently after hearing that members of each force work in and around members of other forces. For example they have Navy helicopters based at RAF stations. On paper it is a brilliant idea, one place does standard basic military training for either officer or Junior ranks. After that they can go on to their trade training. You don't need multiples of the same units with different badges, Examples being Military police, Helicopter Pilot, Chef, and Administrators. 

In theory this would be a great idea, you would save millions in defence spending, but in practice this is horrible! Our military is older than most countries and has many traditions which people have died to protect, so the idea of doing drastic changes to an establishment that is built on their identities, would put the countries defence at risk.

But this should not be the case for everything, although tradition is important it can also hinder progress. This happens in redevelopment of cites and towns. The town I grew up in, Newcastle-under-lyme had the potential to be a profitable town, but due to the councils inability to adapt to change, they kept refusing building plans for new houses or shopping centre. They kept thinking that people liked the "classic" high street, this was in the time when Amazon and online shopping was kicking off. 
This has lead to the high street of Newcastle becoming baron with only charity shops and a McDonalds, and people leaving in flood (I'm and example) 



I often think that if it wasn't for the IRA's bombings of Manchester, they would have left the Arndale the way it was until this day. But not its a nice area which is always packed! Im not talking about tearing down historic buildings for the pursuit of capitalism, what I am saying is that we should be able to mix heritage with modern ways of thinking. People will always be scared of change, but change is needed to be able to glorify the past.


P.S But to any Council office if you do approve a huge development please make sure you have made enough car park spaces and big enough roads. Most families have more than one car and people still drive and always will! 

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