The main problem I have with this repainting cost is the hypocrisy. For 10 years we have been told that there isn't any money for anything and that we have to "fix the roof whilst the sun is shining". On top of this paint job we have the wasted £12mil spent on the contact tracing app which they were warned would not work without Apple's and Google's help and it didn't. How much did the panic building of ventilators cost or the anti-malarial drugs?
I've been regularly writing to my MP for the last 6 years asking for more spending, this isn't quite what I had in mind.
I asked for infrastructure spending, NHS spending - interest rates were low, money cheap and it would boost the economy plus we would have something to show for it. After 10 years of austerity we have a flag on the back of an aircraft. Woohoo!
The next problem I have is connected to the Conservative's view of our world status. I don't think many, if any, countries look to the UK as a leader in finance, technical achievement, science, military prowess, sport or political leadership. Yes, we are on the UN security council but it's based on past glory. Yet we strut around as if we are still a world power - we build aircraft carriers and then don't have enough planes to equip them (the Americans will be sharing the carrier) but what is a carrier for? It is to project your country's force around the world - what force, where? Remember the last Libyan fiasco that Cameron got us into when we sent a frigate with only 4 missiles? (and they're fired in pairs).
We can't build our own nuclear power stations without French and Chinese help, our high speed trains will be foreign. We casually make threats of consequences against China and Russia but are generally powerless to do anything.
Don't get me wrong, I love this country with all its flaws but it's time we realised we are now a second tier nation and cut our cloth accordingly, there's nothing wrong with that. Painting a Union Flag on the tail of an aircraft is not going to impress anyone and makes the aircraft less useful for its main function ie: as a tanker.
If you've got money to burn buy more PPE, or meals for school kids, not vanity projects.
Your opinion will probably vary but that's ok too.
