Key Election Issues: The Deterrent & Immigration

I think it would be helpful to get some quick facts straight on these two big issues. Nonsense is flying about suggesting unwillingness of politicians to be frank and big misunderstandings among voters.

The Deterrent  

Trident is just that. It is not a viable weapon which you can use to keep us safe. If Corbyn or anyone else were called upon to fire it, you and most everybody else will already be dead. Each Trident submarine commander has in his on board safe orders in the form of a letter signed by the prime minister of the day authorizing him, if he judges it fit, to launch his missiles, in the event that contact with London is lost meaning not only has the capital, and most other cities, been wiped out, but so have the deep bunkers beneath them. The deterrent has failed if it has to be fired. Revenge could be the only motive, ensuring that any who thought it fun to start a nuclear war would themselves  be fried in the revenge counter strike. And the reason it deters is because that revenge strike is in the hands not of the government but the Trident boat captain.

So obsessing about whether Corbyn would ‘press the red button’ as hysterical rednecks demand, is as futile and inept as asking the man if, when prime minister, he would be willing to do a rain dance in the Downing Street garden in the event of a drought.

Immigration

The greatest threat to the long term economic stability and well being of the United Kingdom is the fact that old people are multiplying faster than young ones and eventually, if the trend continues, the burden  borne by earners of the cost of the non earners will not only shrink the economy but it will also bankrupt it. The solution is to quickly multiply the earners through immigration, especially of those with qualifications and skills, so that the balance between earners and non earners remains economically viable and socially fair. It is a fact that it is immigration which is responsible for such economic growth as we have seen since 2010. Without the immigrants we would be in quite a deep depression.

It is certainly right to end austerity so as to create the services and infrastructure for a rising population and it is also necessary to do some serious work on the quality and relevance of the qualifications and skills which our education systems produce, so that we are less dependent on new people coming in. But even if we do that we have to push on towards the projected 80 million in order to keep both the people prosperous and the economy sustainable.

So if you are among those who clamour for immigration to be cut to this elusive 100,000 or perhaps even nil, carry on do. But when you get old and needy, be prepared to look after yourself, with your own money. Something for you to look forward to.