"charles" wrote in message
...
In article , Brian Watson
wrote:

"Alistair Gunn" wrote in message
. ..

People are always claiming that the UK Tridents can't be fired without
the USA authorisation (or even that only the USA controls them), but
they never seem to be able to provide any evidence for this (or any
evidence as to why the UK would be foolish enough to sign up to such a
deal).

Might be something to do with incurring HUGE debts to the US during WW1
and the rematch between 1939 and '45.

No. We just paid off the last of that debt earlier this year/end of last.

Only for WW2 - "we" are keeping very quiet about the owings for WW1.

:-\

--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."

"Alistair Gunn" wrote in message
. ..
In uk.railway Brian Watson twisted the electrons to say:
...and why we are supposed to be getting another round of Merkin missiles
stationed here soon.
(No pretence as to them being OUR missiles this time)

There's a slight difference between a SLBM with a "bucket of instant
sunshine" on the front end, and a hard-kill ABM though. It's not like
the USA is suggesting that they (re)install something like Thor.

Oh, that's allright then.

:-((

--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."

"Arthur Figgis" wrote in message
...
John Rowland wrote:
Brian Watson wrote:
"Alistair Gunn" wrote in message
. ..

People are always claiming that the UK Tridents can't be fired
without the USA authorisation (or even that only the USA controls
them), but they never seem to be able to provide any evidence for
this (or any evidence as to why the UK would be foolish enough to
sign up to such a deal).
Might be something to do with incurring HUGE debts to the US during
WW1 and the rematch between 1939 and '45.

Those debts were paid off in December.

Only the WWII-related ones. We still (now largely theoretically) owe the
USA money from Round One, but we are owed rather more money by other
countries than we ourselves owe. The various debts were all pretty much
put to one side during the depression between the wars, except for Finland
who paid up their bit.

While there are various books on how the west would have dealt with a
Soviet attack and the resulting WWIII, has anyone looking into the other
angle, and what the USSR thought the evil capitalist imperialists would do
when they launched an attack on the workers of the eastern bloc?
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Case in point. I had an East German visitor staying here for a while after
the Wall came down. He had been a tank driver in the East German army during
the 80's and I asked him what he thought about it all. He, and his thousands
of similarly engaged compatriots, were sitting there in their massed tanks
waiting for the NATO forces to come pounding eastwards across the German/
German border. I mentioned that we rather thought that it might be the other
way round. He appeared genuinely astounded to hear this.

In message , Nick Pedley
writes
Something like this website shows? http://www.clouse.org/capitol1.html
No. The photo I had was of a little car capable of carrying about two
people, not enclosed, in a square tunnel and suspended from the ceiling,
if that makes any sense. Looking at the Metro map though reminds me of
where I stayed whilst there (At Crystal).
--
Clive.

In message , Andrew Clark
writes
That would have been done long before, when the lines were shut to the
public.

You see, I think you have in mind some sort of orderly gradual
transition from normality to emergency, when the government announces a
problem and TfL responds by ordering all the LT staff to clear the
system of rolling stock, and generally closes it all down neatly.

A good example of this was 7/7. Trains were abandoned all over the
network. It was a day or two before they'd all been rounded up and put
in their respective depots.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 15:39:43 on
Sat, 24 Feb 2007, David Hansen

Nice try. However, people could walk, as they have done before in
London and New York.

In the absence of road blocks, which seem to be one of the measures
mentioned as a way to stop an exodus. I agree, in the circumstances I'd
walk too, but home is over 100 miles from London, and many opportunities
to be stopped on the way.

If the entire police force of a county can't stop a couple of hundred
ravers from getting together in one place to have a party (a confrontation
which still happens in most counties most weekends), I'm not sure how even
the police+army is going to stop millions of people from leaving London.

They may stop a few million if they shoot on sight to kill and use our
own WMD stockpiles, but what about the hundreds of thousands who just
won't be in the wrong place at the wrong time ? And how many police
will be left behind to keep peace in the rest of the nation ?

There's an interesting article on this sort of mass epidemiology in
this week's New Scientist by the way - focussing on using online sites
like World of Warcraft and their famous blood plague to test genuine
public reactions.

Nick
--
http://www.leverton.org/ ... So express yourself

Bill Again wrote:
"Arthur Figgis" wrote in message
...
John Rowland wrote:
Brian Watson wrote:
"Alistair Gunn" wrote in message
. ..

People are always claiming that the UK Tridents can't be fired
without the USA authorisation (or even that only the USA controls
them), but they never seem to be able to provide any evidence for
this (or any evidence as to why the UK would be foolish enough to
sign up to such a deal).
Might be something to do with incurring HUGE debts to the US during
WW1 and the rematch between 1939 and '45.

Those debts were paid off in December.

Only the WWII-related ones. We still (now largely theoretically) owe
the USA money from Round One, but we are owed rather more money by
other countries than we ourselves owe. The various debts were all
pretty much put to one side during the depression between the wars,
except for Finland who paid up their bit.

While there are various books on how the west would have dealt with a
Soviet attack and the resulting WWIII, has anyone looking into the
other angle, and what the USSR thought the evil capitalist
imperialists would do when they launched an attack on the workers of
the eastern bloc?
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Case in point. I had an East German visitor staying here for a while
after the Wall came down. He had been a tank driver in the East German
army during the 80's and I asked him what he thought about it all. He,
and his thousands of similarly engaged compatriots, were sitting there
in their massed tanks waiting for the NATO forces to come pounding
eastwards across the German/ German border. I mentioned that we rather
thought that it might be the other way round. He appeared genuinely
astounded to hear this.

(Hello, wot you doing here?!)

That is what I was thinking. What did Ivan think we would do?

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In message , at 17:20:39 on Sat,
24 Feb 2007, Andrew Clark
remarked:

Can you explain why the many references to battery locos have escaped your
attention?

Not all the rolling stock is battery operated, is it? I was referring to the
everyday clutter of hundreds of trains using the system.

And I the special evacuation train.

That would have been done long before, when the lines were shut to the
public.

You see, I think you have in mind some sort of orderly gradual transition
from normality to emergency,

Gradual enough, yes.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 17:27:09 on
Sat, 24 Feb 2007, Bruce Varney remarked:
And who would clear the rolling stock, precisely? The Royal Household?

That would have been done long before, when the lines were shut to the
public.

How?

You close the station gates at street level, then run all the trains to
the depot.
--
Roland Perry

In message ,
writes
He's an economic migrant, isn't he?

Or was it just an arranged marriage?


Either way, I suppose he wouldn't be allowed in now :-)
He should be allowed in, Greece is in the EU isn't it?
--
Clive.