Nimrod crash

The tragic news that 14 British military personnel have been killed as a result of an RAF Nimrod crash is another shocking blow. If initial reports are correct and this crash resulted from a technical failure it is another appalling reminder that British service personnel are losing their lives as a result of faulty equipment.

That Des Browne, the worlds first stealth enabled defence secretary (invisible), can claim that Britain's Afghan deployment is properly resourced is an utter outrage.

If we are not prepared to properly equip and support our armed services they should not be deployed at all. It is not as if we have been caught by a surprise attack and have to fight with any means at our disposal in defence of our homeland. This Afghan conflict has been 'opted in to' and the deployment made with plenty of preparation time. There is therefore no excuse for under resourced operations.