World News and Trends: British armed forces in serious straits
"Britain's armed forces are facing an unprecedented financial crisis, with the prospect of across-the-board cuts that could threaten future military operations."
This was the assessment of The Guardian (Oct. 28, 2003). A further report by The Sunday Telegraph revealed that "the Army's armoured regiments had been left crippled by the Iraqi war with only half its battle tanks capable of operational service" (Nov. 30, 2003).
Soon afterwards, in mid-December, the British government, seeking to solve these knotty problems, published a strategic white paper. The government's aim is to restructure the military with one third of British Challenger II tanks to be mothballed along with the jettisoning of certain types of aircraft. Royal Navy equipment also faced curtailment.
But according to noted author/editor Max Hastings, the main troubles do not revolve around Iraq or some notorious equipment distribution problems during the Iraqi campaign and its aftermath. He recently wrote: "The real issues—which amount to a major scandal—concern the continuing funding of the armed forces, amid a grievous current spending gap which the treasury has no intention of filling; and weapons programmes for the next generation, costing tens of billions of pounds.
"The National Audit Office revealed last month that the biggest projects are over £3 billion over budget. Some of these contracts are for systems as relevant as a fleet of dreadnoughts [battleships]. Foremost is the Eurofighter ... This aircraft is a cold war interceptor for which no conceivable rationale any longer exists" (The Spectator, Feb. 7, emphasis added). (Sources: The Independent, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Spectator [all London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: March - April 2004
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
