Times are changing

By Jason Moore THE recent decision by the British government to order two giant new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy shows just how much the Labour Party and to a lesser extent the world has changed in the last 40 years. It was a Labour government in 1966 who decided that the Royal Navy would no longer have aircraft carriers, a decision which caused plenty of controversy. There was such opposition to aircraft carriers within the government that the small Invincible class light carriers were called through-deck cruisers when they were ordered in the 1970s. These vessels went on to play a key role in the Falklands but it must be remembered that if the Royal Navy had been equipped with larger aircraft carriers, similar to the ones ordered by the government this month, the Falklands conflict would have proved far easier for the Royal Navy. But now Gordon Brown has decided that the Royal Navy will once again be equipped with large, potent vessels which will be built in Britain. Times have certainly changed. The Royal Navy will shortly be taking delivery of six new state of the art destroyers, new submarines and then the aircraft carriers. Once these new vessels join the fleet the Royal Navy will once again be a formidable force and up there with the best in the world.