Muammar Al Khadafi

After much speculation, BAE Systems has announced that it is to cut nearly 3,000 jobs in the UK.

Most of the losses will be concentrated in its military aircraft division, heavily hit by a slowdown in demand and ConDem cuts in defence spending.

BAE employs in the region 40,000 people in the UK, so todays announced job losses represent approximately 7.5% of it's total UK employees.

Worst hit are to be Brough, Warton and Preston, and Samlesbury - losing 899, 843, and 565 jobs respectively.

Brough, in East Yorkshire, has a workforce of approximately 1,300 so is shedding close on 70% of its workforce.

The South West fares slightly better in total jobs to be lost, but does not escape unscathed.

132 jobs are to go at Yeovil, 74 at Filton, and 51 in Christchurch.

A statement from union Unite said that "The government cannot sit on its hands and allow these highly skilled jobs to disappear."

Isn't that exactly what successive governments have been doing one way or another for a long time?

We're bleeding jobs, importing workers, sending important contracts abroad, and government does nothing except insist that cutbacks are needed, and that we have to get the best value for the taxpayer via a free for all market even when it is evident we are not getting value at all.

Our manufacturing industry has been decimated, and continues to suffer. We've tried to sell off everything we can so that Britain owns nothing. It makes me think of a quote from the news yesterday when a city trader said that "The governments don't rule the world - Goldman Sachs rules the world".

We import foreigners to work whilst our dole queues and benefits spending grow.

We moan about lack of money for defence or NHS whilst we're sending billions abroad each year, on a day when we find out we could be on the hook to the IMF for £100 billion plus to bail out EU economies, we've no constancy or coherency in anything other than in betraying Britain.

Unions and workers should look towards nationalism - it is clear that everyone else has betrayed them, including many union leaders who are just happy to sit tight and grab their piece of the bitter pie made with 4 and 20 betrayals.

For Britain, as we have seen, things are only going to get worse on the usual suspects watch.

We can vote for our own demise, or we can vote for something which at least hasn't proven itself to be fools gold and which offers hope.

Whole regions of the South West face an "ever increasing risk to life" as savage spending cuts bite and job losses continue to mount, leaving fire brigades at breaking point.

Figures, compiled by the Fire Brigades Union, show that numerous full time firefighters have lost their jobs, or simply not been replaced as they retire or leave, across the entire area.

Devon and Somerset have lost 52 posts, Wiltshire 34, Gloucestershire 28, Dorset 22. With even more cutbacks on the way expect these numbers to rise. The Fire Brigades Union has already warned that up to one in ten firefighters are at risk.

Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said that "There will be ever-increasing risk to life, homes, businesses and our cultural and natural heritage as the cuts bite harder year after year"

"The overall pool of resources is being drained away and it will get worse year after year.....We're over-stretched now, and frontline crews are making it clear we’ll be at breaking point when the cuts really bite over the next two years".

Between Labours mismanagement during their tenure in power, and ConDems cutting back everything in sight - other than the things we really should be cutting back on of course - the South West is in a mess.

We're not a Big Society, we'll soon be a Burning Society, sat there desperately hoping someone responds to our 999 call as our home burns down around us.

The coming years will be a nightmare for Britain as ConDem counts every penny, and leaves all of us counting the real cost of their misapplied and misguided cutbacks.