Far be it for your humble correspondent set out, in something approaching a coherent argument, the advantages of ballistic missile shields, I thought this morning dear readers we would just review, very briefly some of the advantages of the aforementioned weapons systems if for no other reason, than they are back in the news again.

Firstly, lets be clear – THEY DON’T WORK – however since when has a system actually been required to be working before billions of dollars/pounds are poured into it? Anyone for Bowman?

A textbook study of poor procurement the Bowman radio system takes some beating. The system was supposed to be in service back in the early 1990s. Its cost was going to be £1.9bn, which then escalated to £2.4bn. Five years after the contract had been re-tendered to a new consortium in 2000, the Director of Infantry was still reportedly said to have told his staff he had been forced to accept it with all its faults "for political reasons". On some settings, the user was getting radiation burns. The set weighs 15lbs, three times the weight of its 1960s predecessor, the Clansman. It can’t work in anything armoured. It breaks Land Rover axles. And a store of them overheated and burned down a barracks.

Lets be honest here, half of the stuff that supposedly won the Cold War never worked … nor will it. That’s not the point. The opposition bankrupted themselves building their own non-working weapons systems to try & keep up with our non working weapons systems. This is how bloated capitalists wage war – same spending programmes but with greater shareholder returns. Don’t believe me ? Worried about the direction of The War of Terror? Then you should be buying Halliburton or BAe stock.