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I don't think the UK military has ever operated on the basis of "endlessly deep pockets" e.g. At one point the PM relied on using AA phone boxes and reverse cha

I don't think the UK military has ever operated on the basis of "endlessly deep pockets" e.g. At one point the PM relied on using AA phone boxes and reverse charges calls to launch the V bombers: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/08/britains-bizarre-cold-war-nuclear-plan-involved-aa-telephone/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/08/britains-bizarre... Edit: Mind you, the hand written "letters of last resort" and regarding not being able to receive Radio 4 as indicating the end of civilisation as we know it do have a certain charm.

fifilura 2y ago
I can not read the article, but maybe this was by design. They expected the telephone boxes to be more resilient than building a custom system. Either way - what did the V bomber program cost?
timthorn 2y ago
It wasn't the AA phone boxes but their radio network. From the article: > Whitehall arranged for the prime minister’s car to have a radio link – with which the AA used to communicate with its mechanics – that would tell the driver that he needed to reach a public phone box, from which Macmillan would call Whitehall. It was suggested that government drivers carried four pennies, as that was the minimum sum needed in a GPO phone box. I once heard a Radio 4 programme about the letters of last resort, where a senior military figure described the responsibility on a PM's shoulders whilst writing them as "Awesome, with a capital F"
qingcharles 2y ago
How very British to use a system like this. I think it's just in our bones from a lifetime of scrappy existence. I always think of this: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/make-do-and-mend-0 https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/make-do-and-mend-0
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  Thats's a great site, thanks for the link! I'm chuffed to learn from it about IncSoc: > The Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc) was founded in 1942 to represent the collective interests of the fashion industry in Britain, promote exports and develop standards of design. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affected-fashion-in-the-second-world-war https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affecte... Not to be confused with IngSoc, coined in 1949: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_geography_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Oceania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_geography_of_Ninetee...

fifilura 2y ago

I can not read the article, but maybe this was by design. They expected the telephone boxes to be more resilient than building a custom system. Either way - what did the V bomber program cost?

timthorn 2y ago

It wasn't the AA phone boxes but their radio network. From the article: > Whitehall arranged for the prime minister’s car to have a radio link – with which the AA used to communicate with its mechanics – that would tell the driver that he needed to reach a public phone box, from which Macmillan would call Whitehall. It was suggested that government drivers carried four pennies, as that was the minimum sum needed in a GPO phone box. I once heard a Radio 4 programme about the letters of last resort, where a senior military figure described the responsibility on a PM's shoulders whilst writing them as "Awesome, with a capital F"

qingcharles 2y ago

How very British to use a system like this. I think it's just in our bones from a lifetime of scrappy existence. I always think of this: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/make-do-and-mend-0 https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/make-do-and-mend-0

aspenmayer 2y ago
Thats's a great site, thanks for the link! I'm chuffed to learn from it about IncSoc: > The Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (IncSoc) was founded in 1942 to represent the collective interests of the fashion industry in Britain, promote exports and develop standards of design. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affected-fashion-in-the-second-world-war https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affecte... Not to be confused with IngSoc, coined in 1949: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_geography_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Oceania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_geography_of_Ninetee...