Sir, – Whilst Ric Cheadle (Letters to the Editor, August 2018) was gracing the upper floors of Ripley Block, the undersigned was a Management Planner inhabiting the former stables in the basement where word of his altercation with 2SL penetrated the stygian gloom of these dungeons. Equally taken by Ric’s analysis, I have kept the figure work going and, as will be seen from the graph below, the strength of the Naval Service continues its downward descent at 2.25 per cent per year from the 1950 start point. Looking forward, and as demonstrated in the second graph, the Service will be forced to m…
