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Lewis Page

Lions, Donkeys And Dinosaurs Paperback – 5 Jan. 2006

by Lewis Page (Author)

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Lewis Page's cover story in "Prospect" on the military's most useless and expensive hardware set off a firestorm of controversy, back pedalling, and accusations. In this irreverent and provocative book, he gives us the full story: how British soldiers are sent off to war with some of the worst guns in the trade, how the MOD keeps financing useless toys (at huge expense to taxpayers), and how decisions seem to be made with an eye, above all, for the interests of British Aerospace. He shows how politicians and the top brass are hopelessly entrenched in yesterday's wars and pouring their talents and energies into making sure that money is wasted right, left and centre. "Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs" does for the military what "Not on the Label" did for supermarkets - it takes us behind the scenes and exposes the real ingredients whipped up in the name of 'defence'.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Heinemann Ltd
Publication date

5 Jan. 2006
Dimensions

15.39 x 2.69 x 23.34 cm
ISBN-10

0434013897
ISBN-13

978-0434013890
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Product description

Review

'A Fast Food Nation for the armed forces. It is very unlikely that anything
this entertaining or important will be written on military matters this
year. It deserves to be a bestseller, and perhaps it will be if red-faced
civil servants are sent out to buy up every copy before the public can get
their hands on it.' -- Independent

'Devastating..In my own recent book on modern follies I suggested that
derfence procurement policy was so corrupt that only a satirist could do it
justice. Page is that satirist.' -- Francis Wheen, Daily Express

'He writes with force and wit. Page's book deserves attention. Offers a
guide to the armed forces and their problems which anybody who cares about
them should read. Page does a splendid job of sharpening axes.' -- Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher

A short polemic on the curious ways of the British military - examining its habitat, mating rituals and scandalous procurement practices - by a brilliant young former Naval Officer. With a preface by Harold Evans (legendary editor of the Sunday Times)

From the Back Cover

Lewis Page's cover story in Prospect on the military's most useless and expensive hardware set off a firestorm of controversy, back pedaling, and accusations and saw him invited on the Today Programme and Channel 4. In this irreverent and provocative book, he gives us the full story: how British soldiers are sent off to war with some of the worst guns in the trade, how the MOD keeps financing useless toys (at huge expense to taxpayers) and how decisions seem to be made with an eye, above all, for the interests of British Aerospace. He shows how politicians and the top brass are pouring their talents and energies into making sure that money is wasted right, left and centre.

Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs does for the military what Not on the Label did for supermarkets - it takes us behind the scenes and exposes the real ingredients whipped up in the name of defence. Read this book and you will never look at a Hercules in the same way again.
Lewis Page began his military career as a reservist pilot in the Cambridge University Air Squadron. He grew disenchanted with the RAF and ended up in the Navy, where he became a mine clearance diver. After eight years at sea, mostly in very bad weather, he was put in charge of the Plymouth diving and bomb disposal team and trawled the British coastline from Swanage to Liverpool neutralizing 'improvised Explosive Devices' and searching for unexploded ordnance. As such, he is one of the few in the British forces to have actually seen and dealt with 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', although irritatingly these were of British manufacture. During a dull period in the navy he qualified as a commando. He resigned from the Service in 2004 and now lives in London.

About the Author

Lewis Page began his military career as a reservist pilot in the Cambridge University Air Squadron and ended up in the Navy, where he became a mine clearance diver. After eight years at sea, mostly in very bad weather, he was put in charge of the Plymouth diving and bomb disposal team and trawled the British coastline from Swanage to Liverpool neutralizing 'improvised Explosive Devices' and searching for unexploded ordnance. As such, he is one of the few in the British forces to have actually seen and dealt with 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', although irritatingly these were of British manufacture. During a dull period in the navy he qualified as a commando. He resigned from the Service in 2004 and now lives in London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Heinemann Ltd (5 Jan. 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0434013897
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0434013890
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.39 x 2.69 x 23.34 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 3,058,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 56,654 in Warfare & Defence
- 99,639 in Military History (Books)
- 160,145 in Government & Politics

Customer reviews:
127 ratings

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Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		11%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		5%

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Andy

Mildly interesting but not aged well

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2017

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this book, although it is essentially an essay published in response to the 2004 strategic defence review.

The historical anecdotes are interesting, but the more contemporary examples given are hopefully out of date.

Ratheriatingly, Page sets out the problems very well, but offers only a weak and fairly disingenuous proposal to fix it all.

That said, I look forward to any updated version or follow up he may publish in the future..

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Christopherdouglas

What an eye opener! Listen up, people of the UK !!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2019

Verified Purchase

What an eye opener this is!
If the population of the UK keeps blindly paying their taxes without asking some serious questions of their MP, then, they haven't read this book!
An incredible catalogue of disastrous management. If the UK were a plc, it would have been bankrupt by now.
Oh, hang on. It is bankrupt!
Ah, now I can see some of the reason why!
Christopher

One person found this helpful

Helpful

B. Fletcher

£3 for a wedge of quality UK defence commentary

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 March 2019

Verified Purchase

Simply the most comprehensive and well researched commentary on UK Defence that I've read in recent years. No offence to mountain of NAO reports related to the MoD..
Chapters are broken out by domain and capability group, giving a balanced view of UK military forces. Filled with great quotes and well-informed examples, clearly separating factual analysis and assessment in an objective way - whilst injecting some humour and sarcasm when required. A brilliant read and still current today. And cheaper than a Costa coffee.

One person found this helpful

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A. Turner

Fascinating and deeply depressing from the point of view of ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2017

Verified Purchase

Fascinating and deeply depressing from the point of view of this ex National Serviceman. I remember the items of kit that were superb quality, the compo rations (tinned individual daily meals that hadn't been near a cook), the braces, the towels, my Caterpiller D4 angledozer. These were all penny items compared to the spending the book reveals, supervised vaguely by Conservative Britain in all its glory. The overstaffed departments full of highly paid, high ranking officers both in uniform and out, all fighting for their traditional way of doing things and dealing with a state created monopoly; what happened to competion then?

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

John N. L. Morrison

The Elephant in the Room

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2017

Verified Purchase

Over a decade old now, but UK defence policies and procurement are as bad as they were when Page wrote this book. The malign influence of BaE Systems on the MoD is shown all too clearly. As Page demonstrates, we could have had smaller but far more effective forces if procurement decisions had not been warped in favour of BaE - surely the elephant in the room. Any chance of an updated version?

Helpful

ManchesterMonkey

A polemic against stupidity

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 June 2013

Verified Purchase

A book which I loved and hated in equal measure but one which is vital to understand how procurement works (or rather doesn't). It lacks detailed analysis of how and why various weapons systems are required; instead focusing on why the ones which have been purchased are rubbish. Mr Page is a former Royal Navy officer and to some degree is guilty of the inter-service bias which berates the politicians and staff officers for. Whilst there is plenty of talk about useless navy equipment, I did feel that there was more criticism of the army and air force (although I'm biased having served with the army and air force!)

However, Mr Page shines a much-needed light on the poor decision making, groupthink, lack of scrutiny, lack of public knowledge and generally rubbish equipment which UK forces have been saddled with. Despite the hectoring tone becoming slightly annoying after a while, it is a must read book

2 people found this helpful

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JVTully

Best read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2020

Verified Purchase

I loved this book! Informative, funny. It should be compulsory reading for anyone in government or defense planning.

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angryman

19 years and counting for my service in the Armed ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2018

Verified Purchase

19 years and counting for my service in the Armed Forces and I agree with everything that Page says. I can only imagine that some of the negative reviews are probably written by senior officers with their noses well and truly in the trough.

One person found this helpful

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