Shut down Marham for a quieter Norfolk

While the Tories think they've licked the Turnip Taliban, their namesakes in Afghanistan are far from throwing in the towel.

Squadrons from RAF Marham are providing vital air support to ground troops after training in the skies above Norfolk.

If I was on the ground pinned down by the enemy, or running the risk of coming home in bits after being blown up by a roadside bomb, the last thing I'd do would be moan about the racket when a Tornado flew overhead.

Yet in slightly less war-torn King's Lynn, there's even less appreciation of the role the aircraft and those who daily risk their necks in them are playing.

Questions have been raised over Marham's longer-term future, with defence cuts in the wind.

"This huge airfield contributes to the local economy and employs many non-military people to service the needs of the camp, but the downsides to this largesse cannot be ignored," writes a columnist in the Lynn News.

"There is no getting away from the fact that despite calling themselves a Ministry of Defence, most of the kit held there is designed to attack and kill with deadly force and to that end, any financial benefit to the region is tainted with the knowledge that non-combatants are regularly injured and killed in the bloody crossfire during air raids."

Bet reading that really made your day if your son or daughter's out there at the moment - or worse still if they're among those wounded or even killed in the conflict.

Those with more grasp of Norfolk's economy than the average squirrel might also take issue with this bit:

"I, for one, believe that shutting Marham would not represent long-term hardship for the area and that it is more than likely that our leisure economy will improve as holidaymakers return in droves once the racket subsides and peace returns."