The objective seems to be to help it survive and to stay in the fight (with perhaps 70,000 dead already), but not for it to win back its lost territories in a timely manner.
“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.” Dr Johnson’s observation has stood the test of time – but is a poor basis for civilian, parliamentary government.
Conscripting school-leavers to serve as corvée labour for councils crumbling under the burden of social care would be socially poisonous and morally absurd.
Too many governments which extol the virtues of democracy in principle seem all too willing to abandon such lofty principles when it suits their base, commercial purposes.
A new report from the Defence Select Committee highlights the dire state of military procurement and it’s effect on the Armed Forces.
Forcing the Forces to fall into line with civilian-based dogma concerning gender, race and sexual-orientation quotas, as well as equality of opportunity in combat zones, has been a two-decades’ long waste of time.
“This is the problem with our defence spending: there’s no redundancy in the system, and we live in increasingly dangerous times.”
Why not conceive of the state as essentially a regulator and provider of services, dressed up in such odds and ends of holy writ as pass the smell test – one tax base under the NHS and the Equality Act?
Too many investors have prioritised moral posturing over either the needs of the nation in a dangerous world or maximising their returns.
This Government is committed to championing the needs of those who have given so much, and will continue to build on the huge strides already taken to genuinely improve veterans’ care across the United Kingdom.
Mounting domestic pressures and tight budgets mean defence is likely doomed to always look like an easy cut when election time draws near.
Simon Fell MP, Malcolm Chalmers of RUSI, Mark Wallace, and Donna Gavin, an ex-British Army Digital Officer, address our event yesterday.
The Secretary of State delivers the headline address at our event yesterday.
Alex Chalk, James Sunderland, Tobias Ellwood, Professor John Louth and Dr Sarah Ingham discussed procurement at our event yesterday.
If we are to keep our nation safe, our adversaries deterred, and our allies reassured, we now urgently require full-scale reform of the way we be buy and support our fighting equipment.