The UK’s current #BeKind mindset must change if as a society we are ever to reach the level of military readiness aspired to by our NATO partners.
Training UK citizens in basic military skills would mean that if war came, a larger and more capable military base could be mobilised more quickly, thereby de-risking the prospect of being overwhelmed and defeated in the first stages of a conflict.
Just over one fifth preferred no increase in the military budget and more tax cuts. Grant Shapps’ demands for more cash have cut through with members – but show little sign of having persuaded the Treasury.
There is widespread concern about the shrinking of the UK’s armed forces. But one dimension here has largely been ignored – the hemorrhaging of the regular officer corps of the Army and RAF.
Amidst all the sound and fury prompted by Trump on both sides of the Atlantic, the highly inconvenient truth is that he is correct. In the defence context, too many European countries have been delinquent for decades.
Despite European NATO’s technological superiority over Russia, we will struggle to defend against a Russian attack: only Finland and Poland have land equipment on the necessary scale.
Sombre warnings from politicians and generals are entirely at odds with decades of what can be fairly described as a deeply unserious approach to defence.
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, “one of the most critical routes for global trade” according to the International Maritime Organisation.
No decent person can support piracy or missile attacks on peaceful merchant vessels. Someone has to defend the global order. Not for the first time, that someone is the Anglo-American alliance.
He also says that the Conservative Party “seems to me to be more strident than I am comfortable with, less compassionate than I am comfortable with, and verging on the xenophobic.”
They have grown up in a cultural milieu that denigrates Britain’s culture and history to the point that the idea it is even worthy of respect – never mind dying for – is ridiculous.
That the chances of securing a successful prosecution for a Troubles-related crime are negligible, because of the passage of time and the quality of evidence now available, is a difficult fact to face.
As some march to condemn a current conflict on Saturday, many will observe the two-minute silence at 11am. They will reflect on the impact of past conflicts which have forged Britain and are an intrinsic part of our national story.
Armed officers and soldiers obviously cannot have carte blanche to shoot as they please; but there must be some allowance for the impossibility of always getting every split-second judgement right.
The harsh reality is that we cannot let Putin win in Ukraine or it won’t stop there. Xi is already threatening Taiwan, and watches the West’s response.