I have to admit that Simon Jenkins (a man with a capacity to annoy, often) wrote an intriguing column in the Guardian this morning.
He asked for £45 billion of public spending cuts. He asked for the elimination of the entire defence budget.
As a former Quaker I have considerable sympathy with the argument, but his was not a philosophical approach. It was purely practical. As he put it:
I am all for being defended, but at the present price I am entitled to ask against whom and how. Of all the public services that should justify themselves from ground zero, defence is the first.
And it’s hard to argue.
So how about it David, Nick and George? That should go down a treat with Telegraph readers? Will you do this rather than sacrifice our pensioners? After all — what’s more important: war games against unknown enemies or real people?
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
I read the article. Clearly a lot of military expenditure – aircraft carriers, lots of nuclear weapons, certain types of jet -are a waste of money.
On the other hand, you have consistently stated that you fear the policies of current governments could lead to depression. While it is nice to live in a historical vacuum and believe that the days of war in Europe are over, it is worth recalling that in the 1930s the left were arguing for demilitarisation as they believed, following the trauma of the great war, that a future war in Europe was unthinkable.
Also, if you believe in climate change, you must believe that the risks of a catastrophic disruption to food supplies is increasing. My personal view is that food security will become a major issue – with a drought in the wrong place at the wrong time or the continued spread of UG99, possibly THE major global issue – over the next decade.
It is hard to see how you can have food security without either the military presence to impose order on a hungry population or the ability to defend our borders.
Always worth remembering that we are only 3 meals away from anarchy.
Come on Richard, we both know the answer to that; war ganes against unknown enemies of course!
@mad foetus
I think Jenkins has gone too far
But I think his hypothesis – that defence is a sacred cow delivering almost no value as currently constituted is a good one
I certainly see little prospect it could defend against the risks you identify