'Chief of the General Staff General Sir David Richards has said spending cuts are having a "cumulative and corrosive" effect on military personnel and their families.'The Sunday Times.
It is the opinion of this Blog that it is impossible to gainsay the old adage that 'the first priority of all governments is the full protection of their citizenry'.
Clearly, this will not always end precisely at the point of your own borders.
For generations, governments have spent ever decreasing amounts of money on The Armed Forces using the rather naive argument that 'it is better to spend on social care than warfare'. If only it were that simple!
It is extremely worrying that the shortfall is being covered up by moves towards an EU army. At this point, not only shall we have no control over our own borders but have an armed force within, which, a body as imperialistic and amoral as the EU could well use against us at some future point when the people have got fed up of being bossed about by faceless Brussels bureaucrats.
Our costcutting governments are treading a dangerous line.
My grandfather always said to me when I was a young man that 'You should always be prepared to spend your last penny on guttering for the house' - for reasons which I contend are rather obvious.
For governments the rule is that 'If you do not want to fight - then your Armed Forces must be sufficiently well-equipped to give you that luxury'.
If you are going to fight then surely governments have a responsibility to ensure that our forces have the very best equipment. In matters of defence - the costs must never be important. How much must we spend? - Enough!
As a side issue - our membership of the EU has another serious drawback here. Significant employment could be created by contracts to British companies for military hardware but tragically, we are obliged to throw these open to every other EU nation!
