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Archive for March, 2009

There is an interesting article by Matthew d’Ancona in today’s Sunday Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/matthewd_ancona/4991523/David-Camerons-warning-for-Britain-No-more-Mr-Nice-Guy.html) which is worth a read.

It concerns David Cameron’s speech to the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce on Friday evening and around which he has issued a personal apology for the Opposition (the Conservatives), not getting it right on the economy and not challenging the Government both harder and sooner over the state of the UK economy.

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As someone of Anglo Irish origins, the only surprise to me is that the death of two soldiers and a Catholic policeman, hasn’t happened before because whatever the “process”, violence is never far away, there are always “die-hard” Republicans and worse, their equivalent Unionists. These have their equivalents in Iraq in the Sunni and Shia communities.

Whilst some may question the reticence of Jerry Adams to speak out more forcefully on the events of these past few days particularly as Martin McGuinness has bravely done so, things are never that simple in Ireland, history both real and imagined, governs all.

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In simple terms it is a case of “back to the future” and the reason is very simple: The period of Empire lasted for a relatively short period in our Island history and should never dominate our today or, our tomorrow or even thinking especially on Defence.

The UK today is back where it has sat most comfortably in the last 1,000 years, a maritime trading nation off the coast of Europe. It should be remembered that the “Empire” and the Colonial period grew directly out of trade rather than military expansion. Further as island races, the sea and ships formed a constant background to our history.

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UKNDA is an independent body that campaigns on UK Defence and specifically for the members of our Armed Forces – http://www.uknda.org/ they have very recently published a report on the current UK spending levels on Defence and are calling for a 40% increase on top of the current £35 billion Defence Budget.

Winston Churchill, the grandson of the wartime prime minister, wrote the foreword to the report and made the basic point that if defence spending stays at its current level, Britain’s armed forces will “no longer play a significant role on the world stage”. Further that the country will lose its seat at the “top table” of international affairs, becoming “unable to defend her wider interests”.

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Over the past few days there has been an independent report released by UKNDA (http://www.uknda.org/) concerning the need for a substantial increase in defence spending to £15 billion extra per year.

In addition to this has been Gordon Brown’s visit to Washington and many British journalists writing about the ‘Special Relationship’ and how the British PM was ‘side lined’ to a great degree. The truth or otherwise is frankly of little interest, that there is a direct connection between military capability and ‘influence’ in most situations, should be understood clearly, it is hardly a new concept.

Plus, a British Prime Minister clearly ‘on the ropes’ politically at home and barely likely to last another 12 months – What Do You Expect the Americans to do, invest any political capital in him when the electorate back in the UK won’t ?

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A number of British journalists have bitched and moaned about “The British Prime Minister being snubbed” by Barak Obama and the resulting articles were total tosh to be frank, I don’t agree with the sentiments expressed at all.

Obama is new in the job and still has the hope however vain in the end, that he can bring a “fresh start” to International relations and part of that is not ‘cosying up’ to the past.The President has done the “token” by inviting the British Prime Minister who, whilst he will make a hash of it, gets to address the Joint Houses.

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