Tuesday 24 March 2015

The most obvious target for 'austerity'

THE BIGGEST WASTE OF THEM ALL

If you've spent any time working in government, or just taken a keen in interest in the spending of Whitehall departments, you'll be aware that one above all others is a bye word for wasting money, mostly because of regular procurement failures.  The euphemistically named Ministry of Defence has effectively thrown away billions of pounds of taxpayers money, but public criticism of it is rare.  How often do you see articles like this?  The Establishment is at pains not to have this major failing pointed out.  Especially when the economic buzz word of the moment is 'austerity'.

Why do I say euphemistically?  In recent decades I haven't seen our military having to do much in the way of actual defending.  They have, however, taken part in more than their fair share of invading and occupying.  If the UK continues to act in the way it does it might be better to revert to the much more honest pre 1960s title, The War Office.  Or, better still, maybe just do what it says on the tin and act as a defence force?

With public spending being drastically cut it's inevitable that the military should take a share of the burden, and there have been the usual right wing moans about numbers of soldiers being cut.  Indeed ukip (who else?!) have stated that if they ever had any actual power (fortunately a highly unlikely scenario) they would increase the war budget, to more than 2% of GDP, despite being proclaimed haters of 'the big state'.  But then most of their ideas are on the mad side so it's no surprise.

The UK is already one of the biggest spenders when it comes to the military.   It's interesting that of all the post-imperial Europeans states only Britain and France cling to pretensions to be some kind of 'world power'.  Perhaps this ego trip attitude comes from still having permanent seats on the UN Security Council?  Or is it simply an inability to let go of the past and recognise how the modern world operates?  Whatever the reasons this emphasis on military power looks completely out of step with the actual needs of our society.

In fact the MoD could, should, be contributing vastly more to the savings in government that we are constantly told are necessary.  And there are two obvious ways of doing so.  The first is hardly worth dwelling on, for the multifarious benefits of scrapping the nonsense that is Trident have already been well documented.  Clinging on to this vestige of imperial power makes the UK look more pathetic than strong.  And how strange that someone like ukip, who constantly moan about the mythical controls the EU exert over us, are happy to have our most destructive weaponry held at the beck and call of the USA.  At least we have a say in how the EU is run....

My second idea is one that isn't given a lot of thought at the moment, but feels like an obvious step.  If we are to take the sensible step of slimming down to a purely defensive role then we should be scrapping the arcane distinctions between army, navy and air force and rolling the lot into one UK Defence Force.  Much of that procurement waste mentioned above comes from unnecessary competition between the heads of the service.  Each is concerned with their own prestige and pushes the need for the latest 'must have' tank/plane/ship, with little concern for the bigger picture.  Streamlining the command chain would get rid of these little battles, concentrate minds more fully on strategic defence needs, and make a few expensive generals et al redundant.

As a bonus, scrapping these links with the imperialist past may help speed a culture change which helps as to look forwards, not back.  The military we need now is not one which looks to a history of conquest and occupation.

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