SDSR - shame or relevant?

Whitehall

With the Strategic Defence and Security Review published in the autumn of 2010 speculation about the eventual outcome gathered pace and although denials are regularly issued by both politicians and the MoD it is a fact of life that we live in a society where secrets are hard to keep and as such we must expect the unexpected because politicians are thinking the unthinkable.

It is widely accepted that defence is a costly business and put simply is a bit like the insurance policy you hope you are never going to need. If you want your insurance policy to provide cover against all risks you accept the cost of a higher premium but on the other hand paying a lower premium will doubtless give you cause for concern and, unfortunately, this will be the end result of the SDSR if what we are hearing, seeing and reading becomes a reality.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that politicians are those who make everyday decisions about our lives, in the main without consultation, and that this is also true as far as the defence of the United Kingdom and our overseas commitments are concerned. Nowadays politicians have very little experience of the inherent dangers of soldiering because they have no experience of the profession – which is what it is.