Does Britain really need the military?

[MilSpec]

Six months ago I proposed in the Guardian that if Britain was short of money it should cut defence. I did not mean reduce defence, or trim defence. I meant cut it altogether. We are desperately short of money and absolutely no one is threatening to attack us now or in the foreseeable, indeed conceivable, future. Besides, as we have seen this past week, other ways of ensuring security make more pressing claims on us. We just do not need an army, navy or air force. So why are we paying £45bn for them?

Another Jem of thread by you, brace yourselves. @Skull and Bones @Rain Man @Spectre @anant_s @Abingdonboy @Irfan Baloch

 

[Hellfire]

I have read the original article, the question was raised by Simon Jenkins back in 2010:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/nov/05/does-britain-need-the-military-army-navy-raf​

In the year of 2010, UK budget deficit has deteriorated to -9.7% (of GDP), perhaps money (or say the lack of it) was the main reason why such question was raised.

Currently UK budget runs at around -4.4% (deficit as % of GDP), including a defence spend of around 2% (of GDP, as required by NATO).

Aw ... you are spoiling the fun @Shotgunner51

Am reporting your post for spoiling our fun time. Please do the needful as a MOD

 

[Shotgunner51]

Aw ... you are spoiling the fun @Shotgunner51

Am reporting your post for spoiling our fun time. Please do the needful as a MOD

Oh I have? Darn my bad, let the party continues!

 

[Samrat420]

Six months ago I proposed in the Guardian that if Britain was short of money it should cut defence. I did not mean reduce defence, or trim defence. I meant cut it altogether. We are desperately short of money and absolutely no one is threatening to attack us now or in the foreseeable, indeed conceivable, future. Besides, as we have seen this past week, other ways of ensuring security make more pressing claims on us. We just do not need an army, navy or air force. So why are we paying £45bn for them?

Six complete sentences without any glaring grammatical errors...and all six sentences making complete sense.. Hmmm.... I seriously doubt you wrote it yourself. Tell us true. Where did you plagiarize this from?

 

[nair]

Actually it is very difficult to control to urge to troll in threads like these

 

[544_delta]

Falklands-Potential attack from Argentina
Gibraltar- Potential attack from Spain

Irish Republicans- Terror threat

you really think them to be legitimate threats??? the worse that can happen is a terrorist attack....but even that seems unlikely to me

 

[Hamza913]

Cut the budget, but increase the numbers/keep them the same. Cutting both is a bad idea.

 

[mike2000 is back]

Falklands-Potential attack from Argentina
Gibraltar- Potential attack from Spain
Russia- Practicing bombing runs in the Channel. Attack unlikely but not possible
Islamists- Terror threat
Irish Republicans- Terror threat
Yes I'd say we need a military, probably much bigger than at present.

Seriously??, are you really trying to even talk some sense about this topic. Especially coming from leftists inclined organisations? Old boy, that's a waste of time. You know that the other leftist Corbyn also said no country should use deadly force giant ISIS and other Islamic terrorists/jihadists even when they are attacking civilian centres? Saying we ought to dialogue and try to understand them. Are you trying to even have a proper discussion with such fools?

They are asking a world power if she needs a military. No we don't, Only Countries like Bengladesh need one.

 

[Hamza913]

Another Jem of thread by you, brace yourselves. @Skull and Bones @Rain Man @Spectre @anant_s @Abingdonboy @Irfan Baloch

Come on, let the man post a thread without getting hounded. Do you honestly have nothing better to do than bully him?

Seriously??, are you really trying to even talk some sense about this topic. Especially coming from leftists inclined organisations? Old boy, that's a waste of time. You know that the other leftist Corbyn also said no country should use deadly force giant ISIS and other Islamic terrorists/jihadists even when they are attacking civilian centres? Saying we ought to dialogue and try to understand them. Are you trying to even have a proper discussion with such fools?

They are asking a world power if she needs a military. No we don't, Only Countries like Bengladesh need one.

The UK should cut the budget, increase the numbers. None of the threats require the army to be as well equipped as say America, they just require some more hefty numbers. Once that is achieved, a bigger military presence should be achieved in the Falklands to ensure the Argentinians don't attack again.

 

[Hamza913]

maybe we should colonize THEM for a change

Already made countless settlements.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

So that people like OP cant take over Britain

 

[mike2000 is back]

Come on, let the man post a thread without getting hounded. Do you honestly have nothing better to do than bully him?



The UK should cut the budget, increase the numbers. None of the threats require the army to be as well equipped as say America, they just require some more hefty numbers. Once that is achieved, a bigger military presence should be achieved in the Falklands to ensure the Argentinians don't attack again.

Well, you have a point to some extent. Especially on the numbers to be precise.
However , as for your other post about Britain not needing to have a well equipped military as other world powers. Huh......I fail to see your point. How does that work? So other world powers (say the P5 ) can have a well equipped military but not Britain? How does that even work in some people's brain? Are we that special to deserve an exception? Lool
Do these people even know that we have interests and overseas territories around the world? Do they know we that our exclusive economic zone is the fourth largest in the world(France is the 1st and U.S second, @Vergennes ). We need to patrol/maintain a presence in virtually the four corners of the globe. plus you never know when/where a war might erupt threatening your interests.

The exclusive economic zones of the United Kingdom in blue, including the British Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. The British claim in Antarctica is shown in shaded blue.

France has an even larger one, guess they don't also need a military.

 

[Blue Marlin]

Britain doesn't need the military. India can provide the protection that Britain needs. after all until 1947, India was a colony of Britain.

your sooooooooooo funny.

Falklands-Potential attack from Argentina
Gibraltar- Potential attack from Spain
Russia- Practicing bombing runs in the Channel. Attack unlikely but not possible
Islamists- Terror threat
Irish Republicans- Terror threat
Yes I'd say we need a military, probably much bigger than at present.

yes thank you

No that Wrong Idea
Conventionally They can Fight Us but I dought they are Capable To invade us Conventionally Speaking

depend on how you define invade. nowadays you dont even need an army to topple a country, we should know.

 

[Hamza913]

Well, you have a point to some extent. Especially on the numbers to be precise.
However , as for your other post about Britain not needing to have a well equipped military as other world powers. Huh......I fail to see your point. How does that work? So other world powers (say the P5 ) can have a well equipped military but not Britain? How does that even work in some people's brain? Are we that special to deserve an exception? Lool
Do these people even know that we have interests and overseas territories around the world? Do they know we that our exclusive economic zone is the fourth largest in the world(France is the 1st and U.S second, @Vergennes ). We need to patrol/maintain a presence in virtually the four corners of the globe. plus you never know when/where a war might erupt threatening your interests.

The exclusive economic zones of the United Kingdom in blue, including the British Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. The British claim in Antarctica is shown in shaded blue.

France has an even larger one, guess they don't also need a military.

The British military will remain well equipped even if it starts cutting the budget. You would have to make the budget less than 10 billion USD to really make them poorly equipped. In an ideal situation, I would like to see these changes:

300,000 active troops
800 tanks
250 fighters
450 transport aircraft
30 billion USD budget

Everything else is alright in my opinion.

 

[PARIKRAMA]

Well UK can outsource it's defence to BD forces..
bcz in PDF if you go ever to BD section, they are clearly building a big force capability to deter India ..
some folks from our neighbours even suggested them to develop nukes for this.

Heck the latest radar from selex was procured to look 500km inside Indian airspace so that India does nt do any misadventure..

If they can handle India then surely they can handle all of UK defence outsourced requirements..

It might be a good ploy bcz honestly I remember @Rain Man getting angry and opening dam gates to flood BD land to create jamaati mermaids.. now that when created will be the world's first blue water amphibian force

This will help UK save Euro 45 Bn and do justice to budget deficit scenario.

You won't require even nuke subs as this force does not suffer from endurance issues at all.. low cost option and plenty of stealth..heck sonars wont detect it from background fishes..

It's amazing how a small outsourcing can change your life so much.. with Euro exit this is a viable solution..