It's a not a political party. It's the greater part of the press, whose position is in trouble.
Like I said, political parties, spinning things how they want, via their friendly press.. Why are you upset about it? Do you get weepy when the Guardian, or Mirror or Observer spin for Labour?
It's a not a day for longstanding sympathisers of Miliband to be upset, I can assure you, dear boy. The reaction to the predicament of the press, with their long-term narrative on cameron and miliband, is one of amusement.
Well, Dear Boy, I was merely commenting that you seemed upset by the thought of press and political parties spinning stories to their own agenda. I'm pleased for you that your political leader brings you such joy, and hope that when he becomes PM in 2015, he's better than he appears to be currently.
As this is a betting site ,is anyone opening a book on how long it will be before we hear sabre rattling from Argentina and Madrid. How could we possibly deter the Falklands invasuion fleet or the wire snipping Spaniards, with our new found courage
Fire Stopper.. Please tell me and show where I have ever agreed with Tony Blair ..I think the man is a total tosser..He lied about WMD to everyone or have you forgotten that..
He agrees with you that we should be bombing the s#!t out of Syria. You'll be having drinks on his yacht, next.
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
edit (thanks wiki)
This is the Trust's main objective: To secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity: as a quality national newspaper without party affiliation; remaining faithful to liberal tradition; as a profit-seeking enterprise managed in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
As this is a betting site ,is anyone opening a book on how long it will be before we hear sabre rattling from Argentina and Madrid. How could we possibly deter the Falklands invasuion fleet or the wire snipping Spaniards, with our new found courage
I doubt anybody would bet on "sabre rattling" because it's too vague to know who's won, and arguably they're doing it already. But if you think there's going to be an invasion I'm sure someone can offer you odds.
SO.. By voting not to intervene in any way in Syria inspite of atrocities being commited there, can you tell me how we have not abdicated our responsibility, in what way have we maintained it..Lefties voted to do nothing.
I thought Andrew Rawnsley had it right on Murnaghan.This claim of "playing politics" against Miliband is absurd.He described it as one politician accusing another politician of being a politician.This is near enough tautological but is surely sophistry.
" Frank Tunbridge, 55, said only recently has the first hole appeared in the socks he uses whenever he goes out following his hobby as a big cat tracker.
Mr Tunbridge, of Podsmead, Gloucester, records sightings of suspected panthers and other big cats around the country, and bought the nylon and wool mix socks 25 years ago from a market stall in Gloucester.He said he has walked hundreds of miles in them, following big cat trails and looking for clues to the whereabouts of the creatures.
SO.. By voting not to intervene in any way in Syria inspite of atrocities being commited there, can you tell me how we have not abdicated our responsibility, in what way have we maintained it..Lefties voted to do nothing.
So did lots of righties, or hadn't you noticed that that's what killed Cameron's haste to emulate your hero Blair?
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
No - they sold a majority stake in AutoTrader to Apax who structured the acquisition vehicle in a tax efficient way (BVI from memory, not Caymans). When Apax then sold the company, the Scott Trust received its share of the proceeds in a similarly efficient way.
Normal practice for private equity, perhaps a mite hypocritical for the Scott Trust [although they would argue they don't influence the Guardian's editorial choices beyond perpetuating the liberal perspective]. A sin of ommission, though, rather than commission.
I thought Andrew Rawnsley had it right on Murnaghan.This claim of "playing politics" against Miliband is absurd.He described it as one politician accusing another politician of being a politician.This is near enough tautological but is surely sophistry.
The argument is that there are occasions where politicians need to be statemen not politicians. So something like boundary reform or the House of Lords reform is within the realm of politics. War and peace should not be.
The mail do what they always do at a time like this-attack the wife.Today it's Asma Assad's turn. But the extraordinary thing is she doesn't sound bad at all. They describe her as a MarieAntoinette figure but all they can say is she's holed up in a bunker while the rest of the country burns and she tries to get Western food for her children so they see both Western and Arabic cultures.
Fire Stopper..you reaaly must pay more attention. I have never said we should bomb the sh*t out of Syria, I doubt Blair has either. Blair..My Hero...?.. I would not p*ss in Blairs mouth even if his throat was on fire.
" Frank Tunbridge, 55, said only recently has the first hole appeared in the socks he uses whenever he goes out following his hobby as a big cat tracker.
Mr Tunbridge, of Podsmead, Gloucester, records sightings of suspected panthers and other big cats around the country, and bought the nylon and wool mix socks 25 years ago from a market stall in Gloucester.He said he has walked hundreds of miles in them, following big cat trails and looking for clues to the whereabouts of the creatures.
The Gloucester Citizen version even finished with the truly stunning line: "Do you have an older item of clothing? Tell us on citizen.news@glosmedia.co.uk."
The Gloucester Citizen version even finished with the truly stunning line: "Do you have an older item of clothing? Tell us on citizen.news@glosmedia.co.uk."
Of course people do. My Dad was maried in his grandfather's Edwardian frock coat (a very nice shade of green) - he still wears it occasionally.
Fundamental error, though: he got two paragraphs in the Mail on it, while my Mum only got one sentence... ("the bride was wearing her mother's dress")
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
No - they sold a majority stake in AutoTrader to Apax who structured the acquisition vehicle in a tax efficient way (BVI from memory, not Caymans). When Apax then sold the company, the Scott Trust received its share of the proceeds in a similarly efficient way.
Normal practice for private equity, perhaps a mite hypocritical for the Scott Trust [although they would argue they don't influence the Guardian's editorial choices beyond perpetuating the liberal perspective]. A sin of ommission, though, rather than commission.
Fire Stopper..you reaaly must pay more attention. I have never said we should bomb the sh*t out of Syria, I doubt Blair has either. Blair..My Hero...?.. I would not p*ss in Blairs mouth even if his throat was on fire.
What do you want, then Richard? You seem confused.
EiT.. I do not gamble with money. If the Argentine President has not already drawn up invasion plans and the Spanish Military not issued with wire snippers then I will run bare butt around Piccadilly Circus. Why not. On Thursday, lefties voted against any milItary intervention where a UK military person might be endangerd,apart from anyone else.. We have become a total laughing stock.
Nick Sutton @suttonnick .@WilliamJHague - "Parliament has spoken...I don't think we can go back every week to Parliament with something they've rejected before"
The Gloucester Citizen version even finished with the truly stunning line: "Do you have an older item of clothing? Tell us on citizen.news@glosmedia.co.uk."
Of course people do. My Dad was maried in his grandfather's Edwardian frock coat (a very nice shade of green) - he still wears it occasionally.
Fundamental error, though: he got two paragraphs in the Mail on it, while my Mum only got one sentence... ("the bride was wearing her mother's dress")
Charles, I've seen lots of people like your family.
But only in black and white films on a Sunday afternoon ;-)
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
No - they sold a majority stake in AutoTrader to Apax who structured the acquisition vehicle in a tax efficient way (BVI from memory, not Caymans). When Apax then sold the company, the Scott Trust received its share of the proceeds in a similarly efficient way.
Normal practice for private equity, perhaps a mite hypocritical for the Scott Trust [although they would argue they don't influence the Guardian's editorial choices beyond perpetuating the liberal perspective]. A sin of ommission, though, rather than commission.
Any more hypocritical than David Cameron fighting a General Election on the policy of him inheriting a larger slice of his fathers money made in tax havens then criticising comedians (but not his friends) who use tax havens?
So, in your normal "blame the tories" fashion you admit that GMG are hypocrites.
Well, it's a start.
Now how about Labour's tax arrangements and how they advise their donors?
EiT.. I do not gamble with money. If the Argentine President has not already drawn up invasion plans and the Spanish Military not issued with wire snippers then I will run bare butt around Piccadilly Circus. Why not. On Thursday, lefties voted against any milItary intervention where a UK military person might be endangerd,apart from anyone else.. We have become a total laughing stock.
I'm pretty sure Argentina has detailed, fantasy invasion plans, and I'd bet money the Spanish army have lots of wire "snippers" already. Better get yer keck's off and start running, mate.
'Any more hypocritical than David Cameron fighting a General Election on the policy of him inheriting a larger slice of his fathers money made in tax havens then criticising comedians (but not his friends) who use tax havens?'
Or the Weasel lecturing us about tax avoidance trusts for inherited wealth?
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
No - they sold a majority stake in AutoTrader to Apax who structured the acquisition vehicle in a tax efficient way (BVI from memory, not Caymans). When Apax then sold the company, the Scott Trust received its share of the proceeds in a similarly efficient way.
Normal practice for private equity, perhaps a mite hypocritical for the Scott Trust [although they would argue they don't influence the Guardian's editorial choices beyond perpetuating the liberal perspective]. A sin of ommission, though, rather than commission.
The Guardian is not meant to be a profit-making business, so it has a lot more time than it would otherwise have to develop a strategy to keep itself going.
I don't think that's true. Certainly the Scott Trust exists to support the Guardian, but if they had no prospect of making it a viable business in a reasonable time frame I suspect they would run into problems with charity law. So they may have a little more time - and the Trust is willing to sell other assets to invest in the Guardian - but it can't go on for ever.
No - they sold a majority stake in AutoTrader to Apax who structured the acquisition vehicle in a tax efficient way (BVI from memory, not Caymans). When Apax then sold the company, the Scott Trust received its share of the proceeds in a similarly efficient way.
Normal practice for private equity, perhaps a mite hypocritical for the Scott Trust [although they would argue they don't influence the Guardian's editorial choices beyond perpetuating the liberal perspective]. A sin of ommission, though, rather than commission.
Any more hypocritical than David Cameron fighting a General Election on the policy of him inheriting a larger slice of his fathers money made in tax havens then criticising comedians (but not his friends) who use tax havens?
Significantly more. Cameron would have benefited from a policy available to anyone.
He criticised people who were bending the rules as far as they would go. If it wasn't for OGH's caution about our learned friends I would refer to them as dirty f****** th**ves
Although I'm firmly against intervention is Syria by our armed forces, being the wrong war at the wrong time, I still feel a pang of remorse that the the cuts our forces has had to suffer at the hands of the tories, should have brought us so low: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/
"Not surprisingly, attitudes to immigration are far from uniform. My analysis revealed seven segments of opinion on the subject. At one end of the scale is the ‘Universal Hostility’ group, nine out of ten of whom name controlling immigration as one of the most important issues facing Britain, with almost as many saying their area has changed for the worse because of it. At the other end are the ‘Militantly Multicultural’, dominated by graduates and professionals, and with a significant public sector contingent, most of whom believe immigrants have enhanced the life, culture and economy of Britain – and who are twice as likely as the population as a whole to have employed immigrants to do cleaning or building jobs at home."
Although I'm firmly against intervention is Syria by our armed forces, being the wrong war at the wrong time, I still feel a pang of remorse that the the cuts our forces has had to suffer at the hands of the tories, should have brought us so low: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/
It's worth bearing in mind that, had the defence budget not been so massively overcommitted by the last lot (ordering toys without the money to pay for it) then the cuts wouldn't have been so deep
The Ashcroft immigration polling/report contains the fascinating nugget that "Though two thirds (67%) of the Urban Harmony group support the ‘Go home or face arrest’ ad van scheme, 42% think it is racist."
So a minimum of 9% of 'Urban Harmonists' support a measure they believe to be racist.
Fire Stopper.. no confusion here my friend.. I do not and have never supported Blair. I think the vote on Thursday was giving Carte Blanche to Assad to carry on..we will not touch him. The entire episode is shameful and I cannot understand why lefties on here think it is a good thing to let someone carry on gassing his citizens, because he wants to remain in.power, and as you have just posted.. he is sticking up two fingers to the rest of the world.. We are much weaker because of that vote...Nice one Ed, suits ya..
We shouldn't forget there were problems in teh execution of the Iraq plan. I think the dissolution of the Iraqi Army was one, although I shall defer to expert opinion on that if anyone has any.
Assad, according to Sky News, has just told the West "come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough". Well, he's goading the French, at least.
It may be that he actually wants them to bomb him, especially a small, symbolic attack that doesn't do much material harm but gets him more support from people opposed to US (or French?) power in the middle-east.
One of the various problems with the idea of intervening in other people's wars to deter chemical weapons use is that either side may be prompted to use chemical weapons when they otherwise wouldn't have done, to try to game a reaction.
Fire Stopper.. no confusion here my friend.. I do not and have never supported Blair. I think the vote on Thursday was giving Carte Blanche to Assad to carry on..we will not touch him. The entire episode is shameful and I cannot understand why lefties on here think it is a good thing to let someone carry on gassing his citizens, because he wants to remain in.power, and as you have just posted.. he is sticking up two fingers to the rest of the world.. We are much weaker because of that vote...Nice one Ed, suits ya..
Fear not Richard. I've found that the Italians that I've recently encountered have tremendous respect for Parliament's decision not to get involved in yet another US hare-brained escapade. The UK is stronger and more respected than it was a week ago , IMO.
I thought Andrew Rawnsley had it right on Murnaghan.This claim of "playing politics" against Miliband is absurd.He described it as one politician accusing another politician of being a politician.This is near enough tautological but is surely sophistry.
Cameron tried to be consensual in formulating the motion. ReD changed his mind and decided not to back the government when several shadow ministers threatened to resign. Moral: don't trust ReD.
I thought Andrew Rawnsley had it right on Murnaghan.This claim of "playing politics" against Miliband is absurd.He described it as one politician accusing another politician of being a politician.This is near enough tautological but is surely sophistry.
Cameron tried to be consensual in formulating the motion. ReD changed his mind and decided not to back the government when several shadow ministers threatened to resign. Moral: don't trust ReD.
If the PM needs this to learn not to rely and trust the Leader of the Opposition, then he's naive. Your 'moral' is politics 101.
At the other end are the ‘Militantly Multicultural’, dominated by graduates and professionals, and with a significant public sector contingent, most of whom believe immigrants have enhanced the life, culture and economy of Britain – and who are twice as likely as the population as a whole to have employed immigrants to do cleaning or building jobs at home."
Sounds like the Alabama plantation owners would have come under the 'Militantly Multicultural' group.
Moyes is about 36 minutes away from his first crisis. The fact that Man U appointed a manager who had failed to beat any of the top 4 away from home or even Liverpool, in over 40 attempts remains a complete mystery to me.
The lack of an attacking central midfielder is just painful.
Fire Stopper.. no confusion here my friend.. I do not and have never supported Blair. I think the vote on Thursday was giving Carte Blanche to Assad to carry on..we will not touch him. The entire episode is shameful and I cannot understand why lefties on here think it is a good thing to let someone carry on gassing his citizens, because he wants to remain in.power, and as you have just posted.. he is sticking up two fingers to the rest of the world.. We are much weaker because of that vote...Nice one Ed, suits ya..
MDi C..I thought the hare brained scheme was actully to force or compel in some way, other than invading the country, to stop a madman from killing yet another batch of 1400 people by gassing them. Can you imagine what Italians would say if it happened to them The nutters get away with it because we choose to look the other way.. Cauda
Fire Stopper ..at last What I would have hoped for was a resoltion to take whatever action was deemed necessary to retsrain Asad, without invading his country. What we were given was complet withdrawal of any form of censure or interventio that will forvce him to stop killing thousands of people..and he wil kill thousands more, it is his MO. The UK is not able to do a darn thing now and that does not sit well with me ..does it sit well with you , that we will stand by and witness the slaughter of many more people..
Although I'm firmly against intervention is Syria by our armed forces, being the wrong war at the wrong time, I still feel a pang of remorse that the the cuts our forces has had to suffer at the hands of the tories, should have brought us so low: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/
It's worth bearing in mind that, had the defence budget not been so massively overcommitted by the last lot (ordering toys without the money to pay for it) then the cuts wouldn't have been so deep
I do realise that Charles and you are right. However it does not absolve governments, both Labour and Tory of whittling away at our armed services ever since Suez and the final end of conscription. Maggie was lucky that her cuts had not been carried out by the time the Falklands episode started; the ships that were due for the scrapyard saved her bacon.
A volunteer army of 180K, (Thats about 50K of front line fighting troops) as an absolute minimum, was supposed to be maintained for the defence of the realm. Look where we are now!
'A volunteer army of 180K, (Thats about 50K of front line fighting troops) as an absolute minimum, was supposed to be maintained for the defence of the realm. Look where we are now!,
But using your leader's logic it could be cut even further since we will no longer be involved in any overseas interventions.
Comments
How could we possibly deter the Falklands invasuion fleet or the wire snipping Spaniards, with our new found courage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFNQSLIpYss
edit (thanks wiki)
This is the Trust's main objective: To secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity: as a quality national newspaper without party affiliation; remaining faithful to liberal tradition; as a profit-seeking enterprise managed in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
" Frank Tunbridge, 55, said only recently has the first hole appeared in the socks he uses whenever he goes out following his hobby as a big cat tracker.
Mr Tunbridge, of Podsmead, Gloucester, records sightings of suspected panthers and other big cats around the country, and bought the nylon and wool mix socks 25 years ago from a market stall in Gloucester.He said he has walked hundreds of miles in them, following big cat trails and looking for clues to the whereabouts of the creatures.
He said: "The funny thing is that I bought another pair of the same socks at the time and they didn't last anywhere near as long as long as this pair. "I don't know why. I wear these socks every week. My wife washes them and I wear them when I am looking for big cats, summer or winter. They are very comfortable." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10276293/Man-claims-to-own-oldest-socks-in-Britain.html
Normal practice for private equity, perhaps a mite hypocritical for the Scott Trust [although they would argue they don't influence the Guardian's editorial choices beyond perpetuating the liberal perspective]. A sin of ommission, though, rather than commission.
It really is a desperately rubbishy comic.
Blair..My Hero...?.. I would not p*ss in Blairs mouth even if his throat was on fire.
The Gloucester Citizen version even finished with the truly stunning line: "Do you have an older item of clothing? Tell us on citizen.news@glosmedia.co.uk."
Fundamental error, though: he got two paragraphs in the Mail on it, while my Mum only got one sentence... ("the bride was wearing her mother's dress")
Dan Hodges @DPJHodges
In one week we could all be part of the generation that said "Want to use Chemical weapons? Fine by us". How have we got here.
http://timworstall.com/2013/06/28/how-shocking-at-the-guardian/
http://order-order.com/2009/02/02/guardians-tax-hypocrisy-is-ridiculous/
compare and contrast with various guardian articles as follows
https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=guardian+tax+arrangements&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest
Perhaps a mite hypocritical indeed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10118356/Labours-tax-hypocrisy.html
Quite
If the Argentine President has not already drawn up invasion plans and the Spanish Military not issued with wire snippers then I will run bare butt around Piccadilly Circus.
Why not.
On Thursday, lefties voted against any milItary intervention where a UK military person might be endangerd,apart from anyone else..
We have become a total laughing stock.
.@WilliamJHague - "Parliament has spoken...I don't think we can go back every week to Parliament with something they've rejected before"
But only in black and white films on a Sunday afternoon ;-)
I've never heard any suggestion before that it has a paywall.
Well, it's a start.
Now how about Labour's tax arrangements and how they advise their donors?
'Any more hypocritical than David Cameron fighting a General Election on the policy of him inheriting a larger slice of his fathers money made in tax havens then criticising comedians (but not his friends) who use tax havens?'
Or the Weasel lecturing us about tax avoidance trusts for inherited wealth?
1 - 0 Liverpool
Iraq death toll for August reaches 800 – UN on.rt.com/ekqhbx #news
That worked out well didn't it.
That said, if they were honourable they would do an expose[acute] on them!
He criticised people who were bending the rules as far as they would go. If it wasn't for OGH's caution about our learned friends I would refer to them as dirty f****** th**ves
Yes I'm getting long in the tooth.
But recent events have no doubt emboldened him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2013/09/public-opinion-and-the-politics-of-immigration/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=public-opinion-and-the-politics-of-immigration&utm_source=Lord+Ashcroft+Polls&utm_campaign=83dd2e83b9-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b70c7aec0a-83dd2e83b9-66760489
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2013/09/public-opinion-and-the-politics-of-immigration/
"Not surprisingly, attitudes to immigration are far from uniform. My analysis revealed seven segments of opinion on the subject. At one end of the scale is the ‘Universal Hostility’ group, nine out of ten of whom name controlling immigration as one of the most important issues facing Britain, with almost as many saying their area has changed for the worse because of it. At the other end are the ‘Militantly Multicultural’, dominated by graduates and professionals, and with a significant public sector contingent, most of whom believe immigrants have enhanced the life, culture and economy of Britain – and who are twice as likely as the population as a whole to have employed immigrants to do cleaning or building jobs at home."
So a minimum of 9% of 'Urban Harmonists' support a measure they believe to be racist.
I think the vote on Thursday was giving Carte Blanche to Assad to carry on..we will not touch him.
The entire episode is shameful and I cannot understand why lefties on here think it is a good thing to let someone carry on gassing his citizens, because he wants to remain in.power, and as you have just posted.. he is sticking up two fingers to the rest of the world..
We are much weaker because of that vote...Nice one Ed, suits ya..
One of the various problems with the idea of intervening in other people's wars to deter chemical weapons use is that either side may be prompted to use chemical weapons when they otherwise wouldn't have done, to try to game a reaction.
The lack of an attacking central midfielder is just painful.
Can you imagine what Italians would say if it happened to them The nutters get away with it because we choose to look the other way..
Cauda
What we were given was complet withdrawal of any form of censure or interventio that will forvce him to stop killing thousands of people..and he wil kill thousands more, it is his MO.
The UK is not able to do a darn thing now and that does not sit well with me ..does it sit well with you , that we will stand by and witness the slaughter of many more people..
A volunteer army of 180K, (Thats about 50K of front line fighting troops) as an absolute minimum, was supposed to be maintained for the defence of the realm. Look where we are now!
'A volunteer army of 180K, (Thats about 50K of front line fighting troops) as an absolute minimum, was supposed to be maintained for the defence of the realm. Look where we are now!,
But using your leader's logic it could be cut even further since we will no longer be involved in any overseas interventions.