Smaller armed forces?

[mintogrubb.livejournal.com]

In the UK at present, we have the smallest army we have had since the Boer War of Queen Victoria's time.

Is this a good thing or bad thing?
Will a smaller army, navy and air force stop our politicians from meddling in unnecessary wars in far off places? Will it lead to a focus on home defence instead of adventuring imperialism?

Or will a smaller Military Establishment mean that we are ill prepared to repel a foreign invasion ?
I mean, who is ~capable~ of invading Britain right now, even if they wanted to? Should be be paranoid about 'what if', or go for a realistic assessment of the actual threat level?

Comments

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Great! So these huge funds could be re-directed to other, more useful industries, and all that labor could be used to actually create real stuff that's useful for the rest of society. Win-win!

[mintogrubb.livejournal.com]

Frantic applause! <3

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Hey, military innovation... technological progress... yadda yadda yadda...

[mintogrubb.livejournal.com]

Um, radar? Check.
pennicilin ? check.
Velcro - maybe...
jet engines and most aviation actually - check.

But I think we got non stick saucepans out of the Space Race.

Are there any recent innovations that came to us via the military?

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Internet? GPS?

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

One of the productive industries that the money could be redirected to could be blue sky science. Someone has to be doing the research that has no apparent commercial application.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Yes, instead of spending it on war a lot of the political leadership class start getting McMansions while the lot of the average person is no better and no worse than now.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

If my representative uses my tax money to buy mansions, I'm sending them to jail without blinking an eye.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

That's what they do here in fiscally conservative, morally probate Louisiana. ;P