Defence
France is strong where Britain and America are weak
Emmanuel Macron unveiled his campaign manifesto in a carefully orchestrated press conference on Thursday and his pledges to cut taxes…
Can Britain afford to spend more on defence?
With rumours swirling that the Ministry of Defence will see its budget boosted in next week’s spring statement it’s hard…
Putin’s invasion has exposed the frailty of Europe’s armies
Putin’s forces are currently steamrolling Ukraine’s defences, with Russian troops circling the capital and invading from the south and east…
A principled pragmatist
A headline in the Mail on Sunday, taken up eagerly by the BBC’s Todayprogramme, claimed recently: ‘The SAS is getting…
Defence contractors were the real winners in Afghanistan
The fall of Kabul, like the fall of Saigon, will be taught in classrooms for decades to come. But the…
Has Britain learned from its failures in Afghanistan?
As the Americans prepare to leave Afghanistan, and in the UK we hold our own Defence Review, should we not…
The terrifying development of AI warfare
The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in France contains some of the earliest known Palaeolithic cave paintings, including those of lions, bears, and…
The economy of tanks
That an abundance of tanks is no guarantee of a happy and secure nation was evident from the Soviet Union’s…
An off-the-shelf insect repellent could help kill Covid-19
Should we be spraying surfaces, and ourselves, with an off-the-shelf mosquito repellent to tackle the spread of Covid-19? The Ministry…
Australia’s choice: Chinese trade – or American security?
Sydney For decades, Australia has been known as ‘the lucky country’. At the end of the world geographically, we are…
Will Britain find a new role in the world after Brexit?
Britain’s imperial past distorts the debate about our place in the world, but not in the way that is commonly…
Corbyn, Nero and the Bomb
Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Nicholas Houghton is worried that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will never use the existing…
Exit, pursued by a bear
In the 1984 US presidential election, Ronald Reagan came up with an effective way of embarrassing his rival Walter Mondale…
Laying down our arms
Britain is forfeiting its position on the world stage. With no national debate, we are surrendering our claim to be…
Hadrian on the limits of power
Michael Fallon, the new Defence Secretary, is a classicist by training. What lessons, if any, might he take from his…
How I learned to stop worrying and love the Bomb
Just as every child now thinks he’s going to die of global warming, so those of us who grew up…
Diary
The looming centenary of the outbreak of the first world war offers an opportunity to break away from the Blackadder/Oh!…
