The shrinking lion

The defence secretary Mr Liam Fox declares that Britain can no longer afford to defend itself against all threats and will have to fall back on wishful thinking. No problem there. After all, that was the basic plan after World War One and that worked out fine, didn't it?

I am flabbergasted by the criminal irresponsibility of successive governments regarding the defence of Britain. Defence now makes up a mere six percent of the budget spending a mere £36 billion a year, and is less than half of other major expenditures, yet Whitehall still imagines that it is some sort of bloated cash cow that they can hack bits off of at will. How anyone can claim that Britain cannot afford to defend itself when the government pays for sex-change operations, subsides an entire underclass that neither sows nor reaps, flings wads of cash at pointless "green" ventures, hands over another fortune to the EU so it can treat the UK like a vassal state, and Lord knows what other insane waste of public treasure.

Defence of the realm is the first and most important priority of government. Period. If it fails at that, it is no longer legitimate. Britain's defence budget is criminally small and cutting it further is compounding the felony. If anything, the defence budget should be tripled and the bureaucrats and Euphiles who batten onto the MOD should be banished. If Mr Fox is wondering how to pay for defence, here are a few suggestions:

• Leave the EU.
• Repeal every law passed under New Labour that is not reaffirmed by vote of the current Parliament.
  
• Abandon defence procurement programmes meant to "enhance ties with Europe" or to sweeten the books of another government department.
• Make increasing the strength of Britain at the best value for money the sole priority of defence procurement. Nothing else is to be considered.
• Provide the MOD with the clear goal of achieving a minimum of unit for unit capability parity with the United States. Adjusting for needs and force size, if America can do it, so can Britain.
  
• Set defence capabilities at needs plus 30 percent to allow for casulaties in major conflicts. This will also provide a cushion against further economic crises.
  
• All combat operations are to be paid by funds separate from the standard operating budget.
• Remind lawmakers by means of a sound beating about the head and shoulders with a rolled up copy of the Telegraph that the armed forces are not a social engineering laboratory and all experiments cease now.
• Do the same to anyone who thinks that Britain is a social engineering laboratory.
• Make social engineering a major felony.
  
• The focus of all defence policy will be to make Britain and our friends feel secure and our enemies wet themselves.
• Treat all public employees the way Britain treats veterans. That should help improve one while trimming the other.
  
• Remove all fit young men from the dole. No exceptions. If they need a job, point out the army recruiting office.
  
• Tell men who father bastards that they are responsible for keeping them, not the state. If they refuse to shoulder their responsibility, put them to work building the prisons to house them and send their wage packets to their families.
• Point out to young women that "single mother" is a tragedy, not a career and will be treated as such in future with the best interests of the child the first priority.
• Give a dumbfounded look when anyone asks why the housing benefit office is boarded up.
  
• Sack every other person in every government office who isn't wearing a uniform or holding a stethoscope. If anyone howls about unemployment, point out that a huge skilled work force has just been freed up to create wealth rather than consume it.
  
• Cut all foreign aid that does not provide a direct and obvious benefit to Britain.
• Cut taxes to the bone, give people their money back, and tell them that Nanny has quit and they're responsible for looking after themselves and their brethren. Point out that charity is not a primary concern of government, nor does government hold a monopoly on its exercise, and that nothing prevents private citizens from doing so.
• Remove all immigrants from public benefit. In the event of complaints, offer a discount coupon on a single ticket to Calais.
• As the NHS becomes increasingly more sclerotic, point out to people that there is such a thing as private insurance and they might want to look into it before the bureaucratic-heavy government scheme implodes. Base future health policy on the assumption that implosion is not far off.
• Secure, well-paying job with a fat pension: Government employees, pick any two.
  
• Inform corporations that government subsidies not related to national security or temporary emergencies are merely the product of a deranged imagination. Meanwhile, cut taxes and regulations with an eye toward freeing up capital and encouraging competition, especially for small businesses.
• Remind lawmakers by means of a sound beating about the head and shoulders with a rolled up copy of the Financial Times that the goal is to increase revenues, not raise taxes.
• Require all immigrants on entry to provide proof of employment by a British firm in an officially required trade and the posting by them or their employer of a £10,000 bond refundable with interest in five years. All immigrants will be required to annually purchase government bonds valued at ten percent of their income until reaching age 65 at which time the bonds may be cashed.
• Encourage a similar bond scheme expanded to include private investments for all citizens with an eye toward reducing government old age pensions.
• Energy policy means cheap, abundant power. Electricity is generated by coal, nuclear, gas, and hydroelectric plants. Wind and solar are for sailboats, the Outer Hebrides, eccentrics, and private firms that think they can make a profit out of them. They are not a consideration for powering the national grid and they are never to be subsidised.
  
• Basically, redefine the welfare state to mean taking care of the truly needy (as in widows, orphans, the lame, the halt, and the blind) that no one else is able to care for; not supporting an underclass.
• Redefine regulation as making sure that businesses play by the rules and compete with one another without despoiling the commons, not producing an army busybodies and a wilderness of pointless rules that hamper most businesses and all individuals while allowing a few corporations to use government power to crush their competition.
  

Just a suggestion.

Update: Someone is listening.