London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Feb 01, 2026

Britain increases dramatically Its military spending and shortchanges Its future

Britain increases dramatically Its military spending and shortchanges Its future

Eric Bach
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed significant increases in "defense" spending to cover both nuclear and non-nuclear military expenditures.

This strategy seems both self-aggrandising and wantonly nostalgic.
Isn't it quaint that a leadership that can barely win public trust itself, can believe that there is someone else in the world who wants to conquer the British Isles? Someone who, presumably, actually covets the UK. Including Scotland. Someone who would rather take on the management of the mundane affairs of this kingdom - instead of conquering countries with important natural resources. Someone who believes that Britain may be conquered rather than just conquering others. Someone who, ironically, has not learned from the mistakes of British occupation around the world.

Boris Johnson's government seems determined to keep faith with outdated ideas of a country and its people, as the people's faith in the leadership continues to dwindle. That’s quite remarkable.

Perhaps it thinks that making this huge weapons budget a priority can restore the crown to its former glory.

Can it breathe life into, or give a second chance to, an ancient (failed) doctrine, which advocates that a country's security is dependent upon the capacity of its armed forces' ability to wield destructive power - instead of investing this huge fortune in rehabilitating the education, health and welfare systems. Or might it actually be wiser to invest in making Britain more attractive to its own citizens, before assuming that a locked-down country might be absurdly attractive to an empire with empire-building ambitions...?

On the other hand, there is certainly a lot of logic in a strategy that prefers to invest the money in weapons, before investing the money in rehabilitating the outdated infrastructure, and the failing health, education, and welfare systems.

Because if we rehabilitate everything that is outdated, failing and bankrupt in the country, Britain will suddenly become an attractive country. And this new position we should reach when we are equipped with tools that will protect the country that will suddenly become attractive.
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