Churchill's Heirs

Ever since the Bullingdons and their Liberal Democrat appeasers went to war on public spending in 2010, the efficiency savings have been coming back to bite people on the behind. Sometimes the savings are in accordance with the prevailing religious doctrine and the victims unimportant, as with the cuts to nursing staff. Sometimes, however, the savings will result in one of those ineffable paradoxes which are so characteristic of the market's mysterious ways, as when refusing to spend money on a thing leads to a lack of that very same thing. Such is the odd situation with Britain's reconnaissance aircraft, which were scrapped in 2010 by the people who are now squealing about the danger to national security posed by left-wing pacifists. Still, the ability to learn from one's mistakes is a mark of true statesmanship, and the repair of this particular error has taken a mere five years and the generous co-operation of the Russian air force. At this rate, it is just about conceivable that in a decade or two Whitehall may begin to suspect that when it comes to buying aircraft carriers it's usually best to take into account your own plans for buying aircraft; and not too many years after mid-century the penny might even drop that nuclear weapons don't make much of a deterrent for suicide bombers.