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Something we didn't have time to do justice to overnight... defence spending. I think most people will be quite surprised by what is going on
You'll remember a few weeks back the Prime Minister announced a multi-year settlement for defence - containing the "largest military investment in 30 years" https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-to-announce-largest-military-investment-in-30-years
The papers that focus on these things were very happy - this signalled the "end of an era of retreat". You'd have thought a hiring spree for soldiers, pilots and cyber warfare experts was coming. But... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/11/18/boris-johnson-end-era-retreatwith-24bn-armed-forces-spending/
...we only got the details of this multi-year defence spending settlement yesterday. What does it show? Day to day defence spending actually FALLING in future years
How to reconcile £ splurge headlines with news that we won't be hiring new soldiers? ALL of spending increase is coming in the form of capital (which @hmtreasury has lots of wriggle room on) and none on day to day spending (where the tough choices lie).
So the future of defence? Planes yes, pilots no. Aircraft carriers are in, sailors out. Techy cyber kit galore, people that have any idea how to use it - not so much.
People that know a lot more than me about defence will need to tell us the pros and cons of this approach, and what it means for the future of our military
