View from the back

Another thing we intended to do yesterday was to fisk the piece by Max Hastings in The Guardian.

Hastings wants a full-scale defence review and complains that there is almost nothing in the MoD that could pass for intellectual debate. Because of this, he has, he writes, often suggested to senior officers and politicians that they should spend time with some of the wise old men of defence: academics such as Sir Michael Howard, strategists such as Sir Michael Quinlan. They are too busy, however, taking the salute at passing-out parades, launching ships, visiting bases, and performing all the other footling rituals of their jobs.

As a grand old man himself, however, it is a pity that Sir Max does not occasionally turn his gaze to the House of Commons and, in particular, today to Westminster Hall where a short debate was initiated by Tory MP Ann Winterton. With just the minister. Derek Twigg, and his parliamentary secretary present, she offered the following (no link as yet):

Read the full speech here

COMMENT THREAD