Caught with our pants down.

 The ongoing war in Iran has revealed just how - hollowed out our armed forces are. It reminds me of the famous saying by the billionaire Warren Buffett who said in 1992  “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked”. Over successive governments there has been a reluctance to spend what was necessary, in order to keep us secure. This myopic attitude goes back to the collapse of the old Soviet Union in 1989 and thereafter. We thought, wrongly this was in that infamous phrase the ‘end of history’. How stupid we all were. Consequently the UK is ill prepared both economically and militarily. Politicians should be ashamed of themselves for their supine actions which have put the country in a parlous position. Lord Roberson, a previous defence secretary and head of NATO is very critical of the government of the prime minister. Robertson was the co-author with Fiona Hill of the Strategic Defence Review last year. He has castigated the government for this lack of preparation for conflict. We have been - caught with our pants down.