Does cutting defence put your country at risk?
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It's a very important week here in the UK, the government is announcing how's its going to tackle the country's growing debt. Massive cuts are expected.
Today we've learnt that the flagship of the Royal Navy, the aircraft carrier , is to be scrapped along with the famous Harrier jump jet. The Army and Navy will also lose thousands of personnel and a hundred tanks and heavy artillery. The level of cuts are surprising, last week Hillary Clinton said she was about the scale of UK and European defence cutbacks.
The UK is not the only country slashing its budgets. The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has recently said the military has grown unwieldy and he want to . Greece spends a higher proportion of its income on its military than any other EU member and its looking to also cut its budgets. and are also making steep cuts.
How would you like to see your country's budget cut? Should defence be saved at the expense of social benefits? Does cutting defence make you feel less safe? At a time of war should it be the last department to be cut? Or can government restructure their armies to meet today's needs? Do armed forces need to be more flexible? Do cuts mean more chances for peace?
