Here they go again. Last month, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton notified a House of Lords Committee that our armed forces would be depleted and become dysfunctional unless defence spending is increased.
I found the demand galling. Globally, the UK is already among the top 10 defence spenders. The Ministry of Defence guzzles public funds and expects never to be scrutinised or criticised.
This was the silent promise made to the armed forces after the end of the Second World War. They saved us from Hitler; we must forever be in their debt. Decades later, the department has fallen into disorder and chaos, incompetence and excess, yet an unholy alliance of politicians, their advisers, journalists, policy wonks and futurists habitually and uncritically transmit the messages of the top brass, condemning as unpatriotic those of us who argue that this sector needs reform and economic discipline.
The Royals were once similarly protected by the establishment. Until Charles, then Diana, laid open the truths of their blighted marriage, the fantasies of perfect happiness in golden palaces kept the masses loyal and happy. In the past 25 years, sections of the media and population have lost deference. You do get cloying adoration from royal correspondents, but real investigations too.
