Cuts to the British Armed Forces

[Ajmichael]

Do you believe that the austerity cuts to the Armed Forces have gone too deep? Whilst we are in a time of austerity, there are other areas that can be cut instead, like Welfare and Foreign Aid (Especially to India). Many senior officials have said so, so what do you think?

Please try to have a well-formed argument, not a slagging match...

[ninja789]

Welfare shouldnt be cut but I think that they have gone too far. Where I come from a lot of the boys end up there so these cuts are probably just gonna make the area worse given some will lose hope and turn to other activities for income

[Harry Smith]

Welfare? You mean pensions right? I'm sick of this right wing crap peddled by the tory party-the majority of the welfare bill is devoted to looking after pensioners not helping out single mums. I think foreign aid to india is very important-we caused a great deal of problems in rural indian communities and western TNC's like Nike and Coke continue to ravage the indian people and the countryside.

Our military costs too much money considering how small it is, the only essentials we really need our a good air force, a paratrooper force and special forces. I mean what it's going to cost as 80 Billion to replace trident, that's not right in any world, let alone one where we can't feed our own citizens. Scrap trident and nuclear weapons and lets actually have a progressive society based on fairness and equality-not a nuclear winter

[britishboy]

Welfare? You mean pensions right? I'm sick of this right wing crap peddled by the tory party-the majority of the welfare bill is devoted to looking after pensioners not helping out single mums. I think foreign aid to india is very important-we caused a great deal of problems in rural indian communities and western TNC's like Nike and Coke continue to ravage the indian people and the countryside.

Our military costs too much money considering how small it is, the only essentials we really need our a good air force, a paratrooper force and special forces. I mean what it's going to cost as 80 Billion to replace trident, that's not right in any world, let alone one where we can't feed our own citizens. Scrap trident and nuclear weapons and lets actually have a progressive society based on fairness and equality-not a nuclear winter

Pensions have been raised. More should go private and it can be cut. The reason pensioners are not attacked is that nobody expects them to work, lazy people who happily live off of the state are the problem. They hide behind the fact that there are no jobs but the jobs they want (if they even want a job) are often unrealistic. We have to import people from all over the world to do the jobs they won't do! Britain's working class think they're middle and they put no effort into improving themselves, only getting things handed to the on a silver platter.

What help do single moms and fathers need? They're not babies, that is the problem with left-wing populist policies, they just give and give what people don't need and the country can't afford. Why do you think the Government is having such a hard time cutting the deficit? The Labour leader said a Labour party will make cuts but refuses to say what he will cut... Why? Because he is waiting for the opinion polls near the next election.

Foreign aid is important but your reason is wrong. By giving foreign aid we make the country like us, giving us more back in trade. Look at China. Also if India was in that much trouble I do doubt they will have a space program and nuclear weapons...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2487176/India-sends-rocket-Mars-1bn-year-space-programme.html

Are military are very expensive for their size but you get what you pay for, our military can punch above it's weight because of training and equipment, on numbers alone we will be insignificant.

[Vlerchan]

I don't have a problem with Britain cutting its expenditure on defence.

Pensions have been raised. More should go private and it can be cut.
I don't think you understand how expensive private pension plans actually are.

You certainly wouldn't be coming out with comments like this if you had any idea.

The reason pensioners are not attacked is that nobody expects them to work, lazy people who happily live off of the state are the problem.
And nobody expects them to work because they are elderly and have been working their whole life.

If you're talking about the long-term unemployed it's because there isn't any available work.

They hide behind the fact that there are no jobs but the jobs they want (if they even want a job) are often unrealistic.
This is a lie.

Or a vast generalisation at best.

We have to import people from all over the world to do the jobs they won't do!
If Britain in importing people then it is to involve themselves in skilled labour.

If you're taking about the influx of Eastern-Europeans in the British economy over the last 10 years who have taken up much of the marginal employment, then I can tell you that marginal employment is now largely unavailable. I know this because I actually speak to working-class British people who are long-termed unemployed despite - believe it or not - searching for work.

Britain's working class think they're middle and they put no effort into improving themselves, only getting things handed to the on a silver platter.
Yay. More insulting generalisations.

I'm not even going to bother with this one.

What help do single moms and fathers need?
Lots. Raising a child on your own isn't easy.

They're not babies, that is the problem with left-wing populist policies, they just give and give what people don't need[1] and the country can't afford. Why do you think the Government is having such a hard time cutting the deficit?[2]
[1]: Please try tell this to someone who is struggle on benefits.

[2]: There is too many loopholes in your tax system. (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/apr/15/treasury-reveals-super-rich-tax-rates)

[Harry Smith]

Pensions have been raised. More should go private and it can be cut. The reason pensioners are not attacked is that nobody expects them to work, lazy people who happily live off of the state are the problem. They hide behind the fact that there are no jobs but the jobs they want (if they even want a job) are often unrealistic. We have to import people from all over the world to do the jobs they won't do! Britain's working class think they're middle and they put no effort into improving themselves, only getting things handed to the on a silver platter.

What help do single moms and fathers need? They're not babies, that is the problem with left-wing populist policies, they just give and give what people don't need and the country can't afford. Why do you think the Government is having such a hard time cutting the deficit? The Labour leader said a Labour party will make cuts but refuses to say what he will cut... Why? Because he is waiting for the opinion polls near the next election.

Foreign aid is important but your reason is wrong. By giving foreign aid we make the country like us, giving us more back in trade. Look at China. Also if India was in that much trouble I do doubt they will have a space program and nuclear weapons...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2487176/India-sends-rocket-Mars-1bn-year-space-programme.html

Are military are very expensive for their size but you get what you pay for, our military can punch above it's weight because of training and equipment, on numbers alone we will be insignificant.

Miliband is doing what every opposition party does, and he's waiting for the election campaign to reveal his manifesto. That's how British Politics works-you realize your manifesto which has the break down your policies. I mean Miliband said he'd keep the 15-16 spending plan-which is a clear example of him highlight what cuts despite what you say.

Your argument doesn't have any numbers or facts-it's just what you think is true. I'll leave Vlerchan deal with that because he says in a way that is much better than myself. I'll add this though-the problem isn't people getting stuff for free as you claim-the majority goes to people who either can't work or who are too old, or allowing children to have a house to live in whilst their child works. I mean you claim that you want economic growth but in order to have growth you need education and jobs-welfare helps provide both of these things, and in fact boost them.

they just give and give what people don't need and the country can't afford. Why do you think the Government is having such a hard time cutting the deficit?

Because we spend so much on defense... do the people of Britain need nuclear weapons?

Uhm what left wing populist policy? I mean firstly increasing the welfare system isn't populist at all, people in Britain are actually turning against welfare, and so have the political parties, have you seen what's been happening in the last 4 years. And yes people (and the country) need welfare, for example a single mother who works 20 hours a week would need child benefit so she can feed her child. That's the problem with right wing reactionary policies-they forget to feed the children. If the mother remains in work, she's paying taxes and helping the economy. If you cut her welfare (such as money to pay childcare e.g child support) then she'll have to stop working to look after said child,meaning less taxes, less money for the family and a higher chance of another broken family.

I mean I'm just sick of people having this argument without any facts, you claim that people demand benefits whilst they sit at home, I mean it's easy to sit in a nice house as many of us do and claim that everyone has it easy but that's simply not true. However these facts are-

Most of the poor drawing benefits are cleaners, carers, caterers – the 62% living below the poverty line, working hard yet needing benefits to survive.

Only one in eight people drawing the benefit is out of work; the rest are low earners

88% of benefit cuts are still to come, with two thirds of disabled children to lose large sums



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In regards to India-we gave 280 million a year, something that has now stopped. That's not a lot of money at all-Ian Duncan Smith (a tory MP) spend 40 Million on an IT company that doesn't work. I mean yeah India has a nuclear weapons/space program, so does North Korea-that doesn't mean that the people who live there are rolling in the money. They have 0.554 on the human development index-that's very low, and show's that we still need to help work in rural india to deal with the problems there, it's not just about trade as you said-that's only what Justine greening wants it to be. I mean foreign aid managed to send 5 million of the world's poorest children to school-that's a very big achievement,education is a human right

You say you want to reduce the deficit? The cut 80 Billion for Trident in 2016-that would solve most of our problems but the Military industrial complex won't allow it

Are military are very expensive for their size but you get what you pay for, our military can punch above it's weight because of training and equipment, on numbers alone we will be insignificant

Ehhh-it must be really hard to defeat a couple of Afghani drug dealers with AK-47's. Our military really hasn't had to do anything that challenging in the last 20 years apart from the work done by the RAF. I mean our Army is a joke at the best of times-the main problem is inefficient spending. I mean we spend 15 billion more than Germany but there armed forces (apart from Naval) are much better than ours because we've spend money on stupid projects. Heck we're building an aircraft carrier without any planes for it, that's not too smart is it?

I'm always a big fan of Matt cartoon, and he sums it up perfectly for me

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