If your going to make claims you must be prepared to defend them

Canada claims soveign rights over the narrow stretch of waterway that makes up the North West Passage. To help achieve this they are going to spend, and spend big on military hardware. ( By the way I think we are obliged to support the Canadians against the US and China on this one - remember Canada didn't blink at coming to our aide in the second world - indeed my local village hall is dedicated to the Canadian soldiers who were billeted here ).

Now our government wants to claim large areas of the Atlantic, especially the South Atlantic. Fine - indeed why not. If there's loads of oil and gas down there it will be easier to defend than having to fight our way in and out of the middle east.

But if your going to make such claims then you must back them up with a credible Navy.

Gordon Brown is planning the exact opposite.

I sometimes wonder if Gordon Brown's premiership will end with an Argentine flag flying over Port Stanley and British troops being lead of into captivity as the local population is cleansed to make way for new settlers.

Its very easy to see how it happens - and it can be prevented by a realistic Royal Navy.

We must decide if we want to fight land wars in Asia or defend what is ours. It seems we cannot afford both - and trying to do both is to invite disaster.

PS You'll note my underlying assumption about the security of oil being a key factor in our current military campaigns.