Decline, in one picture

In London we have armed police guarding unarmed soldiers (soldiers on parade are not issued with ammunition).

In Iraq we said it was better to fight them over there than over here.

After withdrawing in ignominy and then slashing the defence budget, it seems like we now prefer the second option.

Update: For the record, I’m not advocating giving soldiers in the UK live ammunition. I’m making what is perhaps a more subtle argument. The juxtaposition in the picture illustrates the extent to which we are being forced to paramilitarise our police (bobbies with HKs). We have an army to take the fight to the enemy’s backyard. When we allow the army to deteriorate, and lose the will to use it properly, we suddenly find the enemy in our own backyard instead.