Should We Diverting Some Of Our Income To Moving Us Up This League?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp
6 is not too bad but our anti British friends denigrate us daily so should we try and move ourselves up? At least to above France ?

[ummmm]

Who are these anti British you keep speaking of? I think it's all in your head.

[ToraToraTora]

the usual suspects that take any opportunity to denigrate the UK. They know who they are.

[EDDIE51]

No if anything we should be dropping back,and saving our income for useful things.Like medical research.

[ummmm]

It's just getting a bit too repetitive, TTT.

[ToraToraTora]

I see Eddie, I often assume that criticism is a cry to help solve a problem, so is it possible that the denigration of our nation by the afore mentioned anti British is purely that and not a veiled request to come up with a solution? Fascinating I must study the left more.

[Baldric]

Gonna have to lift a lot of stones TTT

[ToraToraTora]

I agree ummmm, the daily denigration is getting disturbing.

[douglas9401]

Hurrah! Tora Three's got a new word.

[ichkeria]

I’d like us to be higher but it’s no disgrace to be behind France - and at least they’re on our side :-)

[ToraToraTora]

I thought that ich but there are clearly some on here that think we should be higher.

[-Talbot-]

Behind France?

How high were France ranked prior to WW11?

And yet they rolled over like a pet labrador.

[Old_Geezer]

We have other things we need to fund that are more important thst waving our massive military in the faces of others. 6th is fine.

[Old_Geezer]

THAN !!!!!!!!!

[Kromovaracun]

We could increase our conventional forces quite easily by transferring the grotesque amount of money dedicated to Trident...

If this is aimed at me due to my comments in the Syria thread, I want to be clear that pointing out that Britain is no longer a great power is not necessarily a criticism of it. Being a small power is only a problem if you insist on pretending you're not. I like Britain very much, and the things I like about the country are not reliant on how much it throws its weight around politically (indeed I'm not sure why we remain so obsessed with doing so).

[ToraToraTora]

but we are not a small power, we are 6th in the world, how high would you like us to be? Personally I'd double our military budget and take it out of all the unnecessary stuff like giving free money to our enemies abroad and WSS etc. We could also take £20bn off the NHS if they cut down on their waste and layers of empire building civil servants, that'd move us up eh Kromo?

[EDDIE51]

I don't know what sources you read TTT but I see far more approval for and contentment with our worldviews than denigration.
We are certainly held in better regard than France. In my view we already 'Punch well above our weight'.

[Kromovaracun]

Rank 6 according to whom? We have aircraft carriers without aircraft. When we went into Libya (now conveniently forgotten about), we had ships with only a handful of missiles. All so that we could roll up alongside the US and say "Look! We're here too!" and rack up vast, pointless costs along the way.

The UK's biggest sources of influence are diplomacy, finance, and culture. The basis of the first and third are being openly eroded through decline in education. Currently nobody knows what will happen with the second.

I don't know where you're getting the £20bn figure, but I don't think it's worth gutting the health service in addition to our conventional forces purely to fund Trident, which is effectively what you're suggesting. I would far rather the UK's resources were spent improving quality of life here.

[Spicerack]

Shouldn't we improve our political half-wits first.
Not sure whether it was Mrs Thatcher boosting her popularity with the Falklands War or Honest Tone enriching himself through the Iraq débâcle every PM seems determined to have their own war.

[youngmafbog]

Mrs T didnt invade though, the Argies invaded meaning we had little choice but to defend ourselves from an aggressor.

Iraq we were lied to to and WE invaded. Saddam, nasty man though he was, at least was able to keep a grip on that part of the Middle East just as Gadaffi did in his region. Only have to look at what happened in the power vacuum left when they were toppled.

So your comparison really should be His Tonyness and Camoron.

[ToraToraTora]

kromo: "Rank 6 according to whom? " did you see the link in the OP?