Having lived & worked with the French - in this case a 128' hotel barge which had an all British crew ( except for the chef ) in Burgundy, + sailing around Brittany in my boat - the French know far more than Brits' about how to live, while it seems we are good at fighting only.
As this is still peacetime for us lucky types by dint of others' sacrifice, I think the frogs have got it right-maybe they could wheel out the C de G if anything nasty happened, at least they have a carrier air group, which we don't...