Absolutely so IMHO. The really frustrating thing though is that even in the austere years immediately after the second world war when the country was even more broke than it is today the armed forces were (reasonably) well provided for. HM Navy had some ships (even some flat-topped ones) and more ac than the entire RAF today. The army had plenty of infantry, and tanks, artilliary and its regiments where made up of more than one batallion! The RAF had multiple commands, (Fighter, Bomber, Coastal, Transport and Training) and even had multiple air forces, Near East Air Force, RAFG etc.
All this at a time when the country was in an economic mess and when the two-car family was a rarity and rationing had only just ended. Today our polititians tell us that we have had 15 years of continuous economic growth (till mid 2008 at least) and that we have never had more of the population in work (25M ish) and that we remain the fourth largest economy in the world after USA, China, Germany and ahead of France etc. etc. If this is the case why can't we afford to properly equip our forces when they number less than 200,000 compared to over 400,000 30 years ago?
The real question is that without our armed forces being properly funded and therefore capable what business have our polititions (of whatever colour) got strutting the world stage at the UN, G7, or wherever? Our PM, foreign secretary et al might as well go home and leave the soapbox for someone else to stand on!
Defence spending ought to be at c. 5% of GDP in a demoracy at peace and obviously on an "as required" level in time of war.......That way the armed forces are kept trained and equiped to be effective when they are required (always at short notice) and at a size that can sustain its mission. Without the critical mass we might as well give up pretending that we have any right to infuence world events beyond our own borders.
IMHO the world would be a poorer place without the UK's influence to "guide" history and to work with other allied nations. Look at the support the UK gives to the UN and our involvement in Korea for example. If we don't look after ourselves can we really expect our allies (the US/Canada/Australia etc) to carry on alone??
If the government wants to spend it way out of recession it could at least start by spending cash on replacements for Tristar, Hercs, VC10's, Nimrods, CSAR assets, and some more support helos. Then ships for the navy......armoured cars for the army....hospitals for the injured......and all the things we used to have but somehow don't have anymore!
Talk about the "Emperor's New Clothes" - Gordon Brown needs to look at himself in the mirror!
MB