The British public does not understand capability gaps, holidays or seed corning
The British public has had enough; it is.. full. It spends its days being drip fed pub ammo sized chunks of news, watching Jeremy Kyle or saving up for the latest plasma TV. It is taxed to buggery, it is observed and regulated like no other nation in Europe and it just doesn't care anymore. It can't absorb the banal anymore, let alone the important stuff.
When we have to press to test, and fail, then I think the traditional British reserves of compliancy and acceptance will go up in smoke. We don't care that people are dying in Afghan, but we will when we have no national fuel reserves and no hospitals.
Duncan,
I remember Op Determinant; getting Brits out of the Congo, the Pumas had all seats removed (apart from a couple up front) and were fitted with a length of wire strop running horizontally around the cabin for civvies to grip during flight.