Write to letters@thetimes.co.ukSir, The announcement of six cost-saving reductions in the defence budget (news, Nov 21) might have seemed credible were it linked to a commitment to raise overall defence expenditure by a specified date. That commitment was glossed over by vague references to the strategic defence review. However, this review, like HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, looks dead in the water before it has even been completed. With whichever blind eye “Admiral” John Healey chooses to look through his telescope, he cannot fail to notice how dangerous the world is at present. If it is necessary to fire Storm Shadow missiles into Russia then surely it must be necessary for the government to commit itself to a level of defence expenditure
