What Are We Really Defending If We Break Society to Pay for Defence?
I keep coming back to this question every time I hear the same argument repeated with absolute confidence: defence spending must rise, and therefore public services must fall. It’s said as if it’s a law of nature—like gravity or night following day. No pause. No moral hesitation. Just an assumption dressed up as realism. And the more I hear it, the more uneasy I become, because I feel we are skipping the most important part of the conversation altogether. For me, the issue is not whether defence matters. Of course it does. Every society has a responsibility to protect itself from real threats. But protection is not just about tanks, missiles, and military budgets. Protection is about what makes life worth protecting in the first place. And when I look at the trade-offs being casually proposed—cutting healthcare, social care, housing, education, and basic dignity—I’m forced to ask: what exactly are we defending if society itself is being hollowed out? I don’t believe people fight, sacri...
