Balance of power
WE pay to keep the sharp end of our army in Germany, and Germany does not keep the blunt end of a lance-corporal here. That military imbalance reflects itself in the balance of payments. It could be changed in various ways — by inviting the Germans to pay more of the bill, or by threatening to bring some of the boys home. (That might now happen anyway.) A third possibility now occurs to me as the most attractive. We should take our exam- ple from the Roman commanders who moved legions around the empire, making sure that they were far from their home terrain, where they might be too powerful for comfort. A legion from the Danube manned Hadrian's Wall, and I dare say that troops from Northumbria defended the Danube. In the same way, the Ger- mans should balance our army in Germany by keeping an army here. It would take the strain off home defence, do the Aldershot cookhouse fatigues, mount guards of hon- our for visiting dignitaries, and run an ambulance service. Mostly, though, it would be stationed in Northern Ireland, where a couple of high-quality armoured divisions could make all the difference.
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