The very first. I ask that all readers of this blog please read and consider this introduction before posting.
This blog is dedicated to discussion on the need for a grand strategy for the UK. This means deciding what the UK is and what the UK wants to be in terms of Moral, Social, Economic, Political and Military standing.
Some truly wonderful blogs and forums engage to differing degrees with national strategy and national political, economic and military issues. This blog does not seek to replicate them. I feel that we need a home on the interweb for a higher level understanding of how major public issues link together, and what key national prorities should be. This must not be party political focused. Indeed, an aim at the core of this blog is to help put party politics in its crucially important but fair place as just one element among various strands that need to be untangled.
There does not need to be one single possible grand strategy, quite the opposite. Specific aims must somehow relate back to core principles, if there is to be a standard to decide if those aims are right or wrong. This blog does not necessarily argue that that only one set of core principles can exist. The aim is to work out what our best options should be as far as we can.
Grand Strategy is awsomely difficult. It is hard because everything is connected to everthing else. You cannot have a meaningful abstract strategy without understanding the details of what you need to achieve of how to get there, what problems we have, and what we do about it. At the same time, you cannot work out the details, unless you know where you want to get to in the first place and why. Frequently one may be convinced of an overall objective, only to understand its the real meaning of an issue later.
The only solution is to be determined to try and sort out the tangled web, and that is hard work! If it was easy we would have clearer national strategies in place already.
It is very easy to come up with problems, but sometimes it is hard to agree what the problems are and even harder to work better on finding solutions. This blog will welcome full and free discussion from all, but try to determine what our problems are and what solutions are achievable.
You have to start somewhere and other than the above this blog rests upon three aims.
1. I loathe this quote but unfortunately I think it has to be mentioned first.
Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role. 
Dean Acheson, former US Secretary of state, 1962
The only rule I want for this blog - and the only thing other than extreme trolling that will lead to the deletion of posts - is that a fixation by any poster with this quote or its logic is banned. One aim of this blog is to sail far beyond this over-rated quote and its way of thinking.
The purpose of this blog is to consider what we are and what our role and aims should be now. We can have debates about whether we are, nor not, significant and whether our strategy therefore even matters. But I do not want ever to see posts stating that since we are not a world-wide territorial power, ergo we are reduced and history therefore settles the question. It actually settles not much. Especially in the long term. I ask for anyone who thinks like this to give their brain a chance and challenge pre-conceived ideas if they have them and start from afresh at these questions.
We want to work out where we should be going. But there are different paths. Nothing is absolutely settled and history will role on forever. Whether we are important or not is up to a point a point of view. I think for various reasons we still are and can remain significant, not least to ourselves, but it is so important that we get things right today for today and for tomorrow.
2. I want this blog to contribute to seeing national issues in a more structured way.
I originally wanted to start a blog just about UK military strategy, which the UK badly lacks. I quickly realised that to make sense of what a UK military strategy should be there needs to be a more focused debate on who we are as a nation first and what our national objectives generally are first.
Therefore I hope this blog can eventually become a useful nexus which reaches out to other more detailed blogs that consider different parts of our national life, in a bid to better understand ourselves, inform and even entertain.
3. We should look to our leaders less and aim to edify them more.
We need to be more realistic about how poorly our representatvies and other actors will often work on our behalf without better information and tools, and also when they think that sloppy practice, or worse, might not get noticed.
Public media makes a difference to better inform and improve the quality of our leaders and decision makers as well as the public at large. It will be a wonderful thing if this blog can be part of that.
I will shortly be posting a guide to the structure of anticipated posts that will follow as I start publishing, I hope you can take part.
Best
UKGS
This blog is dedicated to discussion on the need for a grand strategy for the UK. This means deciding what the UK is and what the UK wants to be in terms of Moral, Social, Economic, Political and Military standing.
Some truly wonderful blogs and forums engage to differing degrees with national strategy and national political, economic and military issues. This blog does not seek to replicate them. I feel that we need a home on the interweb for a higher level understanding of how major public issues link together, and what key national prorities should be. This must not be party political focused. Indeed, an aim at the core of this blog is to help put party politics in its crucially important but fair place as just one element among various strands that need to be untangled.
There does not need to be one single possible grand strategy, quite the opposite. Specific aims must somehow relate back to core principles, if there is to be a standard to decide if those aims are right or wrong. This blog does not necessarily argue that that only one set of core principles can exist. The aim is to work out what our best options should be as far as we can.
Grand Strategy is awsomely difficult. It is hard because everything is connected to everthing else. You cannot have a meaningful abstract strategy without understanding the details of what you need to achieve of how to get there, what problems we have, and what we do about it. At the same time, you cannot work out the details, unless you know where you want to get to in the first place and why. Frequently one may be convinced of an overall objective, only to understand its the real meaning of an issue later.
The only solution is to be determined to try and sort out the tangled web, and that is hard work! If it was easy we would have clearer national strategies in place already.
It is very easy to come up with problems, but sometimes it is hard to agree what the problems are and even harder to work better on finding solutions. This blog will welcome full and free discussion from all, but try to determine what our problems are and what solutions are achievable.
You have to start somewhere and other than the above this blog rests upon three aims.
1. I loathe this quote but unfortunately I think it has to be mentioned first.
Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role. Dean Acheson, former US Secretary of state, 1962
The only rule I want for this blog - and the only thing other than extreme trolling that will lead to the deletion of posts - is that a fixation by any poster with this quote or its logic is banned. One aim of this blog is to sail far beyond this over-rated quote and its way of thinking.
The purpose of this blog is to consider what we are and what our role and aims should be now. We can have debates about whether we are, nor not, significant and whether our strategy therefore even matters. But I do not want ever to see posts stating that since we are not a world-wide territorial power, ergo we are reduced and history therefore settles the question. It actually settles not much. Especially in the long term. I ask for anyone who thinks like this to give their brain a chance and challenge pre-conceived ideas if they have them and start from afresh at these questions.
We want to work out where we should be going. But there are different paths. Nothing is absolutely settled and history will role on forever. Whether we are important or not is up to a point a point of view. I think for various reasons we still are and can remain significant, not least to ourselves, but it is so important that we get things right today for today and for tomorrow.
2. I want this blog to contribute to seeing national issues in a more structured way.
I originally wanted to start a blog just about UK military strategy, which the UK badly lacks. I quickly realised that to make sense of what a UK military strategy should be there needs to be a more focused debate on who we are as a nation first and what our national objectives generally are first.
Therefore I hope this blog can eventually become a useful nexus which reaches out to other more detailed blogs that consider different parts of our national life, in a bid to better understand ourselves, inform and even entertain.
3. We should look to our leaders less and aim to edify them more.
We need to be more realistic about how poorly our representatvies and other actors will often work on our behalf without better information and tools, and also when they think that sloppy practice, or worse, might not get noticed.
Public media makes a difference to better inform and improve the quality of our leaders and decision makers as well as the public at large. It will be a wonderful thing if this blog can be part of that.
I will shortly be posting a guide to the structure of anticipated posts that will follow as I start publishing, I hope you can take part.
Best
UKGS