is reflected in the global vision of our increasingly stretched armed forces, with Britain spending about the same proportion of national wealth on its military now as it did in the nineteenth century (2 to 3 per cent, according to Robert Tombs),15 the Royal Navy website citing ‘deploying globally’ as one of it missions – ‘Our versatility gives us the freedom to deploy anywhere in the world’ – and the army asserting, despite its modest size, that ‘we are persistently engaged around the world to help shape the environment and prevent conflict in the future.’
