A whistleblower has revealed Foreign Office chaos over the fall of Kabul, and highlighted the incompetence we see every day
To someone in a remote place, cut off by hostile weather, a friendly face in uniform might be a welcome sight, although not as welcome as the lights coming back on. About 300 armed forces personnel have been on manoeuvres in rural parts of north-east England and Scotland, checking on vulnerable people in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and, according to the Ministry of Defence, “providing reassurance”.
In a more tyrannical regime that phrase, coupled with the image of soldiers going door to door, would have a sinister ring. In Britain it is uncontroversial, which is not necessarily a sign of healthy politics. Deployment of the military to bail out civil authorities should not be taboo, but nor should it be routine.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
