Bitter anniversary

Richard North comments on how fitting it is that British forces have just handed over Taliban-infested Sangin to the Afghan army (with US forces taking over responsibility for the still extremely volatile province) the day after the weekend chosen to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The hand-over, he comments acidly, "follows in the great tradition of recent campaigning in Afghanistan, where British forces can add Sangin to the growing list of towns and settlements pacified, and where US forces can only stand back and admire the sheer skill, dedication and fortitude of the UK military and its leaders."

The template for this success, however, was undoubtedly forged in recent times by the experience in Iraq, where the British military brought us the stunning success of the al-Amarah campaign, followed by its storming success in Basra, which has earned the undying gratitude of the Iraqi people – those that survived the experience.

But for those who think such successes are recent, we need to look back 70 years to another great victory, where the RAF so successfully beat off the German air force that the citizens of London and elsewhere only had to endure another eight months of bombing and a few tens of thousands dead and injured as the Luftwaffe roamed almost without challenge in the barely-defended night-time skies.

Steady on, Richard. The daylight Battle of Britain was a victory. It was the pre-war British government's refusal to institute any kind of civil defence provisions, despite believing that "the bomber will always get through", that acted as a tragic multiplier for the Luftwaffe's relatively light night bombing.