The number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan recently went over the 100 mark. Meanwhile Brown and Bush – in between sips of champagne ‑ prepare to send more young people to face possible death in an unwinnable and unjust war, a war that is only of interest to the ruling class and their hanger-on.

This may explain the results of a report published by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) late last year (November) which revealed that more and more soldiers were leaving the army. The British army needs at least 101,800 soldiers to meet its minimum requirements. In the few months leading up to the report 5000 officers and other ranks had voluntarily left, while another 2000 had applied to quit. The army overall was 7000 under strength.

This has been putting a strain on the British army, which has had to send soldiers on longer and more frequent missions. A survey of spouses of army personnel revealed that more than half of them thought the missions were too long. In fact another MoD report showed that more than 10% of the armed forces is not getting the minimum required time between operations.

Not much different from the situation in civvy street really. British workers work the longest hours in Europe, so the "workers in uniform" are treated in the same way… except that their risk to life and limb is much greater.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff of the British Army ‑ and an evangelical Anglican Christian ‑ has an answer to the problem. Shortly before these reports were published he gave a speech to the "Aiming 4 Excellence" conference in October.

This is what he said: "In my business, asking people to risk their lives is part of the job, but doing so without giving them the chance to understand that there is a life after death is something of a betrayal."

In a previous speech he had stated that, "When I see the Islamist threat in this country [Britain] I hope it doesn't make undue progress because there is a moral and spiritual vacuum in this country."

So there we have it. What is the answer to Islamic fundamentalism? Christian fundamentalism! If you can't get enough young people in Britain to volunteer to risk their lives in Afghanistan, offer them the Christian equivalent of Islamic martyrdom, with the promise of life after death!

No wonder the British army is short of its minimum requirements!