The Ministry of Defense seems to know the important things in life:

Sixteen teams of civil servants, with minimal representation from the three services, have looked at every aspect of the Armed Forces to find ways of saving up to £1.5 billion.
The cuts are expected to be so bad that Mr Hoon will announce them on July 21, the day before Parliament rises for its summer recess, to limit criticism from MPs on both sides of the House.
The Royal Navy will lose up to seven surface ships, making it smaller than the French navy for the first time since the 17th century.
As many as four Army infantry battalions are expected to be axed and the RAF will lose five bases, about 7,000 personnel and many of its front-line aircraft.

Quite right too eh? Proper budgeting is vital.

The Ministry of Defence has bought each of its 3,150 Whitehall civil servants a £1,000 chair as it plans the biggest cuts in the Armed Forces since the Cold War.
The purchase is part of a £342 million refurbishment carried out at the ministry.

Beg pardon?
Not only do we have more admirals that ships, more generals than regiments, we also have more civil servants (those 3,000 odd mentioned above are only Whitehall staff, doesn’t include all the others round the country) than troops.
Are we absolutely certain that this is the best way to run the system?