A major article for BBC News (30 Apr 2010) reports that for the families of servicemen and women, the war in Afghanistan casts a long shadow over their lives - and how they will cast their vote.

(UKPA News) The Duchess of Cornwall has met chaplains deploying to Afghanistan during a visit to the Royal Naval Chaplaincy Service annual conference:

The Guardian reports that the British Forces Broadcasting Service, for years a lifeline for members of the armed forces and their families, is to be put out to tender to competitive bidders. The report continues:

The Royal Navy is dangerously weak, risking the "silent principles" of the UK's national security unless the future fleet is restored and adequately sized, according to a new article in the latest Journal of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The article claims that Britain needs at least 10 more frigates, and that ships in the current fleet were nearing the end of their useful life.

General Sir Richard Dannatt's autobiography is entitled "Leading from the Front" but it also might equally be called "The Enemy Within". The autobiography is to be published on 16/9/10 and is being serialised in The Sunday Telegraph. The paper's Defence Correspondent Sean Rayment writes that:

Children and young people's rights groups are calling for a change in the law to end the recruitment of 16 and 17-year-olds into the UK armed forces. Their call comes ahead of the second reading of the Armed Forces Bill, which the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, will present to the House of Commons tomorrow (10 January). More from the Ekklesia think tank:

In further reporting of Defence Secretary Liam Fox's speech today (13 Aug 2010), the FT says that "Britain's military top brass is to be thinned out for the first time since the end of the cold war as ministers rebalance services that are more top-heavy with officers than at any time in the 20th century":