Nothing you ain’t heard before but still somehow a bombshell, especially in light of the recent … unpleasantness. Not a day passes anymore without some British paper tapping this vein; the laundry list at the end of the post about the useful idiot of Canterbury has just the latest examples.

The work of a panel of senior military commanders, diplomats, politicians and academics, [the study] contrasts the erosion of national confidence with the “implacability” of Islamist terrorists.

The study calls for a radical shake-up of government to take away oversight of security and defence from “the arena of short-term party politics” – in the same way that interest rates are now set independently of politicians.

“The United Kingdom presents itself as a target, as a fragmenting, post-Christian society, increasingly divided about interpretations of its history, about its national aims, its values and in its political identity,” it states.

By contrast those who refuse to integrate into British society have a “firm self-image”.

“This is a problem worsened by the lack of leadership from the majority which in misplaced deference to “multiculturalism” failed to lay down the line to immigrant communities, thus undercutting those within them trying to fight extremism.

“We look like a soft touch. We are indeed a soft touch, from within and without.”

The authors suggest the world is living through a “time of remission” between the September 11 attacks six years ago and a yet-worse future atrocity which will deliver “an even greater psychological blow”.

They’re not thrilled with the cuts to the military either, especially the Royal Navy. Follow the link and read down for recommendations, including the creation of a joint oversight parliamentary panel chaired by the opposition that sounds a lot like congressional intelligence committees. Or, failing that, a whole lot of “hope” and “change” rhetoric. That seems to be pretty good at solving complex, intractable problems.