S/TSR.2

THIS year's Statement on Defence, despite the momentous and far‐reaching effects of the recent Nassau agreement, must surely be the most laconic yet published. Any attempt to justify the switch to a submarine‐based nuclear deterrent is avoided in a two hundred word Foreword, before the Statement plunges into Defence Statistics. Bulk is added to the appearance of the document by the addition of the three Memoranda to accompany the Navy, Army and Air Estimates which, says the Foreword, underlines the essential unity of the British defence forces.