One of the greatest unsung achievements of the coalition government is the balancing of the defence budget. A great gaping financial wound has been staunched - but will the dressings hold?

The attacks on Algerian gas installations and the Mali insurgency has led the UK Prime Minister to describe this as a 'generational struggle'. However, what is happening across the Sahel region is a different terrorist challenge altogether, requiring a reappraisal in strategy.

The media has anointed Barack Obama the winner of the most recent and final presidential debate devoted entirely to foreign policy issues. Yet, even though foreign affairs will feature little in the next few weeks, the rest of the world will take stock of Obama's presidency.

Defence and security experts have delivered a stark verdict on the UK's national security policy - most declaring in a poll that it failed to match th...