For years Labour and the MoD have been battling to outspend each other on big budget shiny defence projects at the expense of effective purchasing. They were at their finest when the spending was mutually beneficial – Labour buying votes in shipyard towns with MoD brass also auditioning for retirement jobs at Big and Expensive (BaE).  Plenty of fat to trim.

Ironically that’s not the only fat involved in wasted MoD spending. Take this new advertising campaign in Soldier magazine targeted at servicewomen who like a wet or two.

Some internal survey or other has apparently concluded that 23,000 members of the armed forces drink “hazardous and harmful” levels of booze. That’s a pathetic 1 in 7 which isn’t TheEye’s experience at all. What changed in the last decade – have they all suddenly become wimps?

Overall the Senior Service must surely still uphold the finest drinking traditions of the forces and this survey was probably infiltrated and diluted by RAF-types.

But it’s quite simple. If your fitness levels dip in the Army and you fall below required standards you’re in for a more forceful nudge to get back up to speed than just an expensive magazine advert. Haven’t they got better things to spend money on?

Plus all pongo women have large backsides anyway.