Losing Small Wars, By Frank Ledwidge

The din of our jingoistic media has ensured that the disaster of UK strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan has passed without serious public scrutiny, smothered by blanket tributes to the troops.

This brave critique by a former naval intelligence officer dares to lay blame on the top brass. Once more, donkeys in gold braid have wasted the blood of lions under their command – and the civilians in their care. British officers have lost "the capacity to get it right quickly when the moment arrives". Ledwidge tells us how, and why, in unsparing detail.