What have the (Maritime Reserves) ever done for us?

“They have bled us till we’re white, they’ve taken everything we’ve got, as if it was their right. What have the Romans ever done for us?” So began the iconic sketch from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, a massively controversial film declared blasphemous, indeed banned in many countries and the cause of global religious protests. And yet, in 1979, it became the fourth highest grossing British film of all time. For younger readers, unfamiliar with the anarchic comedy of the Pythons, the film is set in biblical times and tells the story of Brian, born one stable down from, and on the same day, as…