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Royal Navy to lead coalition efforts to reopen Strait of Hormuz

https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/israel-iran/article/iran-war-latest-news-trumps-talks-tehran-gz8wv9598

It’s behind a paywall but I doubt that will be happening until Trump does his wonderful deal to end the war !

And the UK does have autonomous drones for mine clearing.

Minesweeping is one of the few strengths we still have after 14 years of wilful neglect and cost cutting

When is the government going to get round to publishing the defence spending plan (promised since last summer) ?

I don't disagree about the last couple of decades of defence rundown, but the current government needs now to decide about its own priorities. Something it keeps putting off.

Can kicking is a surprisingly resilient option.

Defence, Parliament refurbishment, social care, it's baby steps or no steps (or backwards steps) if they become even slightly difficult, even if it means more difficult down the line. Our politicians (and voters I guess) are actually remarkably optimistic about coming up with something down the line to solve problems.

I don't understand where "cost cutting" comes in - defence has, iiuc held fast with % gdp since the late 90s a fact the graph below seems to support.

https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/4fz6tm/uk_defence_spending_19002015_of_gdp/

That it has apparently gone backwards points to poor spending of the allocated money quite frankly.

A lot of it is perception due to troop numbers reducing I think. Which of course does not necessarily mean capability reduction. All a bit tabloid "bobbies on the beat".

It's quite hard to point to where the capability exists if it's just a mirage. Often the Navy doesn't have an operational attack submarine. The Navy had to rush a destroyer out of dry dock in response to the Iran war. Many RAF Typhoons don't have radar capable of tracking drones. The British Army it's fully committed to its deployments in Estonia and elsewhere, such that the theoretical commitment to a post-war Ukrainian deployment would require Britain withdrawing from Estonia to be backfilled by some other NATO ally.

I'm not seeing much in the way of capability compared to, say, the British contribution to the Iraq War of 2003.

Trump says Iran agreed to give up nuclear weapons in peace talks - and says mullahs gave the US 'a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15675749/trump-iran-nukes-peace-push-jd-vance-marco-rubio.html

Have Iran bunged him a solid gold throne or something?

Or Trump is bullshitting?

You would have to be incredibly stupid to believe anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's being proved a liar on a daily daily basi. Sad thing is most of the MAGAs are too thick to see it and unfortunately that is what counts most and why I don't think we can ever trust the US again even after Trump has gone.

The Kobeissi Letter
@KobeissiLetter

IRAN ON POTENTIAL US GROUND INVASION:

"For years, we have been awaiting the Americans' entry. We have just one message for the American soldiers: Come closer."

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2036554648501563899

Trump's options (capitulate and pretend it's a win, or escalate and hope for the best) aren't great ones.

The latest I see in the FT is Iran is looking to permit more ships to pass, so long as they pay a tax / protection money to Iran. And pay in Yuan.

It's quite a clever move if it results in shipping increasing. Would defacto make them owners of the Strait. And gives them the ability to exert influence over GCC as a result.

Now it looks as though the "Red" bloc of parties in Denmark has the edge 83-78 but the Moderates still have the balance with 14.

The Liberal Alliance leader, Alex Vanopslagh, is already talking about the offer the "Blue" bloc can make to Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Moderates leader, to persuade him to support a centre-right Government.

I suspect Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader, is probably thinking something similar but how to keep Rasmussen onside.

84-77 now, with the centrist Moderates holding the balance with 14 as you say. There are also 4 seats for Greenland and the Faeroes which will probably split 2-2. All the centre-left governing parties lost ground: further left- and right-wing parties had a good election. But it doesn't look as though there will be a major shift.

The Royal Navy could charter civilian ships to help clear Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain is leading an international coalition drawing up options to reopen the narrow shipping lane. Chartered vessels would act as minehunting “motherships”, deploying drones from their decks to seek out and destroy hidden underwater explosives across the Gulf. Naval chiefs are also considering converting some of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s four Bay-class landing ships into potential minehunters.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/24/iran-war-latest-news-israel-trump-us-strait-of-hormuz/

And I was joking about them sending Boaty McBoatyFace.

Like Dunkirk.

No not like Dunkirk at all.

It is in the 'using civilian floating assets' sense. Obviously there are some big differences of detail. This is 2026 and Iran war and clearing the Straits of Hormuz. Dunkirk was an episode in WW2. But as fanciful comparisons between Middle East conflicts and WW2 go, I don't think it's the worst.

It’s nothing like.

It’s closer to using civilian ships as blockships or piers - they will be used a flat floating things, basically.

Not moving around or carrying troops.

I'm not going to die on this hill but there is, undeniably, a ghost of an echo of Dunkirk.

https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2036534298774225127

NEW: The Met Police will reopen its investigation into the theft of Morgan McSweeney’s phone after admitting it logged the wrong address

Officers reviewed CCTV from Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets, not Belgrave Road in Pimlico, despite the phone containing the PM's number

The Met Police said: "On Monday, 20 October police received a report from a man in his 40s alleging that his phone had been snatched.

"The incident was recorded as having taken place in Belgrave Street, E1.

"A review of the allegation, including a consideration of whether there was available CCTV, did not identify any realistic lines of enquiry. The investigation was subsequently closed.

"In the course of responding to a recent media enquiry, we became aware that the address was entered incorrectly at the time of the initial call and should instead have been recorded as Belgrave Road, Pimlico.

"Having identified this error, the report will be amended and the assessment of whether there is available evidence revisited"

The theft of McSweeney's phone means his WhatsApp messages and texts to Peter Mandelson cannot be recovered

It is understood the phone was Government-issued

I believe all the missing government phones from the last 10 years are in Lou Haigh's bedside drawer.

In 20 years time she'll be posting photos of pieces from her collection on PB - "if you look on the underside of this one, it has a wine splash where Carrie threw the glass at him, I now use it to weight down my loofah, but just feel the NOOM"

Faisal Islam
@faisalislam
NEW

Cambridge-headquartered tech giant Arm Holdings announces it will manufacture its own AI chips - a significant change after 3 decades of success getting its chip designs in 350 billion devices worldwide - IPhones, cars, data centres etc… partnerships announced with most of the worlds tech giants including OpenAI and Meta. The chips will be specialised for AI use, especially the deployment of “agents”.

CEO Rene Haas tells BBC: "This marks the next phase of Arm’s journey - building on our roots in Cambridge, and the strength of our teams across the UK and around the world…” which puts Arm and the UK at the centre of global AI transformation.

Faisal Islam
@faisalislam
This is a major move for a company born out of UK science, Acorn computers, BBC Micro etc… its business model was a model for UK growth in the early 2000s… the manufacturing is as I understand it, going to be done at the only places in the world equipped to do so - TSMC in Taiwan…

https://x.com/faisalislam/status/2036494009812623850

Erm... Taiwan you say? Hmmm...

People I know who work for Arm tell me there's a lot of frustration internally about how little they're able to command financially with the fabless model. It's felt that, given Arm's ubiquity, revenue should be a lot higher. Part of that, of course, is sweetheart deals for early or founding licensees. Apple, of course, was one of the original shareholders, together with VLSI and Acorn.