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If voters don't like the cost of increasing defence spending they'll hate the cost of inaction even
If voters don't like the cost of increasing defence spending they'll hate the cost of inaction even more
While Keir Starmer has called on Europe to 'step up' its defence spending, just 30% of Britons would support paying more tax to fund an increase in defence spendingSupport: 30%Oppose: 55%yougov.co.uk/topics/polit…
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What we do have is the excellent nucleus of larger forces, if we have the desire and money to do it, we can increase the size of the army, we can buy planes and drones. But as always voters are happy for tax raises on other people.
But we also need more people calling out the appeasers and literal Russian shills. Their voices are too loud; their lies too persuasive to those who do not go deeply into it.
As I've said before; friends of my son (ten years old) are getting a certain amount of indoctrination on pro-Russian positions via gaming channels. Which is one reason I don't let him use gaming chat...
Or something....
A group is trying to get together a new European Bank of Defence which fund investment in increased manufacturing capacity etc. Use fractional reserve banking etc.
Musky Baby praising Russian leadership:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1891597935231590477
To say April /June (whenever the spending review is finalized) is going to be painful is an understatement
We do need to increase defence spending as do the EU 27, but finding the money means hard and unpopular choices
Reports on how well the US - Russia talks have gone by each party deem them a success as Trump brings Putin in from the cold and looks at strengthening the relationship between the countries
And by the way they did talk about Ukraine, but apparently not more important than getting Russia back into the international community
The world has changed in just a few weeks and with unknown consequences and alliances
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/18/placebo-frontman-brian-molko-charged-with-defaming-italian-prime-minister-giorgia-meloni
Placebo frontman Brian Molko is being charged with defamation after appearing to call the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” in Italian while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023.
...
In May, the philosopher Donatella Di Cesare, who was being sued by Meloni’s brother-in-law for comparing one of his speeches to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, claimed that her government was strategically using defamation suits to silence public intellectuals. Meloni’s first year in office recorded the highest number of lawsuits against public participation, according to the European parliament’s civil liberties committee.
Anti-Semitism is also spread by the same means. Anecdotally, a kid said: "I want Russia to win the war as they'll kill all the Jews" or somesuch.
The Internet is a swamp. There are islands of goodness in it - they are being eroded all the time - but gaming channels appear to be nothing but swamps. Don't let kids onto them.
Thanks to Hunt and Rishi a lot of Goverment spending was due to “disappear” in 2026 onwards and the reality doesn’t match their optimistic (utter pack of lies) forecasts
what will the response be if Hamas, as they have said, return the dead bodies of the Bibas family this weekend, after they have been murdered by them?
Only hope is that Hamas are a bunch of liars, so hopefully just another vile twisted lie from them.
I don't see that line lasting for long with Judge Chutkan.
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Erdoğa just threw down the gauntlet—Turkey backs Ukraine’s FULL territorial integrity.
Turkey ain’t just some side player in this. They control the Black Sea. They control NATO’s southern flank. And now, Erdoğan is making it clear: Russia’s land grab is not up for negotiation
And look on the bright side: historically, we would have mostly bought American kit. Now, that doesn't look like such a great idea, and I suspect the domestic defence industry is going to get a boost.
But we've already seen Vance is inconsistent on that.
I would guess that PB's free speech absolutists are a bit more consistent than Vance.
Then I talked him through Musk's development of Grok over the last year and a half - and evidenced the latest iteration in front of him - and he was kinda speechless
Then we went to the go-go bar and had shots
Which is materially different.
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
George Washington
In my view, when considering the degree to which we can rely on USA as a future ally, we need to distinguish between:
- USA as predictably isolationist; and
- USA as nefarious actor undermining European stability in favour of a 'spheres of influence' multipolar world that excludes us.
In the former case I can see that we can continue to have a productive alliance, though on different terms than previously. In the latter case we clearly need to ally with Europe against USA.
Thus a big cut in military expenditure in USA doesn't really bother me, whereas the current shenanigans in Riyadh seem much more dodgy.
Approve: 14% (-2 from 8-10 Feb)
Disapprove: 68% (+4)
Net: -54 (-6)
Going to struggle to get much worse than this.
My guess is that what we will get instead is lots of cuts which fall almost exclusively on front line services rather than back office management.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/18/thames-water-wins-court-backing-for-debt-package
Thames Water has won court approval for an emergency debt package worth up to £3bn that should stave off the collapse of Britain’s biggest water company for at least another few months.
London’s high court said on Tuesday that the deal could proceed, after hearing four days of complex arguments earlier this month over whether it should go ahead. The deal will allow the company to avoid special administration, in effect a temporary nationalisation.
Thames, which has 16 million customers and 8,000 employees, has been on the verge of collapse for months, with debts of about £19bn. The financial difficulties have contributed to underinvestment in the pipes and drains needed to prevent sewage overflows into rivers and seas.
The deal will give Thames £1.5bn in cash, released monthly, plus up to £1.5bn more to see it through an appeal to try to increase bills by more than the 35% allowed by the industry regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat.
On Friday, Thames announced the appeal, to be decided by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as it awaited the court judgment...</I<
We need £ for rearming.
Where is all the £ in this country?
theyd better get on with it,
What’s the wily old dog up to? Erdogan always plays his own game.
EDIT: possibly reflecting current Syrian situation, post-facto rationalisation of the Azerbaijan ethnic cleansing, a warning to Putin on Turkic central Asian republics, and maybe also the prospect of some cushy deals with Ukraine on trade.
Instead he's making up bollocks about it being illegal to pray in your home in Scotland, or people in Germany being arrested for making anti feminist comments
On the header, I'm reminded that the White Poppy movement (ie Peace Pledge Union - supporting a negotiated peace with Hitler) had a membership with peaked at 140k in 1940.
On the stats in the header, one recalcitrant group are some of the people who are down the Reform, sometimes Trumpist Reform, rabbit hole.
See the comments on this one from the Black Belt Barrister, where he attacks the prospect of Peace Keepers in Ukraine, without properly addressing what a Peace Keeping force actually is, or the economy of stopping Putin now rather than having a full blown war costing 10 or 50x as much later.
Much about 'forces should be protecting our borders from asylum seekers before we send any to Ukraine to protect their borders' and similar. It's frighteningly simplistic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZk_Ixwb2s
Start from the basis that we will almost double defence spending - from approx £54 billion this year to £100 billion as soon as possible.
So we are looking for an extra £46 billion a year
It has been estimated that getting rid of the triple lock will save £10 billion a year.
It was estimated by a cross party group in 2018 that increasing NI by 1p in the pound would raise £12 billion a year.
It has also been estimated that making penioners pay NI when they work would raise an additional £1.5 billion a year
Yes these are estimates but they are from reliable sources inside and outside Government not just numbers plucked out of the air.
So straight away we are just over half way to the requireed £46 billion additinal without even having to think too hard about it.
And these are annual savings, not one offs. Which makes them more sustainable.
I am sure there are others on here who can suggest similar savings/increases to bridge that gap.
That complicates things .
But Scholz is, for once, right about this. Talking about how a peace is going to be policed before you even have a peace is putting the cart before the horse.
Though it would be interesting to see a polls which delved into individual parties' supporters. Reform, as we've seen on other issues, have shown quite a large disconnect between the opinions of their core vote and those of their less committed vote.
Lab and Lib also show a higher number of "don't knows".
I'd also like to see the same poll repeated without the "people like you" qualifier.
Jonathan Reynolds told the Commons he worked as one in Manchester but he quit trainee course to run as an MP
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/18/jonathan-reynolds-business-secretary-solicitor-claims/ (£££)
Or on Guido, apparently. Reynolds does seem to have used solicitor and trainee solicitor, so maybe not pitchfork-worthy.
It already has lots of internal Chinese walls because of Usonian rules around eg things limited to sight of American Citizens only (which is a bit rich given that Trump was stealing Secret material, lying to the FBI about it, and showing it to that Australian called Pratt).
They just won a $250m contract to maintain Aegis systems (which are the Combat Operations Systems of USN ships).
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/bae-systems-wins-251m-aegis-contract/
(My answer is I expect not, unless something around Ukraine, eg not using enough weasel words or Lord Mandelbrot losing track of his 18 dimensional chess, triggers a tantrum or a fugue. We are still very tightly tied in to things like Aukus and key players in F35, which has lots of value to the USA - even for Trump.
I don't know what the European plan will be but I hope it involves trillions spent on rearmament to make Putin crap himself.
So that’s 5-0 to Russia.
...
A 39-year-old man has been jailed for sending malicious communications to a government minister, the mayor of London and a senior Met Police officer.
Jack Bennett, of Newlands Park, Seaton, Devon, pleaded guilty to four counts of sending malicious emails; one to Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, one to Metropolitan police officer Matt Twist, and two counts to Mayor Sadiq Khan.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3rndxj705jo
There are two issues to be resolved.
The first is the border.
The second is Ukrainian security.
European troops in Ukraine is germane to the second point.
I have a good life. Besides a few rather sh*tty things happening, I've had a good life. (touches wood). We have a house with no mortgage, money in the bank and in investments, and an income that allows one of us not to work. We're all healthy and happy. Steve Jobs' riches didn't save him from an early grave.
What would I gain from being richer than Crassus? I'm happy; and I'm pretty sure Musk isn't happy. I've also achieved stuff he hasn't.
In fact, Musk strikes me as being a deeply unhappy person.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EgXvnGNJDBQ
As to whether Russia will invade again, I don't know. But its notable that their economy is on a war footing, once you do that, aren't you more likely to use the military you have again?
Whether it be another attempt on Ukraine, or another country. By some metrics they are spending more on their army than the rest of Europe. That's not a comfortable position for me to be honest...
Firstly, try politically. Sow discord in enemy countries. Fund activist groups against the governments. Fund opposition groups, parties and causes.
Secondly, if that fails, try militarily.
From Putin's perspective, America removing itself from NATO (for all practical purposes) means NATO is not a force to be reckoned with. It isn't a threat. It never was; but that's the lie he likes.
If Europe doesn't stand together now, and say no to Trump and Putin imposing a temporary settlement on us, then it will get much uglier, and costlier in the future.
One tiny consolation is that the idiots who said it will be just like 판문점 are quite exploded.
But we also need more Europe.
And, more critically than ever, we need someone to work out what precisely defence spending needs, in the modern era. The Ukrainians with their masses of drones have shown that it doesn’t necessarily mean the same expensive tanks and ships and stuff that has been the assumption since 1945.
Gender inequality aside, that your wife was able to do this isn't something to complain about.
The Russians can't be trusted and should be viewed as enemies regardless of what happens next over Ukraine. "They might not do anything so everything's peachy" is not the way to deal with enemies.
And that's before we even get into the Hungarians, Slovaks, Austrians ...
But changing it, and the changes working, are two different things.
This is capitulation to Russia by a Republican (*channels Kinnock*) - a REPUBLICAN) - President. Where is GWB? Where is Romney? Oh if only John McCain had lived.
BTW it’s a rhetorical question 👍
Other projects due to reach FID in the coming months, then the full £22 bn for Track 1 (T1) initial phase will be committed. £2.2 bn a year over a decade, near enough.
However, the rest of T1, T1x and T2 could be paused. I reckon that lot would cost government another £30 bn, based on the same funding formula as T1.
Always happy to assist, when it comes to CCS.
Don't wait for the EU or a compromised NATO to sort themselves out.
This one from Helsing is trailed as an AI drone, but I'm interested that they are pursuing a manufacturing model similar to the shadow factories used in the UK in WW2 - that is multiple factories in different countries, which would be somewhat more resilient to hybrid attacks.
(You need to listen to about 2 minutes.)
https://youtu.be/xYsnlmnKNAQ?t=29
If Russia gets what it wants in a deal with Trump, then a limited form of conflict probing the frontline NATO states, of the sort it engaged in against Ukraine between the annexation of Crimea and the outright invasion of 2022, is more likely.