Karlton Watson

@afneil @TimesRadio JJ

My monologue from today’s The Times at One with Andrew Neil @TimesRadio FAILURE TO INCREASE DEFENCE SPENDING A NATIONAL SCANDAL. The failure of the Starmer government to increase defence spending by anything like enough is becoming a national scandal.  The need has never been greater in peacetime. Wars are raging in Ukraine and the Gulf. A revanchist Russia bears down on Eastern Europe. The Strait of Hormuz is in Iranian hands — and closed.  President Trump has gone from rightly demanding NATO’s European members do more for their own defence to wrongly threatening to pull America out of NATO altogether.  Yet the Starmer government sits on its hands doing next to nothing.  It sensibly commissioned a Strategic Defence Review when it came to power in the summer of 2024. That review reported in June 2025.  The government accepted all 62 of its proposals to reconfigure our military and rearm the country. It promised a Defence Investment Plan by the autumn to show how we’d pay for it.  Almost a year later there’s still no sign of it. Neither the PM nor the Defence Secretary can tell us when we will see it.  Meanwhile defence spending stutters, wholly inadequate to the tasks at hand. Trump’s War in the Gulf has exposed just how hollowed out our armed forces have become  — a diminished Navy, most of which cannot be deployed at sea  — an airforce short of fighter jets — a minuscule army incapable of mounting a major armoured fighting force — a country without its own ballistic missile defence.  Yet none of that can be put right on current or planned levels of defence spending.  Of course Labour’s inheritance was a terrible one. Fourteen years of Tory government were marked by a clear deterioration in our military prowess.  In the Cameron/Osborne years between 2010 and 2016, defence spending was cut in real terms by 22%. A fatal fall. Subsequent upticks did little to fill the hole that cut left.  But blaming the Tories only gets you so far. Rather than making up for lost ground the Starmer is largely standing still.  It inherited defence spending in its first year — 2024/25 — of £60 billion. It increased that by a mere £2 billion for 2025/26 — a pathetic amount in a dangerous world. And that’s in cash terms, without taking inflation into account.  It’s added only £3.5 billion — again in cash terms — for the upcoming financial year 2026/27. It barely takes the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP.  Yes, there are bigger rises in the years after that. But it’s still too little, too late — and barely moves defence above 2.5% of GDP.  Starmer has vaguely committed to 3% in the next Parliament — ie the early 2030s — and to 3.5% by 2035, which would be the next parliament after that. But these are only ambitions. There is no roadmap, no blueprint, no budget plan to get there.  Defence spending needs to be ramped up far more quickly than that. Instead, sleight of hand is exaggerating what small increases there are. Ministers try to slip in the intelligence services when counting defence. The cost of helping Ukraine. Unfunded pay rises for the military.  It all means that in real terms even the small uptick in defence spending is not as big as it seems.  There was a time when, as a share of GDP, Britain spent more on defence than any other NATO member bar America. It is a measure of our military decline that we’re now 12th — and still slipping.  The money is there if only there was the willpower to move it to defence — from the massive profligate expense of net zero, from the ballooning welfare budget, from a new time-limited tax, perhaps on luxuries, if that’s what it takes.  Other countries get the need to rearm — Germany, Poland, the Baltic States, Canada, even the peace-loving Scandinavians. But not Keir Starmer’s Britain.  It is his single biggest dereliction of duty. He needs to put it right. Before it’s too late. Or it will be forever the blackest of marks on his tenure in power.

@FoxNews @pdoocy @FaulknerFocus Mmm b. I s

BREAKING: President Trump has been briefed on reports out of Iran that a U.S. F-15 fighter jet has been downed inside the country, @pdoocy has learned. | @FaulknerFocus

@OfficialFPL How hard is it to put a hazard ⚠️ sign on him?

Will you be investing in Morgan Rogers AFTER his Gameweek 20 suspension? 🤔 #FPL

@FPLPriceChanges Haaland over 600k transfers out vs 4k in and only down -0.1mm for the week. What likelihood of another value reduction?

One more night of price changes before the GW13 deadline #FPL

@Ready0096 @bet365 @bet365help @livescore gave it as a shot on target

@KarltonWatson @bet365 @bet365help we have to make more noise. Let's continue complaining to Opta. They have to correct the error.

@DarrenSH1985 @bet365 @bet365help Bit dodgy that they pay Opta for the stats. Could bias opta really

@KarltonWatson @bet365 @bet365help It’s so unfair buddy. They’ve not even awarded it as a shot

@ben_fuller932 @bet365 @bet365help It’s really wrong. I could just about stomach it if they hadn’t awarded it (as not 100% sure that shot/cross was on target, even though keeper saved it) but to give it the snatch it back is just outrageous

@KarltonWatson @bet365 @bet365help Exactly the same for me! Not sure how they can do this.

@bet365help @TheBouchee That’s disgraceful! I went to cash out because I was expecting him to be subbed shortly but then realised you’d awarded the bet from that shot/cross around the 60min mark. But then you later revoked it after changing the stat?? How’s that work?

@TheBouchee Hi, bets on this market are settled in line with stats provided by Opta. Opta have awarded Musiala with one Shot on Target. You can see the stats here: optaplayerstats.statsperform.com/en_GB/soccer/u…

@SkyBet on @bet365 Musiala has had 2 shots on target?

@Tobillion_1 @GBC_TFP Don’t worry he couldn’t with that even if he wanted to

@GBC_TFP Please save the planet and don't procreate

Soon be time for the London naked bike ride. I’m thinking of changing my balaclava this year to purple, or shall I stick to rainbow?

How can Apple be so unbelievably shocking. You pay thousands for your phone, monthly subscription to keep your data safe online. But @Apple have no way of verifying that you’re the actual account owner with ID checks etc and will give thieves a free run on your data for a month!?

My iPhone was stolen out of my hand whilst unlocked over a week ago. They reset AppleID password to commit fraud and block ability to erase data. @AppleSupport scheduled an appointment to recover the account a WHOLE MONTH after it was stolen, giving thieves full access until then

@imsachinyadav1 @historyinmemes He scored zero goals in this game. YouTube is a real thing

@historyinmemes That was Messi’s first senior hat trick, and he has been a thorn in Madrid’s side ever since.....

Messi limping off the field after 5 goals, looking like he’s just defeated an army

@BlueSkySunFree @johnthe92611772 @BernieSpofforth Snus

@johnthe92611772 @BernieSpofforth ...snow?

@adamtrulock @AYPrivateEye @footballtweet Love Berba. The man’s a genius. But you can tell from the look at the runner, the timing of the run, and Berba’s cheeky reaction that it was an overhit pass. He’s human, he makes mistake, except my mistakes ended up in row z, his end up in the top corner lol

@AYPrivateEye @footballtweet Ah yeah but I mean he has time and you can see him thinking about it. Berbatov had his faults but technique and precision are two of the things he was near perfect at. I think you can see from the way he pauses and swings his foot right under it he's definitely trying to chip it.

Dimitar Berbatov with an obscene finish for Monaco. 🇲🇨🔥

@UberUKsupport hi. Do you mind walking me through how you arrived at this £96 cancellation fee!!? Especially considering I was already sat in the car with the driver who then took me to my destination for another £54 lmao. Crooks

@AlloutMMA @Rap Explain it please 🤔

what’s Kanye’s most Kanye bar of all time

@davidhall0805 @PureGym @RareAxies Definitely hasn’t

@PureGym I’ve been unable to log into the app since Saturday. Please can you help?

@WolofBomberg @ShakeyStephens @georgeeaton @NewStatesman Suppose the Euro sinking below the dollar for the first time ever is also due to Brexit?

@ShakeyStephens @georgeeaton @NewStatesman Terribly, thanks (in part at least) too brexit.

Oil prices have fallen below their pre-Ukraine war level – today’s @NewStatesman Chart of the Day. newstatesman.com/chart-of-the-d…

@caroljsroth Michael Kyle, Walter White, Uncle Phil and Tim Taylor

Who was the best TV dad of all time?

Youuuu reddddds!