Nick Rhodes KC

I actually cannot disagree with Nick Timothy MP on what he says can you? If you want to live in my country you live under our laws and our free speech and right to criticism and debate and discussion is what we stand for!

Middle Eastern allies will notice UK hesitance, vacillation, lack of preparation and meagre resources available for deployment. The UK is reaping the decline in quality of political thought and the lack of fibre and moral clarity in our leadership.

Irrespective of whether we were intending to join the US v Iran, RAF Akrotiri was always going to be in the front line and at risk of counter strike. Baffling why only now MoD moves anti-missile frigate to Cyprus. HMGovt is hopeless, lacking resolve and leadership.

On C4 News : Extraordinary interview tonight with Simon McDonald - former Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office - who is trying to warn No 10 about the widely reported plans to replace Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary with Antonia Romeo without a new appointment process. He says ditching Wormald is “extraordinary” and he wants to talk to them about the Foreign Office investigation into allegations against Antonia Romeo in 2017 which the Cabinet Office said was investigated and dismissed without a case to answer. “Due diligence has some way to go” says Lord McDonald who says there must be a full process before any appointment. He says he’s been trying to speak to No 10 but nobody is calling him back!

Left: Rachel Reeves, "It is not right that people who don't go to university are having to bear all the costs for others to do so" Right: Oli Dugmore, "If Reeves wants to make the argument that you shouldn't be paying for things that you don't use, there will be a lot of pensioners who don't get a pension" Victoria Derbyshire, "I don't if Rachel Reeves is watching, you've just punched through the television" Oli Dugmore, "People we want in our society.. I'd be very open to select courses, whether its engineers, doctors, nurses, no fess, go qualify, we want you in our country" Victoria Derbyshire, "Who's going to pay for that?" Oli Dugmore, "Central government" Victoria Derbyshire, "Tax payers?" Oli Dugmore, "Yeah, absolutely" Victoria Derbyshire, "So people on low incomes are paying for some people to have free university education?" Oli Dugmore, "Education is a public good, not a commodity" --- £20 billion is the cost of cancelling all student loans £10 billion is the annual cost of abolishing tuition fees £90 billion is the lost tax revenue because of Brexit #RejoinEU cancel student debt, make education free again because it is, as Oli Dugmore said, a public good

No comment necessary.

The stupidest thing about this whole NATO debate is what it was actually like when we were there. It was always a team effort. We gave fire support across the Helmand river to the Danish under attack in patrol base Alpha-Xray (see pic for one of the actual guns we used), and we were as gutted as anyone when we saw the Chinook flying in and knew they had casualties. We handed over our patrol base to an Estonian unit whose commander was on his second tour of Afghanistan - the first having been with the Soviet Army in the 1980s. I once hitched a lift from Bastion to Gereshk with the Czech Special Operations Group. My platoon were very grateful for the slivovitz they gave me. A small shot went down a treat in a hot chocolate after a long and stressful night patrol. Visiting the Dutch in Tarin Kowt was always a pleasure. Their nurses were quite the sight for sore eyes after weeks in the field. Likewise the Canadians over in Kandahar, especially the Van Doos, sister unit of my first regiment. And of course - American dining facility access was highly prized. You can’t argue with steak and crab legs in a war zone. I did six months with the US Army 7th and 1st Groups across Southern Afghanistan. Once I had earned their trust, we were one team with one task. Everyone played their part. We all got along. We all did our best. Trump and his idiotic fans are all such ignorant blowhards. Part of the reason this is so unpleasant is that it takes something noble and collaborative, and scorns the bravery of everyone who deployed. And, from my experience, every soldier who deployed, from every country, would have gone into harm’s way for the soldier to their left or right, irrespective of which national flag they wore. Trump debases everything he touches.

Almost unbearable to watch, except through tears of pride and sadness. Britain’s best of the best who fell in Afghanistan — very much on the frontline. Donald Trump should be force to watch this. Then go down on his knees and ask for their forgiveness.

If Russian warships are sailing freely around Greenland, Ukraine can help – we have the expertise and weapons to ensure not one of those ships remains. They can sink near Greenland just as they do near Crimea. No problem – we have the tools and people. If we were asked, and if Ukraine were in NATO – but we are not – we would solve this problem with the Russian ships.

The Finns were asked to stop defeating American troops. During the NATO exercise Joint Viking in northern Norway, U.S. service members experienced noticeable difficulties, The Times reports. The organizers of the maneuvers asked Finnish reservists, who were playing the role of the opposing force, to “go easy” on the American soldiers. The Finns were told to stop beating the Americans, as it was humiliating and had a demoralizing effect on them.

Well 1,061 certainly didn’t stay ‘a little back’. That’s the number of non-American NATO troops who were killed in support of US actions in Afghanistan. He really is ungracious, ignorant and uncaring on such matters. Especially unbecoming from someone who managed to avoid military service himself.

🇬🇧 Here is a member of the British SAS Special Forces wearing just a Baseball Cap and a T-shirt whilst he “Stayed a little back, off the front lines” fighting the Taliban alongside the United States Marine.

Our « culture »

80 days left. Onward to victory!❤️🤍💚

Greenland trolling the US.

The usual Trump sycophants and know-nothings are all piling in claiming he’s a genius, this is the art of the deal in action, he played hardball to get a better Greenland deal than was otherwise available. It’s all nonsense. In fact, it’s TACO in action, a Trump surrender, a victory for European NATO for refusing to be cowed/bludgeoned. You will find there is nothing in the framework agreement re Greenland/Arctic region that hasn’t been available to USA/Trump for weeks, months, years. A much bigger US military presence. More US bases. Use of Greenland for the ‘Golden Dome’ missile shield defence. All available under existing arrangements, with Denmark saying many times it’s happy to go even further, with European NATO backing. Now NATO and America together will put more military resources into the High North as it grows in strategic significance. Trump gets nothing that wasn’t on offer before all his absurd threats and bluster about annexation. European NATO will nevertheless breathe a sigh of relief. But it should rest on its laurels. It urgently needs to reconfigure NATO so it’s a lot less vulnerable to Trump/Vance grandstanding/bullying in the future. Trump has backed down. But it’s no less of a wake up call for European NATO.

@AlexandruC4 AI translation. 🤔

“The tide has just gone out, and revealed that UK Defence wasn’t wearing any trunks…” My thoughts on how we got into this mess and how we might get out of it👇 Policy Exchange - The Say-Do Gaps In Defence policyexchange.org.uk/publication/th…

The “say-do gap” An important read by @edwardstrngr that explains why the UK armed forces are hollow - despite having one of the biggest defence budgets on the planet