john harvey

@FennellJW @mpwarwick Either way it’s dog shit levels of embarrassing isn’t it. All that’s going on in the world and the government ( and I’ve no doubt red or blue) it’s absolutely absent with solutions and action. There’s been nothing like this in the last 40 years and the level of inaction is mad

@mpwarwick It was due to Cammel Laird screwing up PIP. The original idea was that CLwould do the work on a sub-contract, but they did not have the skills, so BAES took in back in house and moved it to Pompey. Dates back to 2021.

One can only assume the MoD is aware that one being at sea is sufficiently awesome looking. More would be too much for our adversaries to cope with. Okay, it would be great to see photos of 2-3 together again...

@FennellJW Isn’t most of that stuff already planned tho or destined for Ukraine?

Production lines are gradually coming to life, Yeovil with AW149, Merlin, Proteus coming, the drone hubs around Swindon, Southampton and South Wales, RCH155 and M777 155mm artillery at Telford and Sheffield, LMM and NLAW in Belfast, Boxer and Challenger 3 at Telford, Type 26 at Govan, Type 31 at Rosyth and AUKUS at Barrow.

@haynesdeborah @RoyalNavy Starmer loves to commit to everything it’s almost as if he doesn’t have a clue about what we actually(don’t) have, total charlatan

Given it took the UK a week to deploy a single major warship to defend Cyprus, our one operational attack submarine was sent to Australia & the @royalnavy just moved its last crewed minehunter back to the UK from the Gulf for maintenance, the government’s options to help defend shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will be limited. This is the dangerous reality of decades of defence cuts to our three armed services - and a failure by @DefenceHQ to spend a still substantial defence budget well - playing out in real time while a war is raging. So many of us have warned of the risk of a hollow force. It was General Sir Nicholas Houghton, as chief of the defence staff, who first uttered that phrase in public - back in 2013!!! And yet still no sense today of when (or if) the government will sign off on a new investment plan for the Ministry of Defence. If billions of additional pounds are not found then ambitions will be curbed and there will have to be more cuts. That’s the hard truth news.sky.com/story/uk-weigh…

@Zaphod2042 Is Richard on X at all do you know? I used to read his site for hours, it was superb

P.S: A personal thanks to Richard Beedall whose excellent Navy Matters website was the source of many of these early 2000s concept images.

The situation the Royal Navy now finds itself in, has been inevitable for over two decades: First, in 2004, Geoff Hoon sold three almost new Type 23 Frigates to Chile. Reducing the fleet to 13 Then, in 2008, Bob Ainsworth cancelled the seventh and eighth Type 45 (down from 12)

Dragonfire cannot come soon enough, we need to put a fire of cash underneath the project team and get it motoring thinkdefence.co.uk/docs/dragonfir…

@MyLordBebo Should be sent to jail for even drawing shit like that, clearly mentally fucked up

🇺🇸 This creepy children r*pe art now looks like a literally experience from the Epstein island. John Podesta is Former Senior Advisor to the President of the United States

@InsiderWire Somebody call 911 I’m too busy filming! From tho not sure what happened

#BREAKING: New video angle shows struggle before Border Patrol agents open fire.

@pete_apps @Waterstones Listened on battle lines to you, very impressive, I’ve just pre ordered on audible

Less than a month until my second full-length book "The Next World War: The New Age of Global Conflict and the Fight to Stop It" is out… Described by @Waterstones as "clear eyed, urgent and important" pete-apps.com/2026/01/02/the…

@RupertLowe10 Best idea ever, crazy how the most responsible jobs in Britain can be achieved with zero qualification or experience

I've formally requested that the Government establishes a work experience scheme for relevant ministers, so they can shadow a small business owner for a week to understand first-hand just how difficult it is in the current environment. I do not expect a positive response.

Keir Starmer commits to deploying British boots on the ground in Ukraine with a military he doesn’t really have because he’s starving it of funds. Defence spending in 2024/25 was £60.2billion In real terms (2024/25 prices) it will be £62billion this year. In 2026/27 it will be £63.5billion. At a time of grave geopolitical threats these rises are peanuts — far, far less than the massive rises in welfare spending. Even our appeasement leaders in the 1930s increased defence spending by far more in the face of a rising Nazi threat. The projected increases could not sustain a major UK deployment in Ukraine. I suspect Starmer has agreed only because he thinks the Russians would never accept it and so there will be no peace deal. It is a purely performative gesture. John Healey, the defence secretary, is a patriot who believes in the defence of the nation. He needs to make his voice heard. The failure to spend more on our security — and that of our allies — is becoming a national scandal.

@zarahussain999 I actually agree with you, why should he, then again taking part is the fun so it’s a shame he felt like he couldn’t be inclusive but I get it

The viral video of Sadiq Khan and a Christmas song about Jesus is ridiculous. I don’t know that song and it doesn’t interest me…… Why should we be forced to sing songs we don’t believe in? You only want free speech on your terms…… Respectfully, don’t force your beliefs onto us.

@C_Fitz_ Unlike calling Tories scum I suppose

Kemi Badenoch has launched a disgusting personal attack on the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. It's really difficult to listen to. Absolutely shameful behaviour from the leader of the opposition.

@robjohnsonrj1 @NavyLookout @navalnewscom I think did a great interview with the boss of Babcock recently and he was gushing about the tie up with Huntington (I think it was) and that this would happen, wish I’d invested then! Type 31!

@NavyLookout Type 26 a contender?

🇺🇸US Navy has cancelled the Constellation-class frigate programme (First 2 ships will be completed). Predictable delays and spiralling costs resulted from the decision to re-work 80% of the FREMM baseline design.

@christiancalgie I really like @KemiBadenoch there’s quite a few good Tories now, shame they’ve been in hiding for years instead of cutting and confident in their convictions like she is

If you missed Kemi, you need to watch this. A 10/10 Commons performance

@RachelReevesMP What a mug, just don’t post anything this isn’t convincing anyone instead you seem like a total blagger at best and a charlatan at worst

We had the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in the first half of the year, but there's more to do to build an economy that works for working people. At the Budget I'll take the fair choices to cut waiting lists, cut national debt and cut the cost of living.

@bbcnickrobinson @BorisJohnson @BBCr4today You’re all full of shit mate, leave it out

Hands up all those who think @BorisJohnson is well placed to lecture anyone else on upholding standards & admitting mistakes.  As I said this morning on @bbcr4today “it’s clear that there is a genuine concern about editorial standards and mistakes. There is also a political campaign by people who want to destroy the organisation…Both things are happening at the same time”

@Keir_Starmer How many bank accounts do you open?!

It’s frustrating having to rummage around in a drawer, looking for an old electricity bill just to open a new bank account. Digital ID will make our lives easier.

@JonathanBrash In all honesty why is this gaslighting? I don’t know enough to get the background but you’ve said this a few times and seem confident in it

Utter liar. Gaslighting the British public. Putin puppets.

@UKForcesTracker @DefenceGeek We should though, it’s pathetic it’s taken this long to integrate our weapons (lesson there) but equally so to leave them so toothless, small purchase of weapons to provide at least some capability short term

The UK is considering buying American-made stand-off weapons as an interim capability for F-35. Integration of Spear 3 and Meteor has slipped until the early 2030s. (Src: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/33…)

@Peston Get a grip you tool, he obvs won’t declare war, what you looking for. Can’t stand journalists like you try to be constructive in your media not hyperbolic

Nigel Farage told me this morning that a Reform government would use the UK fleet to drive small boats back to France, in breach of France’s sovereign territorial waters, as a last resort. Farage: “If it came to it, we would do it.” When I put to him this would be the equivalent of declaring war on our nearest neighbour he laughed