Viking 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦

@ModernNavy @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp Did the same with including pensions.

Using an accounting trick, in Feb 2025 the UK Government committed to increasing defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027 by including the Single Intelligence Account, which pays for MI5, MI6, and GCHQ intelligence agencies @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp naval-technology.com/features/nato-…

@TBrit90 So you’re saying we need 24/7 air defence for all UK military airfields ?

The RAF only ordered 3 E-7s, and they will sit in one grid square at an airbase with no air defence alongside the whole P-8 fleet.

@509298 Need to recruit and tbh raising another cdo regiment would probably bore worthwhile

I think the answer to this one is a resounding "yes". 🤨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@SueJ1973 @thecapitalistw Just men with money then

@thecapitalistw A man in a really well cut suit. Doesn’t matter what he’s doing! Polo players, show jumpers, events - any man who can control a ton of sentient being (horse) with his thighs is incredibly sexy

What professions do you find sexy? Baristas and Chefs are at the top of my list.

@afneil Andrew - bore off you a clueless fwit who now pretends to be a military expert. Leave the commentary to the actual experts

Offshore patrol vessels are not warships. The original plan to replace aging Type-23s with 13 fully-fledged Type-26s has been abandoned. Instead 8 Type-26 and 5 cheaper, less powerful Type-31. First Type-26 not til 2028 at earliest, Type-31s not til early in next decade.

@edwardstrngr65 @RoyalNavy RAF needs to ge back to thinking about air security and strategy!

The @RoyalNavy needs to get back to thinking about admiralty.

@FennellJW He a defence expert don’t you know….. he has been an expert regularly commenting on defence for decades ….. I mean days !

Andrew Neil is an expert on Type 45 now.

@DefenceBrink @PhilipIngMBE Why do I keep on seeing this insufferable baffoon and his troupe !

Keir Starmer has FAILED on defence & security. The PM has an unfunded Strategic Defence Review, dithered over sending support to our sovereign bases and has no date for the Defence Investment Plan. @PhilipIngMBE

@jonsopel They have made the choice to return to the UK no one has forced them

Their plight should be the subject of a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal. I can think of no worthier cause than the horrifying nightmare facing Dubai tax exiles

@mazst @BellaWallerstei And apprentices under the age of 25. @BellaWallerstei really needs to do her homework if she is trying to be credible

@BellaWallerstei Since employers don’t pay NI for under 21s (unless they earn £50k+) I’m not sure that’s a consideration

Instead of forcing taxpayers to subsidise businesses to hire young people, the government should fix problem it created. By hiking employer NIC and piling on red tape, it’s more expensive and risky to hire. Businesses don’t need handouts from the state, they need freedom to grow

@BellaWallerstei You do harp on about the same issue displaying little knowledge of the subject!

US oil companies are set to pocket a $60 bn windfall thanks to soaring crude prices from the Iran war. Meanwhile Britain sits on vast North Sea reserves and refuses to use them. Madness

@ClaireCoutinho theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

Ed Miliband is killing off the North Sea. He is CHOOSING to leave £25 billion of tax revenue in the ground. That’s money we could use to cut fuel duty, or fund our army, or build more nuclear power. Mad.

@jeromestarkey Christ , how come military correspondents are so clueless about defence and just write utter shite

HMS Dragon has today left British waters. The £1bn warship - so late to sail - spent 3 days bobbing about in the Channel thesun.co.uk/news/38511348/…

@HamishDBG @thetimes Crap military commentators?

The British Army’s powerful weapon that nobody has ever heard of - to complement #EdLucas piece ⁦@thetimes⁩ telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/1…

@Chelsea40953727 @NavyLookout @CcibChris @spectator Yep you’re not a military expert. Previous warfighter CDS haven’t covered themselves in glory especially given the state they have left the military in.

@NavyLookout @CcibChris @spectator I'm not an expert on military deployments but having an administrator with no combat tours under his belt be the boss of the armed forces just seems wrong. Surely you need warfighters in that role, those with combat experience. Look how much the US Chiefs have. It matters.

Explosive report in the @spectator On 27 Feb, the eve of the bombing of Iran, the National Security Adviser asked CDS, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, whether Britain should send warships to the eastern Mediterranean. ‘What about the carrier?’ he pressed, referring to HMS Prince of Wales. Knighton replied: ‘We don’t need the carrier. We have an aircraft carrier – it’s called Cyprus.’ But the failure to send a warship proved to be a disastrous political judgment that enraged Cyprus, Jordan and the UAE. ‘ As an RAF man, he is seen as too dismissive of the Royal Navy’s ability to ‘show the flag’ and reassure allies. Knighton’s performance has not been helped by Starmer’s inexperience in military matters.... #selection-1899.0-1899.90" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">archive.is/93NE8#selectio…

@gregbagwell @ModernNavy @spectator It’s from the Spectator an awful right wing publication which is used to voice conservative propaganda

@ModernNavy @spectator Absolute boll***s. This is a disgraceful hatchet job. What everyone needs to see and ask for is the military advice he was given by PJHQ and the Ops Directorate. If that said “send ships” and Knighton said no then fair enough, but I would be very surprised if it did. Evidence?

Well-placed source says Chief of Defence Staff has "lost the confidence of No. 10" and "stands a good chance of requesting early retirement. ... He has failed to give the PM military capability, but also diplomatic and political credibility." @spectator #selection-1899.0-1899.90" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">archive.is/93NE8#selectio…

@gregbagwell @SirSimonClarke @ShippersUnbound @CommonsDefence Greg it’s honestly so refreshing to read some sensible considered content from a military commentator rather than the usual ill informed rabid comment that so many others espouse. Keep it up.

@SirSimonClarke @ShippersUnbound Can anyone show me the military advice that suggested Dragon needed to be deployed to Akrotiri earlier? Because, yesterday the @CommonsDefence reported that the decision making process was logical, which is code for the assessed threat didn’t warrant it.

I don’t think that’s fair, Jess. It was apparent for weeks that this scenario was likely and yet the Navy wasn’t stood up. As per @ShippersUnbound, the Americans were asking about using our bases on 11 February.

@FennellJW You fail to notice that changes in ‘global security situation’ are what has driven past governments to cut defence so I wouldn’t say that this government has failed to comprehend this, but previous governments have been ignorant

I get the feeling that a point will come very soon when the government raises the defence budget, and will blame the global security situation. They will completely fail to comprehend that the security situation would not have deteriorated if they had raised it earlier. thetimes.com/uk/defence/art…

@haynesdeborah @Keir_Starmer Sky does seem to have a vendetta against Labour and Starmer even over things out of their original control. There is also a limited understanding of defence .

With calls growing for @Keir_Starmer to accelerate plans to rebuild the UK’s armed forces, we tracked our military shrinkage from 1983 (a year after UK forces seized back the Falklands from Argentina) to now. Personnel numbers are down by almost two thirds news.sky.com/story/uk-must-…

@FennellJW How about abolishing the triple lock pension. That would save the government billions if it was linked with average earnings

Britain’s £18bn welfare bill rise could pay for 15 Navy warships, 220 jet fighters or 250,000 soldiers. telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/0…