William Taverner

The US/Israeli attack on Iran and the widening hostilities in the region are exposing the growing scandal that is Britain’s military capabilities, or lack thereof. We are still in the world’s top 5/6 on defence spending yet: We don’t have a single warship in the whole of the Mediterranean, despite the eastern Mediterranean becoming part of the theatre of war. We don’t have a single warship in the Gulf. We have a naval base in Bahrain. But a base with no ships. We don’t have any subs to deploy. The one active Astute Class sub is in Oz. We have a handful of fighter jets in Cyprus. And a smaller handful in Qatar (attached to Qatari airforce). That’s it. Most of what’s left of the Navy — not even in the top 30 in the world in terms of warships these days — seems to be in repair/maintenance/renovation. Brilliant MoD planning. Labour/Tories/LibDems who all had a shot at government these past 16 years need to be held to account. When Ed Davey says Brit expats in the Gulf should pay for UK protection, exactly what protection does he have in mind that would be worth paying for?

Spurs Sack Thomas Frank & Ange Postecoglou Doesn’t Hold Back | Stick to Football EP 116 youtu.be/flhBQvJeAH8

At this rate Larry the Cat is going to take responsibility before Keir Starmer does...

Its amazing how damn accurate Yes Prime Minister was as a series when it comes to exposing corruption and cover ups in government. As the video states, this could be Starmer and Mandelson or any number of things. Worth a watch 👇👇

Date for the diary… We will be opening for the 2026 season on Friday 3rd April! More information to follow as we gear up for the Spring! Here we go!

@T2Rugby x.com/exeterchiefs/s…

So far Ivanishvili, who is a good talent and was excited to see if could break the seeming curse of 🇬🇪 Georgians never having success in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England, has played just 67 minutes in Prem. Quite disappointing so far. On otherhand Bachuki Tchumbadze has started promisingly at Exeter.

Shogun is the best and most majestic drama series of the last decade. It ranks with the greats.

My final political read of 2025 is on the government farming U-turn: - PM and Reeves held secret crunch meeting 2 weeks ago - Reeves secretly met farming tsar Baroness Batters pre-Budget - PM ordered options for watering down pre-Budget and then post thetimes.com/article/49bdca…

The Odyssey Trailer but Historically Accurate Armor (Bronze Age) by demonflyingfox on YT (same creator who did the early AI Balenciaga videos). This... convinces me that AI will definitely change the game from a post production / fan edit POV. I also do think the historically accurate armor slaps.

I welcome the Treasury recognising that the £1m limit on APR/BPR was misconceived, and increasing it to £2.5m. I wish it hadn't taken 14 months before they listened to the near-universal condemnation of the proposal - it was still categorically in place at the Budget only 4 weeks ago. James Murray in particular many many times staked his political reputation on not moving on the proposals. More importantly, in a country desperate for growth, it makes absolutely no sense to strip 20% from valuable family businesses at a random point once every generation. APR and BPR should be increased back to 100% relief to send a clear message that Britain provides a stable environment for entrepreneurs to succeed and their businesses to grow over decades.

The first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s ‘THE ODYSSEY’ has been released. In theaters on July 17, 2026.

@CatSmithMP and @amcarmichaelMP asking some very direct questions of the PM. Starmer admits he knows some farmers are considering suicide because of his policy, he knows there are changes that could prevent this, but he is choosing not to change course. Words fail me.

Rachel Reeves has ordered a leak inquiry into who could possibly have spent six months leaking budget ideas from the Treasury to the Press. You have to laugh! I wonder when it will report? youtube.com/watch?v=RA1VTG…

EXCLUSIVE   Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been accused of misleading the Cabinet by using claims that there was a black hole in the public finances to justify tax rises during the run up to the Budget   One Cabinet minister told The Times: “Why did Keir and Rachel allow the country to believe for so long that we would break our manifesto by putting up income tax by 2p when they would have known that wasn’t true?   'At no point were the Cabinet told about the reality of the OBR forecasts. Had we been told, we might have been in a position to advise against setting hares running on income tax and giving the public the impression we are casual about our manifesto commitments. The handling of this Budget has been a disaster from start to finish'   Another senior minister said: 'The Treasury’s operation is not exactly cutting edge. The argument about living in uncertain times and needing more headroom makes sense but the way she presented it - by saying there’s a big hole we need to fill - is frustrating. We had this hokey cokey about income taxes going up and then not going up'   Another minister said Starmer and Reeves look 'weak and incompetent' in the wake of the budget but described it as 'par for the course'   The chancellor repeatedly highlighted a downgrade in productivity forecasts in a series of Cabinet meetings as she made the case for raising taxes   It included a meeting on November 4 that was held after a Downing Street press conference which she used to heavily signal that she was preparing to break Labour’s manifesto and raise the basic rate of income tax   Reeves told Cabinet that Britain faces challenges' in the form of tariffs, unstable borrowing costs, inflation and long-term productivity'. She said she “had to respond to the World as it is now, not as she might wish it to be'   Ministers emerged from the meeting convinced that the public finances were in such a dire state that a manifesto-breaking increase in the basic rate of income tax was necessary.    In fact the Office for Budget Responsibility had already informed her privately that the downgrade in the public finances had been more than offset by higher than expected tax revenues   It told Reeves on October 31 that she had a £4.2billion surplus, but the information was not shared with the Cabinet or the public. Only she and Starmer were aware of the improvement in the forecasts. They abandoned the plans to increase the basic rate of income tax a week later amid concerns about a political backlash thetimes.com/article/714550…

By setting the Budget so late in the year then flying enough kites about possible tax rises to blot out the sun Rachael Reeves has presided over the most chaotic and debilitating run up to a Budget in memory. As a result people have stopped spending, business has stopped investing and companies have stopped hiring. No wonder the economy has ground to a halt.

🆕Exclusive: South America to bid for the 2035 or 2039 World Cup; shared between Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil. I met Gus Pichot to discuss that, R360, Nations Champ, 'Greatest Rivalry' & rugby's selfish 'survival mode'. Gracias @AP9_ @TimesSport thetimes.com/sport/rugby-un…

The potential to be a truly transformative World Cup, South America holding it would be wild

NEW REPORT: History should be taught to all children up to the age of 16. The call has been endorsed by the distinguished historians Niall Ferguson @nfergus , Lord (Andrew) Roberts @aroberts_andrew and Dominic Sandbrook ('The Rest is History') @dcsandbrook . At present, most children (55%) stop learning history at 14. That is why our exclusive new poll reveals such little knowledge of history among young adults. Three quarters say they don't know about Admiral Nelson. More than half say they don't know about Oliver Cromwell, a vital figure in the development of our democracy. Britain is an outlier among OECD countries in not teaching history up to the age of 16. This should be changed so we give a rounded education to the citizens and voters of the future. Press release and report below. historyoftotalitarianism.com/history-should…

Pure resilience 🇧🇪 Belgium hold out for the win despite going down to 14 against Brazil in the Final Qualification Tournament #RWC2027

The Greek Frigate Salamis (F-455) and a reconstructed trireme