Colin
16.3K posts
@RayVon83016875 @MarcherReborn It has to be signed if by 500 civil servants to ensure it’s safe
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Some of the 62 marching bands?
Red Arrows?
BBMF?
RAF Central Band?
Some of the 485 ceremonial horses?
Parachute display teams?
Sky News@SkyNews
UK military chiefs asked to find £3.5bn in savings - and get ready for war. 🔗 trib.al/xWAkBOt
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@ATaylorFPGA @MarcherReborn The ceremony and pomp persuades an awful lot of people to visit our shores, where they spend a shed load more than the costs of the pomp etc. It’s the political vanity projects that need stopping. 2 completely useless carriers that we can’t even man or support would be a start
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@MarcherReborn keep the reds and the BBMF, scrap everything else including all ceremonial duties and pomp. the nation is in a mess it needs to be fixed.
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@MercianCRoW @MarcherReborn When did that happen. I was a SNCO and never got daily stewarding ever. Single accommodation yes, but high class hotel / not a chance
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@MarcherReborn How about ending the sumptuous living conditions of the officer and SNCO ranks within the military. Do they really need daily stewarding services which likens a high class hotel
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@sophgaston But we do need to get away from political vanity projects like the 2 floating rust bucket carriers that were never needed and completely unaffordable.
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£10bn is not enough, not only because of the hard capability choices it would require. Defence is an industrial complex. It needs longer-term contracts so industry can bed in and invest too. We must break the cycle of frugality. It's expensive to be poor.
thetimes.com/uk/defence/art…
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Defence Minister hits back at "armchair generals"💺
In response to a BFBS Forces News poll, @LukePollard said he was "sick and tired" of conjecture of the readiness of our military, after recent criticism🔗⬇️
forcesnews.com/politics/defen…
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@TrisOsborneMP Because precedence says you support your allies even if it is on the QT. That we haven’t is going to have a grave effect on UK / US relations for many years (IMHO)
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@lockwc1 Not sure how you are therefore not confirming my point on precedence then.
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The consequences of the war in Iran will be a shock on global economic growth, including the UK.
This is a war the UK is not involved in; this contrasts with those calling from the outset for offensive action like Nigel / Kemi
BBC News (UK)@BBCNews
UK faces biggest hit to growth of G7 advanced economies from Iran war, IMF says bbc.in/426txNW
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@TrisOsborneMP I know I can. You stated the US didn’t help us in 82. They absolutely did, but it couldn’t be done openly for political reasons. I would suggest the bases come under the same criteria.
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@Anglo_Japan45 And probably civil servants questioning why a soldier needs so many bullets in a war
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Though I’m highly sympathetic with the criticism in general, I do suspect part of the reason it’s taking so long was a failure in rigorous costing during the SDR process.
Main Building now trying to action the recommendations without the necessary resource envelope.
Pippa Crerar@PippaCrerar
EXCL: Fiona Hill, co-author of UK’s strategic defence review, has joined criticism of Keir Starmer’s leadership on military policy, warning of “bizarre” lack of urgency in defence planning. She echoed of Labour former defence sec & Nato sec gen George Robertson over what he had called the PM's “corrosive complacency”. @danielboffey theguardian.com/politics/2026/…
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@NemoOutisUK @DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat Covid reference was versus your national debt comment. Didn’t deny 2010 or 2015 SDRs. But i served through the late 80s and 90s and the cuts were brutal as a “Peace dividend” Now regardless of the past we need to rebuild, It will be a long and v difficult road
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@lockwc1 @DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat 🙄
Except the SDR 2010 scrapped the LPDs, Type 22s & both carriers, cut the Army & 40% of their tanks, scrapped RAF maritime surveillance.
Then the SDR 2015 reduced the frigate force & canned the RAF strike force. Way before Covid.
Oh and Boris cut the Army to 73,000.
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Quite right from @TomTugendhat 👇 Less time blaming the past, more time preparing for the future. Where is the Defence Investment Plan which this Government promised last year?
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The NHS should fit around your life, not the other way around.
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@TrisOsborneMP Your question should have been. Did the US openly support us ? For the answer i’d suggest asking any of your ex military colleagues who were serving in 82.
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@lockwc1 Did the US get involved in the Falklands when our territory was invaded; did NATO?
Members have a track record of not getting involved in others conflicts. Long precedence.
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@paul_d_stevens @DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat @Conservatives I was in the military the entire time you quote and it was 1990 when the reductions really started biting. Can’t speak personally after 1999, but the 90s were brutal
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@lockwc1 @DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat @Conservatives Good. I hope his colleagues are as candid. But it all started a lot earlier than 1990 in my book: 1979.
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@NemoOutisUK @DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat Yep we should have just allowed people to die during Covid and let all the SMEs collapse you 🤡
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@DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat We’d love to move on from your party’s decision to slash the Army to the bone, decimate the Navy, and reduce the RAF whilst doubling the National Debt, but we don’t have that option
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@paul_d_stevens @DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat @Conservatives He has been on various media outlets admitting just that, but adding that it all started in 1990. So the reality is the politicians regardless of party are to blame as they diverted the money elsewhere to curry favour and votes
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@DrNShastriHurst @TomTugendhat No, let’s have @Conservatives like @TomTugendhat spend some time reflecting honestly on their party’s past and being uncharacteristically candid about where the blame really lies for the state of today’s Britain. It isn’t just with the guys who’ve been in power for 21 months.
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It’s amazing how so many people who scream about ‘respecting women’ are also happy to refer to The Chancellor of the Exchequer as ‘Rachel From Accounts.’
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Our support for Ukraine is ironclad.
We’ve sent £752 million for military equipment to counter Putin’s illegal war.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
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@Eyeswideopen69 Started in 1990 you plonker. Blame all politicians not just the ones that support your blathering
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Our defence was not hollowed out in a matter of months — it took fourteen years of dedicated vandalism to achieve that.
Sit down you. blithering idiot.
Kemi Badenoch@KemiBadenoch
Starmer will try to blame Conservatives for the defence mess he has created on his watch. Rubbish. In January 2024, Conservatives approved upgrades to Type 45 destroyers including HMS Dragon. In July 2024, Labour paused those upgrades. We led the world in the defence of Ukraine. Conservatives never had the humiliation of a warship stuck in port for weeks, then forced to turn back with faults. That's on Starmer. That's on Labour. And that's why they can't be trusted. Instead of blaming Conservatives he should approve the upgrades now.
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Nigel Farage's plan to move to an insurance-based healthcare system would leave you to pick up the bill.
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@Anniepop2027 @UKLabour @SkyNews They aren’t spending anything !! All major projects are either on hold or cancelled subject to the DIP which is now more than 6 months late.
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