Trump knows that his side has lost so is trying to salvage the situation with less egg on his [America’s] face. Starmer can’t look himself in the mirror and see his face is completely covered in egg and that again, the only thing he and his country can do is hold on to Big Daddy [a.k.a. America’s] coattails and ride this one out. I’m sure he’ll be able to think of something clever to say in front of the cameras like Trump did (we want to stop the killing on both sides).. but his minders should make sure not to feed him sausages before he steps in front of the mic 🤣
Britain is a middling power that still has not been able to shake off its imperial past. It has no morality (think Gaza, Ukraine most currently) and no strength to boast about and, internally, its economy is in shambles and its own people have stopped believing in project Britain.. it is losing fast to other countries which are technologically, economically and militarily superior. As for Kid Starver and his cadre of nincompoops, another in a series of no good, horribly bad, self serving idiots pretending to be adults while expediting the country’s demise. What a $hitshow.. I think the direction that Britain is heading towards of complete and utter failure and irrelevance is irreversible at this point. It’s not clear America might make it either to your earlier point about DOGE..
Thanks for putting that together, Ian. Always helpful to have some numbers to look at. For instance, only 24% of the budget putting boots on the ground. Or parade ground anyway.
I have to disagree with the DOGE notion. Adding in another layer of administration to cover for people that aren't doing their job is just adding admin costs. The Ministry of Defence just needs to manage its budget better. And I do have some sympathy as all big capital projects overrun, whether it be military-related or building hospitals. There appears to be no getting away from it.
And we do have a National Audit Office, which I'd guess the USA doesn't? Maybe they need more clout? Although the audit profession does have a reputation for hiding bad news I'm afraid.
I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest that there is probably no 'holistic' (for want of a better word) view of the military budget but rather it is very much a what the army wants plus what the navy wants plus what the air force wants, if you understand what I'm trying to say.
A 0.2% increase will be divvied out more or less proportionately to keep the three bigwigs quiet?
Whereas what is needed is to look at what we actually need, as a nation, and if that means decimating one of the three services to boost the others, then go ahead and do that then.
What do we need tanks for? Even just one? Tanks are getting destroyed by drones in Ukraine.
I'd presume that nobody in the country objects to military spend that is, as the name of the ministry suggests, on DEFENCE.
However it is plain as day that Britain tends to use its military in meddling, particularly in the Middle East. Stuff like using our position in Cyprus to help the Israelis commit ethnic cleansing.
Speaking very broadly, our nuclear shield is enough to defend the nation, which is after all an island nation. Our defence budget really ought to reflect that fact.
But the problem with having a percentage-of-GDP defence budget is that budgetholders will always always without fail spend what they are offered, even if they don't need it. Nobody ever hands back 'free money'.
And so what we get is a military that is not capable of taking on a superpower such as Russia, but we could just rely on the nuclear protection, after all, that is its entire raison d'etre.
Not being able to fight a conventional war with say Russia, we still decide to spend the budget on conventional stuff that seemingly inevitably ends up getting used for meddling, not defence.
Governments of all colours call this meddling "defending British interests". They might as well call it what it is: imperialism.
As a British citizen I don't begrudge a single penny of defence spend. But I do want to see the money spent on doing imperialist shite like helping the Israelis commit ethnic cleansing stopped.
Very well said and I can't disagree. The DOGE point was tongue in cheek, of course. Having been involved in some NAO reports while at the FO, I do think depts should have less power to argue out judgements that they disagree with or don't like, because they are embarrassed. Audit should be just that, and not result in drafting by committee.
Indeed. The Lib Dems (who ironically seem most pro-war right now) have suggested a UK rearmament bank. It's a good idea as is, e.g. introducing more state control of strategic defence industries. This could also be done in partnership with key EU states,but without the involvement of the Commission.
Except that Trump is not engaged in 'diplomacy' and Starmer is already following his lead and selling off parts of the UK and the NHS to BlackRock et al. Trump is engaged in resource colonisation of whoever he can. Maybe even Iran.
Yes, military spending in the UK won't make any difference to Russia but following Trump around like a dog while he tramples over sovereignty and employee and environmental protections on behalf of the US super-rich, in order to counter what he sees as a threat from China, is not the way to go either.
We need to align with multipolarity and the BRI not Trump and Blackrock.
I worked for about three months in a major defence contractor that had massive government contracts, the waste that was going on was absolutely shocking.
The priorities of the defence contractor were as follows.
* Firstly, extract as much money from the government as you can on EXISTING contracts.
* Secondly, spend a huge amount of money and resources to win FUTURE contracts.
* Actually deliver the vehicles and weapons systems you are supposed to be delivering.
Britain yearns for its imperial days and is trying to recreate them through hanging on to US coat tails. It isn't working for them. The US is disrespecting Europeans and NATO as just a bunch of proxies in waiting to be utilized when and if needed. Don't call us, we'll call you.
It is my opinion that when the upcoming Yalta 2.0 talks happen between Russia, America and China, it will come out that the US has been holding on to tons of the world's gold. I believe Fort Knox has gold so old it goes back to the Tsar's times.
The rumours of no gold in Knox have been put out by EU/Davos media. I believe the opposite is true, there is more than they realize, of varying quality, it will all have to be correctly inventoried X-rayed and assayed.
Were that to be the case, the US could hold on to that gold to prevent Russia from any bigger ideas.
I trust Trump to be a deal-maker and I hear he wishes to REDUCE the arms America has in concert with Russia/China. What is coming out of these DOGE revelations is how many regime change ops the US has undertaken around the world. This will stop and peace will ensue.
Diplomacy and real free fair trade (not the variety of "free" trade until now which was basically the US/UK pillaging other lands) are the way forwards.
Trump knows that his side has lost so is trying to salvage the situation with less egg on his [America’s] face. Starmer can’t look himself in the mirror and see his face is completely covered in egg and that again, the only thing he and his country can do is hold on to Big Daddy [a.k.a. America’s] coattails and ride this one out. I’m sure he’ll be able to think of something clever to say in front of the cameras like Trump did (we want to stop the killing on both sides).. but his minders should make sure not to feed him sausages before he steps in front of the mic 🤣
Britain is a middling power that still has not been able to shake off its imperial past. It has no morality (think Gaza, Ukraine most currently) and no strength to boast about and, internally, its economy is in shambles and its own people have stopped believing in project Britain.. it is losing fast to other countries which are technologically, economically and militarily superior. As for Kid Starver and his cadre of nincompoops, another in a series of no good, horribly bad, self serving idiots pretending to be adults while expediting the country’s demise. What a $hitshow.. I think the direction that Britain is heading towards of complete and utter failure and irrelevance is irreversible at this point. It’s not clear America might make it either to your earlier point about DOGE..
Hard to disagree with what you say.
Thanks for putting that together, Ian. Always helpful to have some numbers to look at. For instance, only 24% of the budget putting boots on the ground. Or parade ground anyway.
I have to disagree with the DOGE notion. Adding in another layer of administration to cover for people that aren't doing their job is just adding admin costs. The Ministry of Defence just needs to manage its budget better. And I do have some sympathy as all big capital projects overrun, whether it be military-related or building hospitals. There appears to be no getting away from it.
And we do have a National Audit Office, which I'd guess the USA doesn't? Maybe they need more clout? Although the audit profession does have a reputation for hiding bad news I'm afraid.
I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest that there is probably no 'holistic' (for want of a better word) view of the military budget but rather it is very much a what the army wants plus what the navy wants plus what the air force wants, if you understand what I'm trying to say.
A 0.2% increase will be divvied out more or less proportionately to keep the three bigwigs quiet?
Whereas what is needed is to look at what we actually need, as a nation, and if that means decimating one of the three services to boost the others, then go ahead and do that then.
What do we need tanks for? Even just one? Tanks are getting destroyed by drones in Ukraine.
I'd presume that nobody in the country objects to military spend that is, as the name of the ministry suggests, on DEFENCE.
However it is plain as day that Britain tends to use its military in meddling, particularly in the Middle East. Stuff like using our position in Cyprus to help the Israelis commit ethnic cleansing.
Speaking very broadly, our nuclear shield is enough to defend the nation, which is after all an island nation. Our defence budget really ought to reflect that fact.
But the problem with having a percentage-of-GDP defence budget is that budgetholders will always always without fail spend what they are offered, even if they don't need it. Nobody ever hands back 'free money'.
And so what we get is a military that is not capable of taking on a superpower such as Russia, but we could just rely on the nuclear protection, after all, that is its entire raison d'etre.
Not being able to fight a conventional war with say Russia, we still decide to spend the budget on conventional stuff that seemingly inevitably ends up getting used for meddling, not defence.
Governments of all colours call this meddling "defending British interests". They might as well call it what it is: imperialism.
As a British citizen I don't begrudge a single penny of defence spend. But I do want to see the money spent on doing imperialist shite like helping the Israelis commit ethnic cleansing stopped.
Very well said and I can't disagree. The DOGE point was tongue in cheek, of course. Having been involved in some NAO reports while at the FO, I do think depts should have less power to argue out judgements that they disagree with or don't like, because they are embarrassed. Audit should be just that, and not result in drafting by committee.
But what about the bankers? The middlemen between government and industry have to get their cut too!!
If, a big if, the UK opened a state bank, they'd have a world class military as well as a world class country.
Indeed. The Lib Dems (who ironically seem most pro-war right now) have suggested a UK rearmament bank. It's a good idea as is, e.g. introducing more state control of strategic defence industries. This could also be done in partnership with key EU states,but without the involvement of the Commission.
Delivering old solutions at brand new prices in the next decade...
Except that Trump is not engaged in 'diplomacy' and Starmer is already following his lead and selling off parts of the UK and the NHS to BlackRock et al. Trump is engaged in resource colonisation of whoever he can. Maybe even Iran.
Yes, military spending in the UK won't make any difference to Russia but following Trump around like a dog while he tramples over sovereignty and employee and environmental protections on behalf of the US super-rich, in order to counter what he sees as a threat from China, is not the way to go either.
We need to align with multipolarity and the BRI not Trump and Blackrock.
Thank you for taking such a clear stand as a Peacemonger, even if it is not very fashionable these days.
I worked for about three months in a major defence contractor that had massive government contracts, the waste that was going on was absolutely shocking.
The priorities of the defence contractor were as follows.
* Firstly, extract as much money from the government as you can on EXISTING contracts.
* Secondly, spend a huge amount of money and resources to win FUTURE contracts.
* Actually deliver the vehicles and weapons systems you are supposed to be delivering.
Britain yearns for its imperial days and is trying to recreate them through hanging on to US coat tails. It isn't working for them. The US is disrespecting Europeans and NATO as just a bunch of proxies in waiting to be utilized when and if needed. Don't call us, we'll call you.
It is my opinion that when the upcoming Yalta 2.0 talks happen between Russia, America and China, it will come out that the US has been holding on to tons of the world's gold. I believe Fort Knox has gold so old it goes back to the Tsar's times.
The rumours of no gold in Knox have been put out by EU/Davos media. I believe the opposite is true, there is more than they realize, of varying quality, it will all have to be correctly inventoried X-rayed and assayed.
Were that to be the case, the US could hold on to that gold to prevent Russia from any bigger ideas.
I trust Trump to be a deal-maker and I hear he wishes to REDUCE the arms America has in concert with Russia/China. What is coming out of these DOGE revelations is how many regime change ops the US has undertaken around the world. This will stop and peace will ensue.
Diplomacy and real free fair trade (not the variety of "free" trade until now which was basically the US/UK pillaging other lands) are the way forwards.