11.03.2026 20:52
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A flat steak?
Being lectured on poor judgment by Badenoch is like being lectured by George Best for drinking too much.
There’s always a Star Trek episode for the current situation @georgetakei.bsky.social
memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/A_Taste...
This is true but previous Presidents since the end of the Cold War such as Bush Sr and Clinton have actively pushed their European allies to cut down on their defence spending to ensure American dominance within NATO. Much of the state of European military is down to American policy
It was a cost cutting exercise and not a strategic response. U.K. lost critical niche capabilities which it could no longer replicate and has left military shockingly underprepared. So when press and Badenoch go after Starmer about the state of our military just remember who is really responsible
In 2011 House of Commons Defence Select Committee published a critical review of the SDSR. The review had led to wide-ranging cuts to Armed Forces, which were widely criticised for damaging the capabilities of the British military and left Britain unprepared in a changing international environment
RAF - Personnel to be reduced by 5,000. Nimrod scrapped. Early retirement of C130 fleet. Sentinel R1 ground surveillance aircraft retired. Two Tornado squadrons disbanded immediately. Reduction to seven frontline squadrons. Current RAF fighter strength is now half of what it was in 2010
British Army - Reduce the army's size to 82,000 regulars. The number of Challenger 2 tanks to be cut by 40%. The number of AS-90 self-propelled heavy artillery guns to be cut by 35%. The withdrawal of all 20,000 British troops from bases in Germany. Reduction in number of deployable brigades
RFA Largs Bay was decommissioned and sold to Australian Navy despite entering service just 4 years earlier. Current surface fleet to be reduced to 19 frigates and destroyers. 4 Type 22 frigates to be decommissioned and would not be replaced until 2028. Ark Royal to be scrapped immediately
The Harriers were retired from service. The Tories in the review wanted to cancel the aircraft carrier contract completely but financial penalties meant this too expensive to do so. The original plan was to complete the second carrier and then either sell it or put it into immediate mothballing.
All three of Britain's armed forces would take cuts in manpower.
Royal Navy - Personnel to be reduced by 5,000. One LPA ship to be mothballed. Illustrious was to scrapped despite a £40m refit 5 just 5 years earlier. HMS Ocean eventually sold in 2018. This left a carrier gap in RN until 2017
As Tories attack Starmer for the state of the military let’s have a look at David Cameron’s 2010 Strategic Defence Review. The Tories wanted a 10-20% cut in the defence budget and it ended up with a 8% reduction.
When the Tories blame Starmer for a stripped out military @mrjamesob.bsky.social let’s remember who is really responsible. Austerity still rears its ugly head 16 years later
George Orwell expanded it to double think where the same process is now adopted by their followers.
In Switzerland, postal voting is the de facto standard and around 90% of votes are cast by mail. Over a quarter of U.K. ballots are cast by mail.
You know it’s bad when Switzerland makes a statement about America and Israel war on Iran.
The United States and Israel have broken international law with their attacks on Iran, Swiss Defence Minister Martin Pfister said in an interview.
#SheShed
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Last I checked Aaron the regime is still there. Are they all too scared to tell Trump?
Love this @mrjamesob.bsky.social
So no DHS funding then 👍
Just to clarify @mrjamesob.bsky.social Trump will grant asylum to people from a country the US has banned visas application from and where he has also suspended asylum applications from?
UK government releases list of 76 EU laws that it says UK will align with under food standards treaty with EU www.gov.uk/government/n...
This is the same mindset that Tony Blair had in joining Bush in his #IraqWar adventure. He believed he could restrain the zeal of the Bush neocons from the inside. You’d think that Sunak would have understood that. #IranWar
I was in Toronto last summer and I saw an American Tourist with a t shirt say ‘Hey Canada. We all hate him too’
I remember my mother said to me when I was a kid and did something wrong with my friend ‘if he told you to jump off a cliff would you do it?’
My advice would be don’t try this strategy with Trump and MAGA
It does feel like we are back in 2011 and no one has learnt the lesson from Libya
