Bear
@BearJFK
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Common citizen. Yorkshireman. Here for the gigs, gags, and the serious stuff. Dabbles aviation and tank geekery.
Joined February 2021
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And by God it was British
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Mate of mine, 30, who will be a fully qualified vet next year, is taking his US vet exam in December.
He plans on moving out there (with his GF, soon fiancé, who is also a vet) in 2026. He’s Yorkshire born & bred. But even he cannot resist the economics of a starting salary of
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This is what Britain should have been leading on for the last 50 years. Nuclear power:
A small, dense country. High skilled. Stable. Safe. We could have an industry employing 100,000s of high wage, ultra-high productivity unionised jobs.
We still can. If we want it.
NEW FACILITY: The UK will be the first European country to produce advanced nuclear fuel – a market currently dominated by Russia – after Urenco was awarded £196 million by the government to build Europe's first high-tech nuclear fuel production facility at its Capenhurst site in
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British and Polish mounted troops patrolling Belarusian border.
@YorksOriginal
Cavalry, or mounted infantry, were and to an extent even now are a good capability. Infantry but a lot more mobile.
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While our economic competitors in Italy, West Germany and Japan invested in plant and modernising their factories.
They soon ended up richer than us.
Attlee inherited a deficit of 264% in 1945, yet his Labour government gave us the welfare state.
#TaxWealth
#FixBritain
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That is a slam-dunk of a community note
In order to look to the future, the UK needs to be able to have mature conversations about our nation’s past. This includes confronting the legacy of slavery and colonialism.
I was recently asked on LBC if the Royal Family should apologise for slavery. Here’s what I said:
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(Stolen from Reddit)
British Pacific Fleet, 1945
Just one of several fleets
*note the number of auxiliaries 🤔
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Old Admiralty building
Current Navy Command HQ
Name a bigger fall….?
@BearJFK
Yup (someone once told me Royal Naval College, that behemoth was being considered for sale once).
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I actually have no problem with this. It is great.
She is swearing on something she holds dearly, that’s the whole point of an oath.
Unlike those republican pricks protesting thus negating their oath entirely.
British MP sworn in to UK Parliament using a QURAN.
Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West, swore her allegiance to King Charles III by swearing to ‘Almighty Allah.’
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Should be banned entirely across our EEZ.
Destroying the seabed for generally shit fish undermines the whole marine ecology, reducing overall fish stocks — especially of good fish.
It’s the equivalent of building enormous nets and dragging them across a forest just to hunt
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Every one of those people who used those 2,000 certificates should be deported.
Even if they have since had families.
🔴 Four gang members have been jailed for a total of 13 years after forging more than 2,000 marriage certificates that allowed people to live in the UK illegally.
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“War footing”
One of the largest dry docks in Europe.
If our leaders were serious, they would do a Forgemasters with it and get the MOD to buy it. Turn it into a Royal Dockyard.
UNCONFIRMED reports suggests
@HarlandWolffplc
could be broken up and sold off in bits, forcing job losses and reducing UK industrial capacity to build future ships for the navy.
The US lender seems intent on selling the business, possibly by means of a pre-pack administration
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MOD should buy it for £1
Harland & Wolff has announced it is insolvent and will appoint administrators.
An administration order will likely be made this week, it added.
Jobs are likely to be lost, the company said, but it did not detail how many.
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This fact about “golden years” of New Labour is not talked about enough.
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We need to turn BAE Systems into an industrial giant. Not just a defence giant.
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Share the fuck out of this
This is the reality. Now remove the additional costs due to unnecessary regulation and stalling…
We’re being mugged.
Nuclear is cheap. Really cheap. Unless you deliberately make it expensive.
About 2/3 of the unit cost of the electricity generated from Hinckley point comes from the financing
In other words, if the government had just paid the money to build it up front, the electricity generated would be 2/3 cheaper
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Fuck the triple-lock and foreign aid. We need a bigger navy.
Photo from
@hmsdiamond
last night night in
#RedSea
firing at
#Houthi
drones - just released by 🇬🇧 MOD:
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To be fair, sending our knackered Challenger 2s to Ukraine to end their days in flaming glory, having taken-out hundreds of Russian tanks along the way, would be like a terminally-ill Viking charging into battle ensuring entry into the halls of Valhalla.
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RAF 1989:
380+ Tornado
100+ Phantom
100+ Jaguar
180+ Harrier
65+ Buccaneer
2022:
100-120 Typhoon
24 Lightning II
Quite a collapse
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The procurement of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers was the best value program of the last 25yrs. Their price was low by global standards, and would have been much lower if govt didn’t delay the program AND mess with the design.
They’ll be in service for decades to come.
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The United Kingdom is a large island nation, with territories, friends and kin across the globe.
It should have a thriving shipbuilding sector; a huge merchant marine, and a large, deadly navy.
Anything less is managed decline.
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The Treasury is the single most destructive institution in British history, change my mind:
Invented in Britain! Used… somewhere else?
A short, tongue-in-cheek thread about my mother country's amazing ability to put in all the groundwork and then go “...nah.”
Can you think of more examples?
Read on…
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This is a significant and deep cultural difference.
Even radical left American liberals aren’t bothered by it. But we are in Britain.
It’s unique to Britain, too.
Until we dump this bitterness we will be forever miserable.
We Brits moan about the Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister taking a chartered airline, rather than economy like us “ordinary people”, yet Americans will make a documentary where they celebrate the fact POTUS can order fresh cooked prime steak or a burger on Air Force fucking One
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@scepticalPhil
@jk_rowling
It’s not many men at all. It is a tiny minority of obscure men, given platforms by activists, supported by, unfortunately, and rather bizarrely, a fair amount of women.
Very odd.
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It could be argued that, unlike the Army and RAF, the RN has the clearest set of capability requirements and plans—but is simply limited by funding.
Prj ‘Ark Royal’ being a good example of this. Massive but low-risk capability increase for “relatively” little extta funding.
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Schrodingers Royal Navy:
The navy is both far weaker in so many ways than it has ever been, yet has capabilities admirals could only dream of only 20yrs ago.
📸F-35B Lightning jets of 617 Squadron disembarked HMS Prince of Wales following Exercise Steadfast Defender to return to RAF Marham in Norfolk.
👉Exercise Steadfast Defender is the largest NATO exercise for over a decade and takes places across several months
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@brianmoore666
You do know these rights were basically what Britain had before the ECHR and EU, hence why it was mainly British lawyers who set up the ECHR in the first place?
These are British rights!
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Malta not becoming an integral part of the United Kindom was such a missed opportunity.
Sad
Malta voted to have parliamentary representation, integration into the uk, with a devolved government, but uk handling home, foreign, defence and taxation affairs. Didn’t just vote to remain British but to integrate.
We gave it independence anyway, decolonisation went too far.
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@samofsamshire
Entire suburbs and inner city areas of shitty post war stock, and some crappy Victorian 2-up-2-down stock need replacing with these.
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British Steel — Chinese owned
Tata UK — Indian owned
Who thought having our strategic steel production capability being owned by a hostile authoritarian superpower and somewhat neutral great power was ever a good idea?
Labour, Tories, LibDems, Greens… all on their heads.
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You know what the tragic irony is?
They are overwhelmingly white men. The very lowest on the socio-political pecking order: openly mocked, and regularly derided as “the oppressor” by our institutions and intellectual classes.
Yet, it is they who will expected to fight and die.
Up to 55,000 ex-regular Army personnel could be recalled if war breaks out.
The MOD revealed the number following written questions from former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Find out more 👇
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@afneil
Interesting. You’ve left, calling it a disaster. Although the likes of
@colinbrazierGBN
@AlStewartOBE
@thecoastguy
and others have stuck it out.
Has it got room for improvement? OH YES. Is it experimental? OH YES. Does it have the best discussion & interviews on TV? OH YES.
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7% of current generation. One plant.
Hinkley C is another 7%
Sizewell C another 7%
That’s 21% of current generation. From THREE plants.
In 2009, TEN similar scale plants were planned. That’s 70% if used to replace existing generation.
Imagine twenty.
"Britain’s third new nuclear power station to be built in Anglesey
"New North Wales site expected to generate 7pc of the UK’s electricity"
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Challenger 3 budget is £800m
Just a fraction of a single year’s foreign aid budget would allow new build production of >400 these for the British Army. Matching original Challenger 2 production run.
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We’re wasting precious resources on this.
The armed forces should not have a policy of reducing its co2 footprint.
Talk about institutional capture.
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Once it becomes common knowledge that a significant proportion of nursing homes are owned by foreign investment firms, you realise how fucked the care system is.
More £££ extracted from the economy
Tell me again how the tories have fixed social care … my mum’s nursing home costs £4200 per month and this was her lunch today. She is sat in the same clothes that she had on 3 days ago 😡😡😡
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This is so stupid, it would never have been uttered in public 20yrs ago
“They are selling a product that’s made up of 70% of the Earth’s surface. If you cannot get that right, you should not be running a business period”
This
#bbcqt
audience member says the public have been “let down” by the actions of water companies
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Royal Marines Commando starting salary is £20,000. Still below £30,000 after several years and promotion.
These are elite troops at the tip of the spear.
Pathetic. Insulting. Outrageous.
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By 1945, the Royal Artillery numbered ~700,000 soldiers, nearly 2/5 (~40%) of the entire British Army.
Today, the RA numbers only 5,500 out of 73,000, about 7.5%.
In light of Ukraine, maybe the Army should cut a bunch of infantry bns in favour of a shed load of artillery regts?
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Hear me out:
Jordan now has 400 Challenger 1s in storage.
Ukraine is need of tanks. It heavily relies on T-72s and T-64s.
Britain has removed turrets & guns from CR2s following CR3 upgrade.
Could CR2 turrets be retro-fitted to CR1 hulls, then sent to Ukraine?
@TotherChris
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Just discovered the original requirement for Type 45 Destroyers was not twelve but FOURTEEN. A 1-for-1 replacement of Type 42.
Pity
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Dear
@thinkdefence
Why is it that despite being a “Tier 1” partner, Britain can barely make any modifications to her F-35s, yet Israel gets its own version?
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@calvinrobinson
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” - Thomas Sowell
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To think the 14 Hercs RAF is selling were planned to operate until 2035. There is no plan to replace the lost numbers.
The collapse of British military capability continues at pace.
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When was the time a Jew blew up people or went on a stabbing spree in Britain?
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To think that the Home Secretary has recieved more visceral outrage by the British commentariat than Hamas on 7/10, tells you everything you need to know.
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QE carriers can fit as many F-35s in its hangar as the UK currently has F-35s.
Shows the potential of our two carriers if we want to make the most of them.
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@DrProudman
19yo woman hanging out with 50yo millionaire movie star.
Is it any of your business what this woman does?
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These are items held in trust for the public, not assets.
No doubt these will be sold off.
Birmingham City Council owns an artwork collection valued at almost half a billion pounds, a BBC investigation has discovered.
The scale of the council-owned art collection has also revealed.
Full story -
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So what is Poland’s secret? It has a declining and ageing workforce after all.
30% manufacturing/industry economy — that’s the key
Britain needs to reindustrialise. And it can only do this by VASTLY increasing energy availability and affordability.
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Just look at these two docks
335m and 556m respectively
A Gerald R Ford class supercarrier is 333m. The QE carriers are 284m.
Funny how we chose to cram our warships in Scottish docks rather than take advantage of these.
Party politics gets the way, naturally.
What a waste
“War footing”
One of the largest dry docks in Europe.
If our leaders were serious, they would do a Forgemasters with it and get the MOD to buy it. Turn it into a Royal Dockyard.
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While the British govt drags its high heels…
Rolls Royce now has full government permission to move forward with its plan to deploy its 470 MW SMRs in Poland. Article link in reply.
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Let’s fookin gooooo
Submarines
SMRs
Large reactors
100,000s of highly paid, unionised, secure jobs; of many areas of skill and role; who will pay lots in tax.
A nuclear Britain, would be a rich and powerful Britain.
This is the ascended™️ way.
Government and industry to invest £760m in skills and infrastructure to reinforce the country’s nuclear deterrent and support SSN
#AUKUS
construction.
UK nuclear industry as a whole will need an additional 123,000 people by 2030.
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The govt failing to convince Ineos to build their Grenadier in UK instead of France was a real ball drop of a moment.
Surely a guaranteed order from the MOD of >10,000 vehicles for Land Rover replacement would have done it?
@thinkdefence
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@technopopulist
It only makes sense when you realise the core is just anti-capitalism / anti-humanism. Communism basically.
Watermelons, as always.
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Seeing two frigates in dry dock just looks epic.
We should have more. Much more.
Latest news article:
HMS Cardiff joins HMS Glasgow in dry dock fitting out at Scotstoun
Photo
@EyeintheskyGla
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The shortage of medical staff in the UK is 100% down to government policy of restricting training places, alongside making nursing require a degree.
There is also nothing “moral” about poaching desperately needed staff from desperately poor countries.
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That time when the Royal Navy was on its way to standardising on 155mm for naval gunnery.
Advantages being commonality with land artillery and benefiting from all the associated R&D.
Cut as part of 2010 SDR ☹️
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@WarMonitor3
Why we’re still refering to them as Wagner instead of Wanker I do not know lol.
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If Khan is voted out I’ll open a bottle of champagne.
I’m not even a Londoner, but London is the capital of my country, after all.
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So, we’re sending these to Ukraine.
If they’re in production, why the HELL isn’t the British Army ordering this platform for mobile AD, mobile MLRS (like HIMARS) etc??
Jesus wept
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Indeed. An expeditionary French army, using French equipment, supported by French built warships including an aircraft carrier armed French Dassault Rafales armed with French weapons.
All on a budget equal to Britain’s.
Imagine if the British govt was as competent…
The French Armée de Terre's Scorpion Programme has delivered six primary platforms:
1⃣Leclerc XLR MBT
2⃣VBCI IFV
3⃣ Ceasar 155 mm SPH
4⃣Griffon VBMR
5⃣Jaguar EBRC
6⃣ Serval VBMR-L
This is what a best-in-class expeditionary army looks like. It goes anywhere, does anything, and
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@jordanbpeterson
Jordan. You’ve gone down a rabbit hole. Take a step back.
You, like many in N.America, evidently have little idea what is going on in E.Europe. Countries like Estonia, Finland, Poland…have very good reason to do what they can to see Russia is defeated.
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@LeoMars75
Not a surprise at all. Trades can earn serious money if they’re competent.
And quite a few tradesmen do go to uni anyway. I know a few who did.
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@CoKeynesian
Indeed, though the BPF was truly vast by itself.
Op Downfall would also have witnessed use of new ‘super-props’ and the like:
Bearcat, P-51H, P-47B, B-32 Dominator. Brutal.
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In an alternate timeline, Cheiftain received a heavy upgrade in the 80s. Once retired in the 90s, they were all kept in storage until 2022 when they were again modernised and sent to Ukraine.
Chieftain 900E
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@afneil
@colinbrazierGBN
@AlStewartOBE
@thecoastguy
In short, you bailed too early. You expected to be served by the channel instead of leading it.
Leadership requires risk and sacrifice - but clearly you were unwilling to do either.
Unfortunatly Mr Neil, I think you’ve cornered yourself here.
Despite this, good luck to you sir
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@IsabelOakeshott
Simple:
If he cannot fill the roles he should increase the wages. If then uneconomical, then let his stores close. Big whoop.
Why should the taxpayer subsidise his profits with cheap migrant labour who’ll require tax-credits and other assistance any way?
Nonsense economics.
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In an alternative timeline, the British gov didn’t cripple North Sea oil & gas, allowed shale exploration, and commissioned 12 large scale nuclear plants from late 00s. By 2023, our economy would be very different.
Industry investment would likely been booming as a result.
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We want another 8
And we won’t wait
Drone footage shows Type 26 Frigates HMS Cardiff and HMS Glasgow on the River Clyde. HMS Cardiff left the shipyard at Govan today before passing Scotstoun, where first-in-class HMS Glasgow is being fitted out.
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Difficult without our own steel
Britain strengthening defence manufacturing industry - "This Government is committed to developing a UK defence industrial base that is able to better support our own and allies' security."
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Is there not a case now to make the RN the primary operator F-35Bs, given RAF should be operating Tempest by 2030s?
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How much, roughly speaking, would it cost to upgrade the whole Warrior fleet as per originally planned?
Would it be more prudent to buy new?
Either way, that the British Army lacks a modern IFV is a scandal. Our troops deserve better.
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Other countries just get on with it. We fuck around.
A 2nd nuclear plant has been approved in Poland. This time, a pair of Korean APR1400s. (Article link in reply.)
I personally trust the Koreans the most, given their success in building plants (at lower cost w/ fewer delays), both at home and abroad.
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Someone please explain to me how fourteen Chinook helicopters cost more than an Astute-class nuclear attack submarine?
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I barely remember it, but lordy it must have been a good time:
Internet was still very new
No smartphones 👍
Economy was good
Pre 9/11, Iraq, Afghan
Pre most of New Labour silliness
Housing was still affordable
Britpop/“cool Britannia” in full heat
Cheap holidays
What else?
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A gentle reminder:
For the total cost of Ajax, the British Army could have upgraded all available CR2s to CR3 standard, and bought 600-700 CV90 Mk.IV.
💀
“Cost projection accounting for 20% of the $1.17 billion contract price being support costs…unit cost of $5.03 million (£4.3 million) for each of the 148 Challenger 3 platforms.”
So for £4.3m the army gets a de facto new tank.
That’s a steal.
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Britain should have mirrored France.
Totally domestic nuclear deterrent
80% nuclear power
Oh well
Harold Macmillan and his consequences have been a disaster for British strategic independence.
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RN today: “F-35 and helo ops on HMS Queen Elizabeth is a highly complex operation…integrating additional aircraft will be even more difficult.”
1960s USN: “Dude…”
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We Brits moan about the Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister taking a chartered airline, rather than economy like us “ordinary people”, yet Americans will make a documentary where they celebrate the fact POTUS can order fresh cooked prime steak or a burger on Air Force fucking One
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For the total planned cost of Ajax, the British Army could have bought 900 CV90 MkIV.
Remember this next time you complain that defence doesn’t receive enough cash.
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And we’re not even trying.
Imagine if the British state had a fully integrated industrial & energy policy, composed of:
• Full nuclear rollout (large plants, SMRs and micro reactors)
• Water infrastructure (upgrading badly needed water treatment + supply)
1/3
The UK is an engineering powerhouse, with the profession contributing an estimated £645bn to the economy. Comprising 729,000 firms, more than 8.1 million people are part of the country’s engineering economy. (Royal Academy of Engineering)
#WorldEngineeringDay2023
#UKmfg
🇬🇧
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Like him or loath him, but he is quite good at asking simple questions.
This also shows what clueless cowards we have in our local govt — notice the clr immediately mentions all these other people in order to reduce her accountability.
Drain the swamp
🤔I quizzed Rebecca Knox, Chair of Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority, on why she agrees her force is ‘institutionally racist’.
📺👇 Her answer is quite something…
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Solar in UK is so funny
Like all solar it doesn’t work at night, and is next to useless during winter when we have far less sunshine — and when energy demand is at its highest.
We don’t make the PVs, but import them from a totalitarian state who make them using cheap electricity
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Why do other countries find it easy to procure a new standard rifle, but the British Army finds it a near impossibility?
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The Royal Navy can deliver two 70,000t carriers, nuclear powered submarines, and rapidly re-learn to operate naval fast air.
The Army can’t deliver a light tank.
Problems
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@ConceptualJames
Deeply flawed, for example:
European population is many times higher than in 16th century, yet forest cover and wildlands are higher than back then.
Why? Urbanisation, extremely efficient agriculture, and burning fossil fuels instead of wood.
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Britain has an enormous automative sector: fantastic design-houses, large and growing factory space and skill base; huge aerospace sector; access to the most advanced technology…
There is NO reason the British armed forces should be reliant on foreign firms for its inventory.
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