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Daily Mirror
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
'This psychotic defence review means Britain is no longer one of the good guys'
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Prime Minister with domestic troubles must be in want of a war. But one with no money can, at best, hope to look warlike while spending less than promised on a conflict that is, for the voter, comfortably distant. And so it is for today's Strategic Defence Review, the inevitable kit-check for every incoming government. They are as predictable as bank holiday rain, and about as dampening to the spirit, for their main aim is to make a new broom look brisk while planning for what conflicts will look like in a decade's time. Except: 1) They'll look stupid and pointless, as they always do, and 2) You're in the midst of a technological revolution and absolutely nobody thought lads trained on Nintendo Game Boys would one day come in useful. Last time Labour entered power in 1997, their SDR predicted troops would in future only be used in humanitarian missions. They spent billions on navy vessels that could carry Royal Marines to help out in disaster zones, and dumped tanks in favour of snatch Land Rovers, then promptly entered into land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where the first was useless and the second were deadly. They would better be known as Silly and Delusional Reviews, authored by top brass making brrm-brrm noises and politicians cosplaying as tough guys when their idea of a fight is a stern letter to the editor about the lack of patriotism in Foxy's latest column. But there is one aspect of the Starmer Project's little ego trip which everyone seems to have overlooked, and it is that Britain has decided to stop being one of the good guys. Everyone who works for the government, or likes Starmer, will at this point puff out their cheeks and scoff. Putting a human rights barrister in charge of weapons should be the best possible thing you could do with them. No more extra-judicial killings by the SAS, right lads? Hmmmmmm. I thought that was the whole point of them. The thing Prime Ministers never quite get is that they may sit at the top of the chain of command, but everybody beneath them knows it's temporary. To the Ministry of Defence - an institution which has existed in some form or other since the days of Alfred the Great - it's just like having a supply teacher in charge. They think they wield ineffable power, but the rest of the class is thinking let's get this one to say we can buy 12 new submarines and do colouring-in on Friday afternoons. And it smacks of just such a wheeze that the new SDR promises levels of funding the politicians won't commit to, on timescales that won't be met, for drones that our enemies already have tens of thousands of, and missile factories creating long-range weapons already outclassed by hypersonic versions in the hands of Russia, China and the US. The creation of jobs and production lines will create a more militarised economy better able to respond, if and when a major war begins. But such a war would need to wait until we are ready. In truth, we're promising to take money from the disabled to spend on equipment that's already defunct to fight wars that will be conducted with a touchscreen. It's purely political patriotism. Taking money from the sick and the crippled to make more of the same is supposed to be what the bad guys do. There's little mention in the SDR of how we are expected to deal with a new wave of veterans, damaged by traumas of battle on-screen or IRL. Around £1.5bn will be allocated to improve housing for existing troops, which is less than half of what's needed to make the estate fit for human habitation. And nothing has been said about what happens to the troops that will need to be recruited, once they've served their purpose. But perhaps a clue to how this government plans to handle this knotty issue can be found in its decision to buy F35 jets capable of dropping nuclear bombs. The practice of relying on the purely-defensive at-sea deterrent, housed in hidden, patrolling submarines which have kept the peace for 50 years, is to be supplemented with airborne nukes which turn the most powerful weapons in our arsenal into offensive tools. What was a shield will become a first-strike device, and when defence editors tell you these are "low-yield tactical weapons, nothing like Hiroshima" remember this: they're worse. The bombs that fell on Japan were atomic, pea-shooters compared to the B61s which these jets can carry, and which are thermonuclear fusion weapons capable of infinitely greater destruction. Their yield can be fine-tuned according to need, and be anything up to 20 times as powerful as those that ended World War Two. It puts planes and crews at risk to fly over enemy territory, relies on gravity and is at risk of being blown-off course, and if it were to be shot down would suffer a non-fissile explosion likely to cover vast areas with fallout for thousands of years. The whole point of such an airborne bomb is to scare the bejeebus out of everyone under the flightpath. It patrols in the same way as a permanently-clenched fist patrols at the end of your arm. A defensive tool becomes naked aggression, and the whole world was here before: it was called the Cold War, was characterised by sweaty-palmed world leaders leading every news bulletin with their chins, and it ended only when everybody put their fists back in their pockets. In Opposition, Defence Secretary John Healey told the veterans who helped create that deterrent, and who show 345% increases in radiogenic leukaemia, 10 times the normal rate of miscarriage and elevated rates of suicide, that he was in favour of multilateral disarmament. Today, he's threatening to fling the same radioactive legacy at untold thousands of foreign citizens. At the same time his ministry is still telling those same veterans, as it has for 70 years, that they were perfectly safe when dirty bombs were detonated at the ends of their noses. Tell me, class, if they are so very safe, why are we spending £15bn to terrify the world with a load more of them? The one thing every SDR never bothers to check for is morality. We rely on politicians for that. Which may be why some of the SAS will cheerfully slot a civilian, why nukes can be turned from a deterrent to a come-on-then without any discussion, and why nuclear veterans are still waiting for the Prime Minister to notice they exist. Wrapping yourself in a flag, taking money from the poor, and leading a defence ministry hallucinating with the madness of mutually-illogical policies is not what the good guys do. If a Prime Minister does not look after our heroes and our lame, if we do not treat them with the same dignity and honour, then there are no British values left worth defending.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
£250m for new Royal Marine recruits' accommodation
Military bosses are set to spend £250m on new accommodation for Royal Marine recruits at a Devon base. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the money would be spent at the Lympstone Commando Training Centre over the next couple of years. Along with the new accommodation, the MoD added there would also be a review into rest and sleep to improve learning and fitness, and drone training would be available for all recruits. First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said the Commando Training Centre would continue to produce the nation's "warfighting Special Ops Force". The announcement came ahead of the strategic defence review, being announced by the Prime Minister on Monday. More news stories for Devon Listen to the latest news for Devon Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ 100-year-old commando inspires the next generation King revisits Devon commando base where he trained Building for injured Royal Marine recruits opens Commando Training Centre
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
£250m for new Royal Marine recruits' accommodation at Lympstone
Military bosses are set to spend £250m on new accommodation for Royal Marine recruits at a Devon Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the money would be spent at the Lympstone Commando Training Centre over the next couple of with the new accommodation, the MoD added there would also be a review into rest and sleep to improve learning and fitness, and drone training would be available for all Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said the Commando Training Centre would continue to produce the nation's "warfighting Special Ops Force". The announcement came ahead of the strategic defence review, which will be published on Monday.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Royal Marines Museum to be converted into luxury hotel
A plan to convert Southsea's former Royal Marines Museum into a 96-bedroom luxury hotel has been hotel will be operated by the Grand Hotel Excelsior International Limited and the Grade II listed building's exterior will be left buildings will be used for a gym, treatment rooms and a swimming pool after Portsmouth City Council approved the project on museum building is about 150 years old but the former museum at Eastney Barracks was closed in 2017 after its "irreversible deterioration". The site was sold to the hotel company in 2020 for £4.5m, when it was announced the Yomper, the statue of a Royal Marine in the Falklands War, will remain in its place.A new Royal Marines Museum is planned for the Grade II listed Boathouse 6 building at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Sun
3 days ago
- General
- The Sun
Elite Royal Marines pose with £30m worth of seized illegal drugs after storming smuggler's dhow
ELITE Royal Marines stormed a smuggler's dhow and seized £30 million worth of drugs, it has been revealed. Commandos boarded the vessel under the gaze of a Royal Marine sniper who circled overhead in a Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter. 2 2 The troops found 80 bags of illegal drugs including a tonne of heroin. The Navy said: 'The haul came to 1,000kg heroin, 660kg hashish, and 6kg of amphetamine – worth an estimated £30m on UK streets.' The crew of the frigate HMS Lancaster had tracked the dhow with Peregrine spy drones – mini helicopters – as it crossed the Arabian Gulf towards Africa. The warship remained hidden beyond the horizon for over 24 hours before closing in on the dhow and scrambling its boarding teams in fast attack boats and launching the Wildcat helicopter. The Navy said it 'pounced on a drug runner in the Middle East' during the daring High Seas mission. It said: 'After secretly shadowing the suspect through the Arabian Sea for more than 24 hours, frigate HMS Lancaster struck by sea and air to bring the dhow's voyage to a halt. 'Under the watchful gaze of a Royal Marines sniper circling overhead in the frigate's Wildcat helicopter, the boarding team of 42 Commando closed on the vessel in a pincer movement.' Commander Chris Chew, the ship's captain, said: 'This is another example of where Lancaster has delivered at range, in isolation, utilising her own organic assets.' Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard hailed the 200 strong crew for a 'significant seizure, which is keeping dangerous and illegal drugs off our streets'. The warship was serving as part of a taskforce led by New Zealand's Navy to 'disrupt criminal and terrorist organizations' by seizing drugs, guns and illicit goods at sea. Commodore Rodger Ward, the Kiwi commander, hailed the 'tenacity, training and professionalism' of the Royal Navy.
