During a debate in the House of Lords, peers highlighted the need to increase defence spending to address both traditional and emerging threats, warning that the UK’s security strategy must adapt to the changing nature of warfare, including hybrid threats and disinformation.
Lord West of Spithead (Lab) reflected on public concern, recounting a recent conversation at the Cambridge Union where a student asked, “Do the Treasury actually understand how dangerous the world is and how important it is we should spend money on defence?”
He directly pressed the Government on whether the Treasury recognised the urgency of these threats.
Responding, Lord Coaker (Lab) reassured the chamber that the Treasury understood the stakes. “The Government have agreed to spend more money on defence: £3 billion more next year and a pathway to 2.5% to be announced in the spring,” he said, stressing that this commitment reflects awareness of global risks.
Lord Dobbs (Con) raised concerns about the public’s understanding of defence priorities, saying that discussions often focus narrowly on budget percentages between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury. “We need to involve the public more, to get them to understand why we need to spend more on defence,” he argued.
Coaker agreed, noting that the British public is increasingly concerned about security, but that broader dialogue is needed. “The debate about the peace and security of our world, the defence of the freedom and democracy of our country, is something that is important and that we need to talk to the British public about,” he said.
While acknowledging that public spending on vital services such as schools and hospitals remains a priority, Coaker mentioned that national defence must sit alongside these concerns. “Of course, people want money spent on schools and hospitals, but alongside that there can be nothing more important than the defence and security of the values we and our allies across the globe stand for,” he told peers.
Coaker also highlighted the evolving nature of modern threats, including cyberattacks, disinformation, and infrastructure sabotage. “We have hybrid warfare now and threats that we did not expect: social media; attacks on our critical national infrastructure; and attacks on underwater cables,” he warned.
He stressed the critical role of information warfare, warning that losing control over the narrative could have wider consequences. “If we lose the fake news war, if you like, the social media war, we will be halfway to losing some of the other battles that we will fight,” he said.
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When we have just had a government that answer to any problem was to make stuff up and in the case of Boris just lie, its easy to understand why the public at this point isn’t sure what is true and what is fake, as truth as been stranger than fiction, especiallly when you add some of the strange things Tump and co have been saying.
We need proper regulation and consequences for the media, so they can’t keep putting fake/sensationalism headlines and then explaing that they are fake at the end of the story. We need to allow consequences against social media firms that are making billions for allowing spreading of fake news. They should be at the same level as TV news companies (way higher than printed media / social media) and if they don’t clamp down on it they feel it in their pockets. Them complaining about it being impossible, whilst not investing at all in it and making huge profits is just lame.
Miltiary can’t help against this, the only way is to hit the media firms where it hurts, the bottom line.
The issue is the government is scared of the media, they know if they propose such regulation the media will run stories of invasion of the freedom of the press etc and make it sound like the government are in the wrong.
There is now so many examples of press invasion / lies causing serious harm, that the government need to run a campaign that makes it clear that the media needs to be brought into account before they propose the new regulation, but it feels like the government (both parties) are terrible at social media / spreading their message.
Trying to make sense of what you have wrote, the Media, especially the MSM are usefull tools for the Government, why would the Government try and get rid of them.?. At the end of the day whatever News comes into the public domain it is up to the individual whether to believe what they are seeing, censorship by Government’s is a very slippery road to go down.
It’s not about getting rid of the media, as the media is essential for challenging the goverment and keeping them honest.
However unlike a few decades ago, we now have a media more focused on sensationalism and driving the narrative than telling the news. Fact checking and telling the story (bed rocks of good journalism) no longer seem to matter.
That has happened because their is no consequences for it and it’s more profitable to do so. Which needs to change. Just look at Facebook dropping it’s factchecking the moment trump came into power.
“fact checking” is done by politically motivated cover groups. It’s just another flavor of trying to control the narrative. Governments have used the media to spread propaganda and misinformation for centuries, that’s why they don’t wish them to be held accountable for lies.
Does anyone remember the “Ghost of Kiev” government propaganda flavored as an all out lie.
This is true but at least there was an attempt to make sure what was said was accurate. These days there are isn’t any, and that is made worse by the likes of twitter and Facebook somehow managing to argue they arent news media and therefore not subject to any existing regulations, which admittedly are weak. Eg GB News being able to argue its not a news channel.
Fact checking is done by independent organisations who have no political agenda and are not beholden to owners. They have accurately debunked much disinformation over the last few years, such as
• 5G causing Corvid
• vaccines containing tracking chips
• vaccines as a bio-weapon
• chemtrails
• Ukraine war being staged to launder money
• Putin being provoked into war
• flat-earth
• etc etc
• etc
The problem is that most journalists are activists.
No they aren’t.
So we are f——ed then.
There is no mainstream organisation\group that help fight back against “FAKE NEWS”
NAFO does it online on twitter and other platforms against MAGA and russian FAKE NEWS and others who are spewing out the fake nonsense and whilst supporting Ukrainian fundraisers as well
GB News portrays itself as one that fights back against FAKE NEWS but in reality is pushing REFORM \ MAGA policy
For the wider Uk defence issue well as Steve said above… the media \ freedom of press\ freedom of speech issue is a hurdle that needs to be overcome
We need to create a better way of fighting back
Oh and GEORGE is always fighting back on Twitter against those attacking his and other peoples contributions on here!
individuals and groups can do some of it, but again repeating myself…We need to create a better way of fighting back, Government needs to invest in this type of threat
Whilst actively deleting post’s he doesn’t agree with. You got to love free speech !!!!
In Germany we have the same Problems. Twitter, Facebook, whatever: Try to post something on Facebook – you immediately get harassed by für right russian/elon musk alt right Bots.
It is time to react against this warfare.
The real fake news media war we are loosing is with the mainstream media, the narrative that the UK is fucked and everyone where else is fine and the USA economy is amazing and China can build any sized military it wants while the Russians are about to turn it around in Ukraine and conquer Eastern Europe.
The same fake new media narrative that has 100,000 American soldiers guarding Europe from imminent invasion while the 2 million full time European NATO military personnel apparently sit on their asses eating croissants and drinking Tea.
I stopped watching TV due to the amount of fake news and woke ideology been pumped out by mainstream media
Whilst not a fan of Elon Musk, Twitter \ X is the only platform where you can a proper view of whats going in the world
And its also a good example of where how the fight over disinformation is taking place
The ordinary person aka me and you can take part in this type of fight everyday
On a national level, the National Cyber Force (NCF) needs to be expanded and given more power and liaise with the British Army and work closer with civilians
Twitter is not a fair reflection of what’s going on in the world since the algorithm was heavily adjusted to promote Elon’s ideology, far more than nearly any TV news has been in recent years.
There needs to be some metric of credibility, but the more you push back with facts and data, the harder the pushback is with conspiracy theories and slander.
Because you have to find the facts!
Community notes and factual evidence help fight back against the disinfo, blocking people. It all helps
You wont find any other media platform showing stuff
Mainstream media tells you nothing…
And thats why we fight back on Twitter and now also Bluesky 😉 against Elon’s ideology and russia \ china disinformation everyday
And help promote some common sense and FACTS
Looking for facts doesn’t work. Phycologist have demonstrated that if you feed people info constantly they start believing it, even if they logically know it’s not true. It’s the trick that magicians use.
Plus you have to go looking for them which most people don’t have time for, it’s why headlines are so powerful, so few people actually read the article.
It’s a challenge to fix unfortunately without legislation causing social media and the media to be honest or get hit by fines / litigation.
Twitter is bad for both it’s algorithm and the volume of boys feeding a narrative. The EU are investigating it’s impact on elections.
Europe can’t handle free speech.
You really believe X is truthful ? That’s worrying.
No , but its a platform that shows more of whats going on in the world than mainstream media does
No it simply shows more conspiracy fantasies and Russian disinformation.
Which is why people the small percentage of people on Twitter is shrinking.
Some of what you see on X is false definitely, but it has a lot of true information, it’s up to the individual to work out what is what.
Didn’t Elon say the UK was on the verge of a civil war and it was inevitable, some how I don’t think I’ll be taking any news from X or what ever they call it this week.
It’s not a lie. The Sec General of NATO Mark Rutte recently commented how Europe has almost zero defense infrastructure. In his example the USA was selecting ammunition from warehouses in the central US and moving them to the actual battlefield in Ukraine (6000 miles) faster than France could move munitions from French soil to Ukraine soil – 600 miles.
Europe has been asleep at the wheel for 3 decades. It’s totally unprepared for actual war. Most of the talk of the last two years is just that – talk. Very little has been done, the UK armed forces have shrank and lost capability in that timeframe.
That’s reality.
Yes because heavy armour can move faster by ship than by road that’s always been the case, big question is will the port still be useable.
It’s a pretty stupid statement made by him to make a political point.
NATO could double its budget tomorrow and the secretary general would says it’s not enough.
The US moves armor by air. The UK is the only European country capable of moving a tank by air (C-17).
The statement was about munitions, not armor. It stands as accurate.
We aren’t realistically able to move tanks by air. We have 8 c17s, so even if all 8 worked we could carry 8 tanks in one flight, but that would need to be followed up by another 2 or 3 loads of the 8 of logistics equipment for them. So realistically maybe 1 tank a flight, it would take forever to get enough mass anywhere to do anything worthwhile. Shipping them is the only realistic option.
We should return to a professional central ‘department of information’ to manage and counter the vastness and complexity of this misinformation. Take a look at the approach and success of pro-Britain marketing material, from cold war days, eg, held in our national archives, and refresh and adapt our understanding and responses.
Agreed.
Where’s Goebbels when you really need him?
Oh how I wish people would use their common sense instead of seizing on the sensational no matter how ridiculous. George is one source of clarity in this mess.
The issue is with disinformation on social media which is increasingly elevated to the same level of authority as traditional media. Investigations by social media companies showed that 98% of the anti-vaccine disinformation originated from Russia, yet they did little to combat it. The useful idiots who then reposted the disinformation have since continued further down the rabbit hole and commonly are now blatantly pro-Putin. The Russians have managed to build a fifth column in the West by the promulgation of conspiracy fantasies.
“Fake news” is just another word for “propaganda.” We as a nation, historically, dealt with this stuff easily. Nothing new under the sun.
IMHO One of the basic problems nowadays is that people are taught they should be more than what they are. They aren’t happy being themselves, which is quite sad. When they see fake news crying “the sky is falling” they repost it as “THE SKY IS FALLING”, get likes and feel they have importance. Unfortunately this also lends credence to the sky falling and it becomes a “fact”.
The UK is a good place to live, yet its self image has been under attack for years. I think TA Adams is right and there is nothing wrong with a democratic country reinforcing it’s self image, especially to combat “foreign actors” with an agenda to undermine said democracy. In fact it goes far beyong being nothing wrong, it is an imperative counterattack. Of course there will be cries of “propaganda” but I bet those that cry the loudest are the very ones undermining Truth. Its a double edged sword, I say we grab the handle and swing it.
News outlets have never suffered any particular consequences for publishing made up stories, except where they have committed libel against someone rich enough to win a civil case against them. In the past there was more fact and less sensationalism but not because of any regulatory impositions. I can only assume the public used to be more discerning.
I know I bang on about it, but the reality is our nations core likely enemies especially the Chinese communist party especially does not see a difference between war and peace, in a way they are alway at war, this is true of all communist ideologies, but is especially built into the DNA of the CCP because of its believe in the century humiliation and its ongoing struggle during and after that century ( essentially the CPP has always been at war with the government of the Republic of China ( ROC) and any nation it sees as interfering in chinas destiny, the war with the ROC or taking sides with ROC in any way).
China also sees the political elements of war as fundamentally the most import and well above success in the kinetic element, if you can weaken or remove your enemies will to fight via impacting its government, strength or its government, will of its population or trust between its government and population you will win any conflict. And china is right the political alway trumps kinetic capability every time. That’s why the U.S. keeps on loading wars to third world essentially tribal or political groups..even after it hands them their arses in kinetic conflict.
To do this it’s known that china has around 3 million people employed in a number of political warfare state organisations whose job is to attack the will of china’s potential enemies to fight..via any means possible.. there is a very very good reason politics in the west has become so divisive since the early 2010s and misstrust in government has gone through the roof…it coincides precisely with the rise of xi in china and his moving china into war footing with the west.
Now we may blame social media, but that is easy and clunky as social media is nothing more than a tool..yes it’s a very good tool, but there needs to be people behind it to drive it. We can blame poor government and cost of living…but I lived through the 1970s and saw the miners strikes, we have actually lived through worst times by far. The difference is:
1) the level and scale of political warfare attacks on the west and the resources dedicated to those attacks is now vast..the USSR did not have 3 million political warfare officers..not even close..now that’s just one enemy..you also have Russia, Iran and loads of non state extremists actors.
2) The number of people willing to be sucked into ideological attacks on the west..be those far left, far right or religious is far higher..we are a less conservative so society with less appreciation of the inherent risks to our society as well as an explosion of individualism over society.
3) Governments themselves decided the west had won and that essentially the world would naturally become westernised, so they stopped defending western societies..if we are so superior and everyone what’s to be us we are immune to political warfare.
How do we fight back on our home turf?
Bollox !!! Free speech is a million times more important than the content of speech.
These imbeciles in power seem to think we’re as thick as them.
I might not agree with you but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.
♾️❤️☮️
Thankyou you for providing the point, my only question is do you work for Russia or china ?
Ah ! Jonathan
I’m becoming more and more convinced you work for the ministry of propaganda and public enlightenment, better known as the BBC. 😂
Lighten up kid 🫶✌️
Gosh do you get paid by the disruptive trope, now you have popped in an attack on the media..well done.
I’m always suspicious of an establishment that complains about misinformation\disinformation whilst simultaneously spazzing about Brexit and Trump.
This baying about the dangers of free speech by the powerful is primarily motivated by the public voting for something that they were not not supposed to.
Ironically the flight to social media for information has been caused by the overreaction of the establishment to dissent. Perpetually biased mainstream media narratives slanted towards metropolitan values is of no use to anyone outside that small subset of incestuous narcissists.
There are certain topics the mainstream media like to talk about and amplify and there are other subjects (which deserve attention) that they don’t touch with a barge pole. The political attempt by an authoritarian establishment Left to enforce information control is palpable and quite frankly disgusting.
The world is a far better place with a few looney toon tweets in it instead of the alternative nightmare of living in an information prison guarded by the authoritarian monsters of the likes of Media Matters.