A co-author of last year’s defence review has warned that US comments about the Falkland Islands should be taken seriously and engaged with directly, describing Trump’s stance as a combination of genuine belief and political posturing rooted in his alliance with Argentina’s President Milei.

Dr Fiona Hill, who served on the review alongside Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, told the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy that the Falklands comments were “a bit of both” when asked whether they represented substance or posturing.

“It is classic Trump. Greenland was obviously a major shock to the system, and he meant every bit of that,” she said, adding that Trump still wanted to see Greenland as part of the United States but was pivoting toward Argentina because of his close political alliance with President Milei.

“He is basically saying that, as far as he is concerned, the whole set of geopolitical arrangements is up for grabs,” she told MPs.

Hill was clear the UK should not let the comments pass without response. “One should engage directly on this. Certainly, behind closed doors would be better initially, but we should certainly take that seriously and do not let it just pass by,” she said.

The wider discussion touched on whether US support for Europe had effectively infantilised European allies by allowing them to avoid hard defence choices for decades. Hill said that from the US perspective the answer was absolutely yes, adding that across both Republican and Democratic administrations the US had talked “rather derisively in private, but sometimes also in public, about Europe and allies in Europe”, at times referring to Europeans as an unwashed mass.

Lord Robertson agreed, saying a Lords committee report published last week had made the same point, that European countries by “relying on the United States of America for key capabilities, have in many ways infantilised themselves” and were now having to wake up to the prospect that American support taken for granted may not be available for every crisis.

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109 COMMENTS

      • “Rough” ? lol.

        It’s a 9 metre Tag axle A class Motorhome with all the creature comforts including a Kettle, a method to boil it, a sink and running water to wash up, a Shower to be able to be “Washed” rather than one of those “Unwashed Political types” and a Toilet to well, do the do, so to speak. It even has Bins so I don’t have to “Litter the countryside” like people really think we do.
        There are 6 Births too, so I could hold “Meetings” If required, oh and a Garage for Bikes…. oh and a Fridge Freezer, Blown air heating with diesel heater as back-up and Air-Con for the couple of days It gets warm.

        But yes DM, I do “rough It” most days now. 😁

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        • The “meetings” sound a bit iffy though mate.
          My friends are pissed as a collection of “travellers” have taken over the local recreation ground, having broken through a gate. They too have motor homes. The locals aren’t impressed, and human do dos is all over the place.
          We have a name for them, hope you’re not one of those!

          • Ahh but you see mate, that’s the problem….

            A few “Travelers” give the millions of us responsible Motorhomers a bad name, mud sticks and sheople/sheeple resort to assumptions and opinions.

            Personally I just love exploring the beautiful country we live in, leaving no trace and deffo not trying to upset the locals.

            Not all country’s hate this sort of thing but Britain seems to be a very angry place now.

            Anyway, what’s the trains situation down there today !!!! 🤔😎👀

            • I read it’s all up shit creek on the Southern, due to radio issues.
              Translated, means the GSMR is not working which impacts the comms between train driver and signaller.
              But I’m retired from all that now so doesn’t affect me.

          • I’m not fully nomadic, just probably 50% of the time but I much prefer Land to the Sea nowadays and the UK has enormous amounts of fantastic places to see still.

        • If it doesn’t breach your Official Secrets rules, can you tell us whether the motorhome is equipped with the required kit, i.e. Mk41 VLS cells, or whether it in merely FFBNW?

          • Hello Trevor, I can tell you that various Weapons are Indeed an Integral part of the defence measures taken to ensure safe passage and parking of the Motorhome, together with various forms of Intelligence gathering software (Google Maps. Park4night, Laundry services, Grey waste and Chemical Toilet disposal sites ) Plus Hard kill options Including a rather Lethal Co-Pilot and 24 hour continuous SITREP monitoring devices.
            Currently Installed are a small number of FX, BSA, Weihrauch .177 and .22 PCP Rifles and small arms, with magazine storage with a potential capacity of @800 rounds (based upon full charge). Also carried are a number of Target shooting Slingshots with associated Balls.
            Legal situation for clarity….. All “Weapons” are carried and stored In accordance with current UK firearms Laws. No weapon Is loaded or on display In a public place. Ammunition and Magazines are all stored safely and seperately from the weapons. The Weapons are used only where Laws permit safe discharge, ie, the many official shooting ranges I frequent on my travels.
            I have no current plans to upgrade defences but I shall be undertaking a review sometime In the 2030’s with an expected DIP/PCP announcement due shortly after.

            Hope this helps !

              • Me too, It’s what I live for, Humour, sarcasm, Thought Provoking, Brain Teasing comments as an antidote for the drab and dreary Humans and Indeed Vulcans amongst us here and In life In general.
                Talking of Star Trek Characters, I see Jim and Spock seem to share similar traits, well beam me up !!! 😁😁😁

                I see the “Great Unwashed” have been out voting In huge numbers, looks like Starmer’s Custer moment at the moment !!! Shame, I was so looking forward to the DIP !

                • Careful what you wish for.
                  I’m sure there are many worse than Starmer just waiting to jump in as the left of the party takes over.
                  Bye bye Defence.

                • The bit that got me was “Plus Hard kill options Including a rather Lethal Co-Pilot”
                  Ouch!

            • I think a remote weapon system should be on the list of defensive upgrades. I believe the sublethal turret with a paint ball gun would be a good start.

          • The A303 Is permanently In a state of hard packed constipation and has been for some 5 decades now, despite various and numerous Government proposals and promises to provide relief.

            • One of my fav roads. But you told me about the shortcut past Larkhill through the 2 lane Stonehenge area, I must try that some day.

              • Did that bit on my Hayabusa with a friend on a 1290 KTM a while back, on a trip “Dan Saff”. Feck me was It Insane, I can’t tell you numbers as Hayabusa’s are all restricted (186mph) so therefore not able to break any speed limits !

                (Disclaimer, no actual speed limits were broken, just a few million bugs splatted on various Items of clothing and Fairing panels).

                Today I’m heading In a different direction completely, searching for peace and Solitude, where no-one speaks my language. Bradford does have a few nice park-ups or so I’m told. 😁

                “Away all (small) boats”.

  2. HMG does take the threat seriously. That’s why there is a flight of Typhoons and an air defence systems permanently stationed on the island as well as a significant army and naval presence.

    • A lot smaller army and RN presence than there used to be.

      Sky Sabre is a very, very good system.

      Something like land based NSM would be more than useful to make up for the limited ASh capabilities of Typhoon T1.

      • Or we could do something with the rivers 2s give the Falklands guard ship an ASuW punch..

        The issue is once there was a modified rivers 1 and a major surface combatant in the south Atlantic..

        So that rivers 2 guard ship has essentially taken the job of both an OPV and a surface combatant.

        This is my big problem with the Rivers 2 as they are, essentially the RN uses them instead of frigates and not instead of older OPV( it still has 75% of its river 1s).

        I know everyone gives stick about up arming the Rivers 2s but the reality is they are going to end up tossed in the fire.. be they armed as a corvette or as an OPV.. so we may as well do ourselves a favour and arm them as corvettes for high end EEZ security purposes.. we can happily slash the range of the rivers 2 by 50% or more if we stopped pissing around in the pacific.

        • I wonder if there might be places a barely armed OPV can go without fuss, where a frigate attracts too much attention. I’m thinking in particular of the South China Sea. I suppose up arming FIGS, wouldn’t have that kind of problem. It would give us different problems though. It would increase cost of maintenance and operations, and it would make the current system of rotating the WIGS/FIGS/GIB OPVs more problematic. It might also cause people to think of them as warships. Increasing lethality doesn’t increase survivability.
          I believe that a cheap patrol frigate is what we are building at Rosyth. It has all the advantages of upgradability that comes with a bigger ship.
          Upgrading the OPVs would take years; we’ve seen how long it takes to get NSM canisters on a ship. So the upshot for me is leaving the RB2s as cheap to run and flexible policing vessels and putting the money into MK41s for the T31s instead.

          • In the end the T31 is not the immediate answer to mass as we are only going to have 5 by about 2031.. and to solve the mass problem of 30 hulls being the minimum requirement ( and it is) we are looking at the 2040s to reverse mass loss even if we do kick off a full rebuild..

            The 5 T31s are needed as ocean going long range major surface combatants.. nothing less…

            In the mean time we have zero ways of increasing surface combatant mass beyond 19 for about a decade unless we use those B2s

            The thing is their bones are not OPV bones they are warship bones.. their Scantlings are to naval warship standards.. not your normal OPV civilians standards.. the RN built a 2000 ton warship with warship shock and damage control standards.. they just armed it as an OPV..

            They can if they wish arm it as a corvette that could hold at risk any warship Argentine has.. or provide decent EEZ combat power for the North Sea and Norwegian Sea…

            Most other navies are happy operating corvettes that are far less well put together than the B2…

            The RN build a cracking 2000 ton hulled warship I don’t really understand the reluctance to put anything other than a 30mm on it.. come an organic war our enemies will try and sink these ships and the RN will be forced to put them in harms way.. if they have a 30mm or decent self defence fit… come time the nation and the crews will regret penny pinching..

            In the end if we had a fleet of 10-15 GP frigates, we could leave them alone… but we don’t and we are using them instead of GP frigates.

      • Hi SB – you wrote: “A lot smaller army and RN presence than there used to be. Sky Sabre is a very, very good system”.
        I was down there in 1999/2000. The core army presence then was a 110-strong infantry company with lt wpns. The RN presence was an OPV and a LCVP. There were at least 4 Rapier Fire Units that provided GBAD.
        Don’t say there is less than that these days?

    • Er, a roulement AR company and a B2 is your idea of taking the threat seriously? We live in a different universe.

      An investment in the islands, with provision for serious renewable power generation, land set aside for an AI data centre, a determination to increase the population, and provision of a large detention centre for asylum applications (serious point, why can’t we use the FIs?) which would have attraction of more jobs and act as a deterrent for applicants could fund a much larger military force, and that is before oil is found in sufficient quantities.

      Rant over 😀

      • Why on earth would you want to put a detention centre all the way down there? Quite apart from getting them there and back costing a fortune it would actually increase the risk to the islands with various do gooders and unfriendly Govts making much capital out of it!
        There are Scottish islands much closer to home that could be used if the will was there for camps but dream on there are no hotels etc on the ones I have in mind👍

        • Better yet put them on the isle of Sheppey, it’s nice and close to the beaches where everyone is coming in and no one lives there.

          • Better still James to stop them coming in the first place and to remove the bulk of those in the UK already as soon as possible! The fact that the UK continues to simply allow illegals to arrive en mass on their shores is an inexplicable act of madness.

        • Jacko, it was rather tongue in cheek… On a positive point, using the Overseas Aid budget to advertise our wonderful, one way, FI detention centre and right to live in the UK…

          I’m warming to this idea!
          (tad cold in the FI, mind 🙂 )

        • Nigel has decided that Detention Centres, should Reform win the GE, will be located in areas that voted Green.
          I thoroughly approve. If you want DEMOCRACY, you vote for OPEN BORDERS in voting Green, then don’t you DARE complain when same illegals are placed next door to you……
          Brilliant. That certain are spitting their tea out shows this policy has hit the mark rather well.

      • You can’t dump a detention centre on the Falkland Islands because the governing Legislative Assembly has authority- and wouldn’t want one there. The status of British Overseas Territories is not just that of an English county that happens to be detached from the mainland. (Though interestingly, that is how the French administer their ‘Overseas Departments’).

        • This is one of the things I think we should change. While the overseas territories are separate we will always be accused of colonialism and open to legal warfare attack via the UN. The French have avoided that by essentially saying they are all france so it’s not colonialism.

          Essentially we should, 1 brutally assess our needs and obligations then.

          1) allow each territory that fits, a vote on formally joining the UK if we feel it’s viable.
          2) any territory that does not benefits the UK needs to be asked to produce a plan for independence or dissolution.

          In reality there are some places we need to bring into the core UK ( our Atlantic territories including Gibraltar), some places we need to dispose of (pointless islands in the mid pacific with 50 people on them that cost the UK taxpayers £100,000 per year per person to support that are to dangerous for children to be allowed to visit due to risk of abuse) and some places we need to asses as military only assets ( Cyprus and BIOT) and do we need them or should we cash them in ( personally I would tell the UN to do one and sell the BIOT to the highest bidder for as a much as we can get.. after all we purchased them so we can sell them, for ethical reasons I would give the ex residents some of the proceeds)

          • I’m with you on the BIOT. In reality, the Americans have to have it. We don’t.

            We could do a bit of friendly extortion and get some major concessions. For example, speeding up weapons integration, moving forward in the F-35 queue, Mk41 modules, et cetera.

            • Totally I think it’s time to do a bit of hard ball negotiating…. You want it you pay for it..

              I think we should also get hard on the US bases in the UK as well.. make it very very clear who’s helping who here.

      • I can think of 3000 reasons why a “Large Detention Centre” would be subject to your “Why” question.

        N.I.M.B.Y. (It’s just as bad here In the UK).

        😁😁😁

      • The UK has plenty of shitty weather islands to pop a detention centre on that does not involve flying people 10,000 miles via a military air route and creating an international incident that would allow Argentina to cement the entire American continent against the UK ( it’s pretty much there already).

        • Do you not like a challenge Jonathan 😉

          And farage as in garage would lose his racist appeal as Asylum Seekers were homed in some beautiful South Atlantic accommodation where the weather was bracing and there was no way off; heavens, we could send all the other pre and post ILR applicants to bide there time there as well.

          Of course the icing on the cake would be relocating Parliament there in some huts and a pre-fabricated conference hall, for say 15 years, while we renovated the existing Houses of Parliament – think of all those self-proclaimed champions of the people, willingly, serving their country while aiding the local FI economy and bringing some welcome hot air to that part of the world!

          Can I count on your vote Jonathan?

      • Geoff, things must have changed. When I was in FI 25 years ago, an OPV was permanently stationed in Mare Harbour (with an LCVP) and there were visits periodically by a frigate and maybe a submarine patrol came close to the islands.

        • Sadly, it has.

          We have a River on rotation and Prtoector but even she isn’t there all the time A frigate has visited in the past but now we only have five so…? Our one Astute is currently in Australia.

    • Would you be shocked if HMG decided to relocate air defence from the Falklands to, oh I don’t know Cyprus of the Mid East?

      • “Cyprus of the Mid East?”

        is that the activist journalist way to deny the title “Europe territory attacked by Iran” in newspapers?

        • One would have thought there was no need to redeploy a force multiplier, but that is precisely what has happened because of lack of assets. For the best will in the world it can’t be in 2 places at once. Our AD systems are precious little, batteries are now stretched from Poland, Latvia, the Middle East and the Falklands. What’s left?

    • Read recently that the RAF did not have a permanent Voyager tanker based in the Falklands anymore, although I know if needed they could send one fairly sharpish, hopefully..

      • I think over the coming years if needed the RAF could build up to a force of 12 Typhoons in a emergency (24 to 30 pilots need) Probably could carry out Full CAP over the Falklands for a shorter period then downgrade to QRA cover. Possibly add up to 6 F35’s. I’m guessing at least two Voyager tankers would be needed possibly even 3, certainly would take a bit of working out and head scratching when it comes to the Voyagers availability, but I think it could be done.. On the ground Royal Marines and Army units, possibly a further Sky Sabre unit if possible?. Personnel reinforcement all being done through the air bridge (UK -Ascension Island- Falklands) When it comes to the RN – guessing one SSN could be sent or redirected from another task and one Destroyer possibly, would take a lot of working out.

      • When the venerable VC1O and Trimoter were withdrawn and replayed by Air Tanker the number of hoses inthe sky and airframes were cut by 65%.

  3. How well defended are the Falklands against a sustained drone attack ? Presumably, Sky Sabre is there to defend against manned aircraft.

  4. This is where we really need to start cutting our cloth.

    The RN needs to be hyper focused on core UK national interests. We have a very very useful EEZ that requires a large navy as it’s so spread out. But we now have a very small navy that we try to project still as a true global navy.. but in reality we can no longer be showing the flag in the Pacific and protecting our EEZs.

    As we have such low numbers of active escorts ( we should have 30 but we now have 8 in reality) pretending that having 5 2000 ton warships with nothing more than a 30mm cannon doing the jobs of GP frigates is not only hubris is a stupid waste of resources..

    Not so long ago the South Atlantic territories would be guarded by a modified rivers 1 OPV and a major surface combatant.. now a single Rivers 2 is pretending it can be both an OPV and replace the major surface combatant deployment.. It could have done that if it was adequately armed.

    • Exactly. The trouble is that the world that the B2Rivers were designed to operate in (permissive constabulary theatres), no longer really exist. The proliferation of ballistic missiles, aerial and surface attack drones and nascent underwater gliders, often in the hands of non state militias or ‘deniable ‘ grey warfare actors mean that these OPV’s are almost defenceless. There is a strong case to be made for a batch 3, 40/57mm gun, sonar, Sea Ceptor/Martlet, hangar and rotary air component. These are OTS enhancements, the hull form could be pretty much the same, just a little longer.

      • Isn’t what you have described largely the same as the Arrowhead 120 concept Babcock have showed off? It would make sense for any future OPV/light frigate to have commonality with T31.

        • Interesting comment. Arrowhead 120 would be roughly the size of the French FDI frigate. A Babcock order for 5 Arrowhead 120 light patrol frigates to complement the B2 Rivers might make sense – free up the 5 T31s for significant up arming. How big could Babcock get the endurance and how low could they get the crew?

  5. If you think about it probably a relatively reasonable response would be to base a pair of wildcats on the islands. That’s an easy way to make a big statement, it also

    1) creates a far greater mass of air defence against long range drones
    2) creates a air based anti shipping capabilities
    3) allows an instant upgrade to the rivers 2 guard ship.. pop a wildcat on the back and it’s an instant threat to any of the surface combatants Argentina has.
    4) gives some pretty significant close air support to the infantry company.

    It also brings the question.. if the army is trying to increase it lethality why the hell does it not just equip its 34 wildcats with LMM.. literally the missile for the modern age..turning what is essentially a recce platform into an air defence anti drone and ground attack platform, then you could have 1 army and 1 navy wildcat.

    • ”It also brings the question.. if the army is trying to increase it lethality why the hell does it not just equip its 34 wildcats with LMM.. literally the missile for the modern age..turning what is essentially a recce platform into an air defence anti drone and ground attack platform, then you could have 1 army and 1 navy wildcat.”

      Why not? The Treasury would stoop on the implementation of the 10 times lethality model and desist from funding future programmes as the Army had achieved it’s ambition.

      • This is where the forces and MOD always make the same mistake over and over… grab what you can when you can.. because jam tomorrow never materialises.. because the treasury works on “if you can wait you did not need it in the first place”….

    • This is pure speculation by myself, but I feel like the army is deliberately not pursuing LMM on Wildcats incase the bean counters try to use it as a justification to reduce the size of the Apache fleet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have investigated it privately to see how quickly they could field LMM in a time of need, the navy has already done most of the hard work.

      • Yes I agree with you.. but that never works.. the RN did not put any weapons worth spit on the B2 rivers so as not to endanger the number of major surface combatants… that worked out so well all that has happened is the B2 rivers have ended up doing the Jobs that GP frigates should be doing anyway as the numbers still collapsed..

        The forces and MOD never seem to get the concept of grab whatever you can when you can.. because jam tomorrow will always be gone tomorrow because you clearly did not need it today….

  6. The reason why the Falklands are in the news again is oil, there is a large area due to come on steam next year, with both Chile and Argentina laying claim to some of the area that is supposed to be rich in oil and gas deposits then there is the fishing rights around the South Sandwich and South Georgia all of which need policing. 60 squaddies, a hand full of T1 Typhoons and HMS Medway is not going to cut it.
    Maybe the Falklanders could use some of the money that is going to be comming in from the oil and gas revenues to pay for at least 2 T31’s to be based down south but that would mean more investment in a high end port facility and trained personnel to man that facility, they are going to have to invest in a high-end export facility to be able to load ships with oil and gas anyway so why not bight the bullet and revamp the whole thing so that the RN has a large facility to be able to support at least 2 Frigate sized vessels as the Scotia Sea is a large and hard area to keep secure.

    • Oil was first mentioned In the 1970’s, some people even used It as a reason to fight to keep the Islands British.

      So many Wars are about Oil.

      • Trump wants to get his fat fingers in to every pie in and around the America’s he got his fingers burnt with Greenland so now he is looking South and joining up with his mate in Argentina. We have 1000 days left before the Rabid dog in the WH is booted out but those 1000 days will feel like 1000 years as the current UK government have not got the gumption to take on Trump or to do what is right and increase spending on defence of not just the UK but all of its dependencys.

  7. The risk is not close, but if Argentina continues to improve their economy and geopolitical footprint and the UK will continue to decline, in several years this might be a real threat

    • Argentina’s economy is still a dumpster fire, you can gauge how poorly it is doing based on how much they talk about the Falklands.

      • I agree, it is still like a roller-coaster currently facing down, even if they pull it off it will take them years just to stabilize and a government change may flush all reforms down the toilet… I don’t think they are up for new adventures anytime soon and they said so

  8. I read the other day, that the RN, RFA and contracted vessels numbered around 126 vessels, used in the 1982 Falkland’s War (Hate using the word conflict!). I wonder how many ships the UK could muster today, if things did kick off again?

    • Lots of valid comments about the decline in our military since 1982, so I thought a comment about the decline of the Argentinian military might be relevant. They lost about 60 planes in 1982, retired a few more through natural attrition subsequently and retired the remaining Mirages in 2015. In terms of replacements, they received two dozen refurbished A4s from the US between 97 and 99 but these are very old air-frames (built in the 70s) and estimates of the number remaining in service now are between 3 and 6. In December 2025 Argentina received the first six F-16s from Denmark, so the number of combat aircraft available today is probably less than 10. This number will increase over the next two years as the remaining 18 F-16s arrive, but still the entire operational complement of the Argentinian air force would be about the same as the carrier air group of one of our carriers.
      Similarly, the Argentinian navy has had very limited investment. Several destroyers and corvettes ordered before the Falklands war were commissioned in the mid and late 80s, and three more corvettes were commissioned at the turn of the century but these were delayed deliveries of the pre-Falklands order (i.e. built to 70s designs, but delivered much later because Argentina was broke).
      In other words, while Britain would struggle to defend the Falklands as well as we did in 1982, Argentina would also struggle to attack them. This isn’t a reason for complacency though.

      • Agreed, I think the Argentine Military’s state of affairs could be summed up nicely by the fate of their two T42s. Where basic maintenance errors led to one of the ships capsizing whilst docked. To me this highlights that Argentina have more basic issues, than just having sheer numbers of assets. If their military can’t maintain what they already have, how will they be able to deploy anything? A lot the problems are probably due to a lack of funds, not only for maintenance, spares but also a lack of training.

        There was talk last year of China, buying a lot of Argentinian debt. But this has all gone quiet, as it probably came with significant caveats, such as food and fishing rights. But there was a lot of talk of Argentina buying Chinese military assets, that would naturally come with Chinese military support and “trainers”. I think the US put a lot of pressure on Argentina, which is is why they’ve been allowed to get the F16s. I’d say the US would have been really worried of having Chinese naval assets based in Argentina, as the Southern route is one of the key routes for their carriers to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa.

    • “I read the other day, that the RN, RFA and contracted vessels numbered around 126 vessels, used in the 1982 Falkland’s War (Hate using the word conflict!). I wonder how many ships the UK could muster today, if things did kick off again?”

      Only viable ships sent South would have been some Astute SSN’s. I suspect no T23 is on condition to sustain the long travel and weeks, months of deployment in South Atlantic. The carrier i believe could go and 1-2 PIP T45, but nothing else, so they could theoretical make a punitive raid in Argentina mainland with F35. I would say they could escort a fast supply convoy but no proper ASW ships, only helos in the carrier.

      • 3 on tuesday with another 7 sometime in the 2030’s subject to DIP publication.

        A meeting to arrange other meetings can be arranged at short notice given a few years prior warning If required.

  9. As always Icome late to these discussions and you gents have by now said most that needs saying but allow me a postscript. The UK’s overseas territories should not be written off too lightly. The BIOT and Pitcairn for example have huge adjacent areas of ocean with enormous geopolitical and economic potential! The Falklands are in the same bracket and with a stable infrastructure and wealth that gives their 3000 plus people among the highest per capita income on the planet. The money that the traitors in Westminster have spent/are spending on indulging the illegal immigrants to the UK,with only a tiny segment that qualify as real refugees, could be spent on extra frigates or the like to defend these territories. Viewing this whole catastrophe from here in the equally blighted land of SA, it is incredible to believe that the British people would tolerate this act of self destruction that could be stopped in a few weeks by a determined leader! I cry for the state of the land of my birth and thank God that at age 77, I hopefully won’t be around to witness the end(Although I am in reality as fit as the proverbial fiddle and will probably outlast some of yous’ns dammit!!) On that happy note…

    • My dear friend, very well said.
      We have no choice but to tolerate it until a leader comes in who will stop it. Just look how I’m derided here by some.
      Reform are slagged off from pillar to post, and endless mud slung. ( Apparently we’re all racists? Rich, as you know, one of my best friends is a Kenyan as black as the night! You know what? He agrees with me on this subject and thinks we’re insane.)
      Labour 97 to 2010. No action, floodgates opened.
      Tories 2010 to 2024. No action, despite strong words.
      The SNP, Greens, Liberals? Open door, open borders.
      I get derided here for voting Reform. Someone tell me….WHO ELSE DO I VOTE FOR!!?? I’m not constantly voting for the failed status quo, I cannot vote SNP, Green, Lib Dem, none stand for what our family believe. So Reform.
      Human rights lawyers are all over the government and backbench Labour MPs do their damnest to water down sensible reforms, happening right now, like an immigrant needing ILR, speaking good English, having a job, and contributing before being allowed to claim welfare.
      Sensible!
      No, racist.
      “The Boris wave” let in I read 3 million or so. Many healthcare workers, fine, needed, but with dependents in tow. When a bigger bulk of those start to claim welfare we’re in bigger shit than now with that bill.
      My father came to this country in 1962, he was only allowed to even land because he had a job arranged, he never claimed benefit.
      We all know the vast number of migrants are economic migrants, not real refugees. The silent majority know it, and any peeps of dissent are shouted down. Racist! Racist! Facist! So we watch and see our nation change beyond recognition.
      It was a major driver of the Brexit vote. Came to nothing.
      It was a major driver of over 4 million voting UKIP then Reform at General Elections, a vote base bigger than the Lib Dems and SNP combined. They ended up with many dozens of seats, Reform and UKIP before it a mere handful, a nice result of FPTP voting which neatly feathers the establishments nest.
      This government with its huge majority was voted for by around 25% of the population…..
      On the money point for Defence, absolutely, billions are spent housing illegals who shouldn’t be here which could be used for better things.
      You call them traitors, I call them Scum.
      Yes my friend, we’re in the shit.
      It’ll be fascinating to see the abuse I get vs the abuse you get. We’ve pretty much said the same thing, but I’m higher profile here and thus “a target.”
      How did your park run go? You’re fitter than many here, I’d day with confidence.

      • Thanks Daniele-we are same page. Parkrun all good although slowing down 🙂 . Such a pity there cannot be an early Election in the UK-the British people deserve better than they have at present. Cheers for now

      • Needed to be said. But you are right, voting wise we are all between a rock and hard place. The local elections have seen Labour loose to Reform. But have also seen a quite a few Conservative seats loose to reform as well. I do think Reform will be a major part of the next General Election, where the Traditional parties will have a very hard choice to either work with Reform or we have a hung parliament.

        • Hi Davey. I think the answer lies in political parties becoming broader churches in the UK. A Reformed Conservative Party would walk an election in the UK. Similarly in NI where the split in the Unionist votes gifts the majority to SF. In Scotland in particular, the Unionists would defeat the SNP if they joined forces

  10. Whilst the US being a bad ally is far from ideal, there isn’t a chance Argentina would be ready for invasion before the next US election, and it seems very likely normality or a sense of it will return post trump.

      • I can’t imagine whoever replaces trump will be quiet as unstable and dismissive of alies. I suspect they will focus heavily on rebuilding bridges because the US really needs it. Europe is moving away from US reliance and as the second biggest economy that will significantly impact the US economy.

        • Steve, the most likely for next POTUS (currently) are JD Vance for Republicans and Gavin Newsom for Democrats. If the former, he will be just as dismissive of allies.

          • Not sure Vance will be to the same level. His tried to hide away during the Iran war as he knows it’s bad for his chances of running and same when direct attacks on allies. For sure not friendly as some of the former presidents but I don’t think anywhere near on the same scale as trump.

            • Saying that not sure he will be the next candidate. Trumps reputation with core republicans is dropping fast and still 2 years to go. My guess is they will go for a non MAGA aligned candidate next, as I suspect trump will keep doing silly things or worse won’t make it to the election health wise.

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