Thin Pinstriped Line

  The Royal Navy does not currently have any nuclear attack submarines (SSN) at sea. The fantastic website ‘ Save The Royal Navy’ (STRN) has identified that of the force of 6 hulls, all are currently in port either returned from operations, preparing to deploy on operations or awaiting maintenance. Is this a disaster that highlights Britain’s further decline as a naval power or a routine reality that all navies face? The RN operates three classes of submarine – a solitary TRAFALGAR class (HMS TRIUMPH), now in her final years of service, five ASTUTE class (with a further two under construction) and four VANGUARD class ballistic missile submarines which carry out the strategic nuclear deterrence role. A further four DREADNOUGHT class SSBN are in various stages of construction, while design work has begun on the SSN Replacement, which will be built jointly with Australia. For the last 50 plus years there has always been an SSBN on patrol somewhere at sea able to fire up to 16 mis...

  The National Air Traffic Service has collapsed for technical reasons and British airspace is temporarily drastically reduced in service while the system is repaired. Within hours of the incident beginning at least one UK political party was urgently demanding that the Prime Minister convene COBR to resolve the situation. While clearly an awful day for those impacted by this, it is not at its heart a crisis which threatens the overall security and stability of the UK. Yet despite this, the demands that ‘something must be seen to be done even if it adds no value to the solution’ continue to be made by political assistants on social media, trying to make political hay while the sun shines. The Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) system is at its heart three things. It is a physical suite of secure facilities designed to enable Ministers and officials to meet to discuss a crisis. The heart of the facility is located in 70 Whitehall in the Cabinet Office, which depending on who you...

  In the latest efforts by the Foreign Office to show that they’re terribly ‘woke’ and cuddly PC friendly, the Times has reported that the Mandarins have banned the phrase’ hostile states’ from the government lexicon. Its all part of efforts to improve links with China, in case we offend them terribly by describing them as a ‘hostile’ power. This is, apparently a bad thing and proof that Whitehall has lost touch with reality. Or is it? Whitehall language is precise and used for effect and purpose. Phrases can be extremely powerful and can have connotations and meanings that go far beyond their intended purpose. The phrase ‘Hostile State’ (HS) sounds punchy and effective – it implies that His Majesty’s Government has decided that you are, to all intents, hostile to the interests of the British State. The phrase seems to apply to the ‘usual suspects’ of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, which should surprise few people. However, is ‘hostile state’ really the right phrase to use...

 Apparently the Foreign Office is spending £13m to allow diplomats to send their Children to Eton when they could be sending them to our ‘brilliant state schools’. This is the latest claim from the controversial think tank, ‘The Taxpayers Alliance’, a body which seems to exist to prove that some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. The genesis of this outrage is a Parliamentary Question which notes that the UK spent approximately £13m to send British diplomats children to boarding schools in the UK and a further £24m for schooling abroad. This is, apparently, a bad thing due to a combination of reasons which seem to range from ‘toff elitism’ through to ‘how dare those ungrateful scum in the public sector expect to leech off hardworking taxpayers like me’, depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall on. What is actually going on? Firstly, its worth noting that this is a nakedly political attack by Emily Thornberry MP (aka Lady Nugee) and wh...

The USA and Australia have confirmed that they are about to significantly expand and enhance their security cooperation. Building on an already strong basis, the decision has been jointly taken to increase the capability and resilience of Australian defence infrastructure to make it easier for the US to operate from. Analysts have suggested that this will make it easier for the US to operate heavy bombers and other major defence assets in the event of war with China, due to the locations sitting well outside the range of most Chinese missiles. In many ways Australia is assuming the mantle held by the UK during the Cold War of becoming America’s ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’. During the Cold War the UK was home to dozens of US military bases ranging from airfields, to prepositioned armoured divisions which would have been shipped out to the continent in the event of war, and also hospitals which would have treated the wounded. The entire country was safe from invasion and being overru...