@Mark_Allatt
Account based inUnited Kingdom
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Joined April 2024
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Tall retweeted
The absolute personification of entitled, egotistical, establishment arrogance.
Our politics cannot heal until pompous, undemocratic bio-weapons like Lady Nugee are out of it.
'Get over it': Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry's message on concerns about reopening 'divisive' Brexit debates.
Thornberry tells @CathyNewman that the UK could re-join the EU without a second referendum if it was included as a manifesto commitment at a general election.
Tall retweeted
If Mr Burnham wants to expose foreign influence in the Brexit referendum he should look into President Obama, the IMF, the OECD and the EU itself. How many more would have voted for Brexit without their false gloomy forecasts?
Tall retweeted
This is outrageously illegal and if @Ofcom were to actually do their job properly, they would make heads roll at ITV.
This level of scandal and endangering of MPs should, in a sane world Ofcom should take ITV completely off the air.
Tall retweeted
Ironic that an unelected PM is trying to undermine the result of a referendum in which over 33million voted, and had a 72% turnoout.
Tall retweeted
The EU can’t believe its luck.
Burnham is going cap in hand to Brussels for no good reason, determined to give concessions in return for a pile of nonsense.
They’ll eat him alive.
Andy Burnham expected to tell the Commons it would be a "dereliction of duty" to turn down a closer relationship with EU
bbc.in/3TOavvp
Tall retweeted
Utterly damning. Burnham isn't very good at the business of prime ministering, is he?
This is just not true. As soon as I became foreign secretary I asked the security services the same question and they replied that there was no evidence of any successful interference in the 2016 referendum, by Russia or any other power.
Either the security services have changed their view - which would be very odd - or Burnham is lying about what he has been told. After all Starmer was in power for two years and had access to exactly the same information.
theguardian.com/technology/2…
Tall retweeted
River Clyde, 25-30,000 Ships built on one river. Once the greatest ship building area in the World
Tall retweeted
I think this is a matter for Parliamentary Standards now.
And he should step down as PM.
"It's going to undermine everything I've said about strengthening democracy if we don't respect that vote".
@andyburnham on #Brexit, 18 May 2026, ahead of the #Makerfield by-election ~ via @BBCPolitics.
@afneil @SophyRidgeSky @NickFerrariLBC @IainDale @bbclaurak @kateferguson4 @alexwickham @vicderbyshire @nicholaswatt
Tall retweeted
Exactly this! A large number of people voted to leave the EU purely because they wanted responsibility to be with Westminster where we can vote people out - not with unelected bureaucrats in Brussels on astonishing salaries!
Tall retweeted
96% of businesses do not export to the EU.
92% of our economy is not related to the EU.
99% of people never used FoM.
50% of France is in flames.
£35bn would be cost each year to rejoin.
Don't let the Remoaners tell more fibs.
#GrubbyBurnham #Brexit
Tall retweeted
Europe is not our friend and never will be. CANZUK is needed now more than ever.
Latest analysis article:
France and Germany offer to build submarines for Argentina
navylookout.com/france-and-g…
Tall retweeted
Why the fuck did Britain sit on this footage for 37 years
WATCH: Britain’s ITN has released ~4 hours of previously sealed 1989 Tiananmen footage — filmed by the team that smuggled the tapes out of China.
The material, archived for ~35 years, includes a 2-hour crackdown compilation and 90 minutes of secretly filmed raw rushes from the days after, showing military trucks on Beijing streets, crowds, and the aftermath.
Tall retweeted
The irony is that Burnham’s great strength coming in to Downing Street was apparently that he was a brilliant communicator.
In much the same way as Starmer was forensic with details. Funny old world.
🚣Burnham now seriously rowing back on Brexit/Russia in the Commons
He says: "It is a matter of record, Mr Speaker, that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 general election, and we think it is inconceivable that this was the first time."
But on the Rest Is Politics he said: "I asked the question coming to Downing Street, was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia? And I've had the clear answer that yes, there was."
But "we think it's inconceivable" is very different to "clear answer" of successful interference.
Tall retweeted
Makes you wonder what the hell are we paying for.
Scratch the surface, and virtually every capability British forces have is a dud. Half-arsed attempts at capability at best. Once you get your eye in you see it everywhere.
£62 billion per annum. And for what?
UK F-35B Lightning Force: Ambition, Compromise and the Realities of Fifth-Generation Sustainment
Views my own, corrections and comments welcome. This thread is an update on my previous F-35B threads.
1/25 Today (12 October 2026) the United Kingdom operates 47 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II STOVL aircraft. The final airframes of the initial procurement phase arrived at RAF Marham in May. Full Operating Capability for this first tranche was declared in November 2025 after Operation Highmast. Both Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are operational. HMS Queen Elizabeth has been at sea and recently in Belfast without embarked F-35Bs, consistent with her work-up as NATO Allied Response Force command ship. HMS Prince of Wales has embarked substantial numbers for Highmast and exercises such as Ramstein Flag 26.
These milestones conceal deeper constraints. Availability has remained low. Analyses indicate that only around 30 per cent of the UK-based fleet may be flyable on a typical day, equating to roughly ten aircraft. Only 13 of the 47 jets have reached the Technology Refresh 3 hardware standard that enables Block 4 upgrades. Full combat certification of TR-3 is not expected before 2027. UK weapons such as Meteor and SPEAR 3 remain years from operational integration. The force still relies on AIM-120 AMRAAM and Paveway IV, with an interim Small Diameter Bomb II purchase. Organic AEW depends on Crowsnest, scheduled for withdrawal at the end of 2029 without a funded replacement. No dedicated organic air-to-air refuelling exists for the carriers.
This thread attempts to examine how the UK arrived at the F-35B, the protracted path into service, the dilution of requirements that permitted FOC, and the systemic challenges of sustaining a fifth-generation aircraft.
