… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Author: dizzy

  • Sky’s the limit for government on arms spending

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    by Lindsey German

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/skys-the-limit-for-government-on-arms-spending/

    Nuclear bombs cannot be used without the permission of the US president

    The sky’s the limit seems to be the attitude of this Labour government – at least when it comes to spending on arms. On Tuesday it committed to 5% of GDP on ‘defence’ spending by 2035 at the Nato summit – which will mean around double being spent on war than at the beginning of Keir Starmer’s term of office. The next day, defence secretary John Healey announced that Britain was buying 12 F35 jets, which are nuclear capable, and which are to carry US nuclear bombs.

    These bombs cannot be used without the permission of the US president and will be on the frontline of nuclear confrontation with Russia.

    The cost of these fighter planes is around $82.5 million, with millions more on preparing the air force base at RAF Marham to house them and paying for the bombs. While these Labour ministers seem to delight in amassing ever more weapons of war, they are singing a different tune when it comes to public services and welfare payments. Indeed, Starmer faces one of the biggest rebellions of his own party for decades as he tries to put through cuts for disability payments to some of the poorest people in the country.

    It is hard to credit the logic of the cuts when we are told that the government must cut welfare payments to balance its books but grovels to Donald Trump and the Nato leaders to implement policies which will make the vast majority of people in Britain poorer and more of a target in the event of war.

    It is also hard to credit a government that supports the bombing of Iran, supposedly to rid it of nuclear weapons, but in that very same month decides that it will spend huge amounts expanding its already substantial nuclear arsenal.

    …

    Continues at https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/skys-the-limit-for-government-on-arms-spending/

  • Dystopia UK: Genocidal RAF Squadron Targeted by Palestine Action is Owned by a Hedge Fund

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    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/06/dystopia-uk-genocidal-raf-squadron-targeted-by-palestine-action-is-owned-by-a-hedge-fund-and-leased-by-the-raf/

    If you thought RAF jets were owned by the RAF, think again.

    The RAF squadron targeted for a repaint by Palestine Action due to its involvement in supplying Israel’s genocide, does not in fact belong to the RAF at all. It belongs ultimately to Polygon Global Partners LLP, a Hedge Fund.

    Through a chain of seven cutout companies, which I will take you through, the direct ownership is with Airtanker Ltd, which gives its address as RAF Brize Norton. It owns, maintains and operates the RAF’s Voyager refuelling aircraft, which have been providing mid-air refuelling to the Israeli Defence Forces as well as carrying, in their cargo role, munitions to the IDF.

    …

    Airtanker Ltd screenshot
    Airtanker Ltd screenshot

    Airtanker Ltd states that five of the Voyager aircraft while available to the RAF: “can also be made available to other parties. This can include providing military capability to other nations…”.

    Whether the aircraft have been operated by the RAF on behalf of the Israelis, or whether they have been “provided to” the IDF direct, is an interesting question. Is this designed to build in plausible deniability for the UK government?

    Eight of the Voyager Aircraft though fully painted in RAF livery, actually are the property of Airtanker Ltd.

    …

    The RAF’s Voyager aircraft are effectively being provided under the Private Finance Initiative. Exactly how much money the hedge fund managers and this string of companies are taking out of the defence budget is hard to know.

    One particularly surprising fact is that it is plain that the private companies are also providing the RAF ground crew. Who employs the flight crews is not entirely clear.

    That such an obviously rotten and corrupt arrangement exists in the RAF I had no idea. Some British military personnel are in fact contracted mercenaries. It gives new context to the active RAF involvement in the Genocide in Gaza.

    Palestine Action’s excellent act of resistance in vandalising this Hedge Fund Air Force has brought all of this to our attention. Which is yet a further reason to be grateful to Palestine Action.

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/06/dystopia-uk-genocidal-raf-squadron-targeted-by-palestine-action-is-owned-by-a-hedge-fund-and-leased-by-the-raf/

  • Make polluters pay to bring down bills, Greens say 

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    Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
    Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

    Responding to the Climate Change Committee’s latest report, co-leader Carla Denyer MP said:

    “Last year fossil fuel giants Shell and BP made a total of £26 billion in profit – while ordinary people struggle every day to pay their energy bills, and the climate crisis takes its toll on communities across the UK. 

     “The Climate Change Committee’s latest report shows some movement in the right direction towards trying to keep us all safe, but the truth is we’re not moving nearly fast enough. Stalling progress means we all have higher bills in cold and leaky homes, while wildfires, extreme heat and flooding put lives and livelihoods at risk. The best time for action was years ago – the next best time is now. 

    “We need urgent action to bring down the cost of electricity more widely, to reduce household bills and keep us all safe from the growing threat from the climate crisis. Instead of handing fossil fuel giants a licence to keep profiting from climate destruction, or wasting money on slow and expensive nuclear projects, now is the time for a national push to roll out energy efficiency, heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage for our homes. 

    “Crucially, it’s time for the government to stop throwing money at the fossil fuel industry and instead make big polluters like Shell and BP pay up. Currently the government subsidises the fossil fuel industry to the tune of a staggering £17.5 billion per year – it’s time to pull the plug and put that money into lowering bills instead.”

    Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London.
    Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)

  • Starmer imperils government with welfare cuts

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-imperils-government-welfare-cuts

     Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a reception for London Tech Week, at no 10 Downing Street, London, June 10, 2025

    MPs will vote next week on welfare cuts aimed at disabled people, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner pledged today.

    Playing a game of chicken with the growing number of Labour rebels prepared to defy the government on the issue, Sir Keir pledged to press ahead with his savage cuts.

    One Labour MP described it as a “charge of the political light brigade” by Blairite budgetary hardliners.

    But Sir Keir told LBC radio that “there’ll be a vote on Tuesday, we’re going to make sure we reform the welfare system,” while Ms Rayner told MPs  simply: “We will go ahead on Tuesday.”

    This does not mean that the debate will definitely proceed as planned, only that Downing Street has not yet made a final determination.

    The number of Labour MPs prepared to back an amendment which would end all progress on the Bill has risen to over 120.

    This would mean that Sir Keir could only prevail with Tory support.  

    Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is flirting with backing the government, but is demanding a pledge of no tax increases in the autumn Budget in return, something no government could offer while retaining any self-respect.

    Sir Keir now faces several choices, all damaging to his political future.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-imperils-government-welfare-cuts

  • Starmer faces mass opposition against nuclear arms escalation

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-faces-mass-opposition-against-nuclear-arms-escalation

     F35 fighters on the flight deck of HMS Prince of Wales, the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, in Plymouth, Devon

    SIR KEIR STARMER’S militarism faces mass opposition after he announced today that the government is to buy 12 new fighter jets capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

    The Prime Minister used the Nato summit in The Hague to break the news, which campaigners called a breach of Britain’s obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    The new aeroplanes and nuclear weapons will be US-built but flown by RAF crews, based at RAF facilities in East Anglia and assigned to the Nato nuclear mission.

    Under the plan, Britain will buy 12 F-35A jets, which are capable of carrying conventional munitions and also the B61-12 gravity bomb, which is three times more powerful than the weapon dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

    …

    In the Commons, independent MP Jeremy Corbyn demanded that ministers explain how the decision complied with treaties “which require nuclear weapons states not to allow proliferation and take steps towards nuclear disarmament.”

    The Stop the War Coalition asked: “On what planet does buying F-35s for around £80 million each from the US company Lockheed Martin equal job creation at home while cutting welfare?”

    Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt called the planned purchase a “disastrous decision by the Starmer government that makes the world more dangerous and puts the British population on the nuclear front line.” 

    She pledged mass action against the deployments.

    “The millions that will be spent on these jets, and the millions more that would be needed to upgrade RAF Marham, will be coming out of further cuts to public services, to our NHS and our social care system,” Ms Bolt said.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-faces-mass-opposition-against-nuclear-arms-escalation