I thought they said we are £12bn in the hole and that's why they're pushing forward with austerity?
Does the magic money tree only produce fruit when you want to cause harm in the world?
this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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No it's OK, don't worry! Because everyone's going to magically Get Back To Work doing jobs that don't exist, and there won't be any more Lazy Disabled People putting a strain on Our Great British Finances! They may starve or freeze or kill themselves, but that's OK too! Because they are Moral Failures! Glory to Sir Keith! ✨✨✨
(...I'd like to think I don't need an /s but here it is, just in case.)
Kier Stürmer
It's that old idea that you can build weapons in order to get yourself out of an economic crisis. Didn't seem to work in the run-up to 1914 or 1939 and I doubt it'll work this time either. But it'll distract the ordinary man or woman on the Clapham Omnibus from realising how shit everything is.
Oh it works just fine. The secret is you have to use those weapons to get the stuff other people put work in to create in the mean time.
Yet we’re literally letting disabled people unable to work starve to death because they supposedly can’t afford to pay them a lil bit of money.
Those disabled people are valiantly giving their lives, so that poor people can give their lives to keep the stock market and inherited wealth safe
Great. More money flowing upwards into the pockets of the billionaire industrialists who own weapons manufacturing. Plus the joy of watching their media wind everyone up into hysteria about a war. If we're really lucky they'll then provoke a war and cause millions of us to die in the first blasts and then millions more in the radioactive wastelands afterwards.
You would have thought that for 2 billion pounds it would have been human sized.
It’s always worth reminding that the cretins at The Star got upset that Britain spent £140m developing a new 7in naval gun…
It is just far away
Good. It’s about time we taught the Isle Of Man a lesson.
Defending the UK given the current state of the world is sensible, but I wonder how they'll raise the cash for this
Defending the UK
From what? Affordable living costs and welfare? Middle Eastern people being alive?
Defending the UK from the threat posed by Russia, mainly.
This is cope. It is precisely because the British people keep falling for idiotic nationalistic cope that their nation has become so catastrophically de-inudstrialised and impoverished.
Your politicians gut everything resembling a healthcare system, education system, energy infrastructure or useful industry, things that would actually allow you to create a healthy, innovative and powerful military. Then they throw money at consultants and contractors in the PMC sector and trick you into believing that you are strengthening your national security.
No, the only thing you are doing is subsidising the lifestyle of a few scammers. In exchange, you will get a small amount of overbudget and late weapons that will be shipped off to kill people in the middle East.
Your politicians gut everything resembling a healthcare system, education system, energy infrastructure or useful industry, things that would actually allow you to create a healthy, innovative and powerful military.
You seem to suggest that a powerful military is a good thing then. Maybe it is. If Ukraine's military had been more powerful (e.g. if they had been admitted to NATO) then Russia may never have been able to take Ukrainian land, or kill so many Ukrainian civilians.
you will get a small amount of overbudget and late weapons that will be shipped off to kill people in the middle East
I don't believe in the UK harming anybody in the Middle East. I hope the UK doesn't do that. I don't see plans from the UK government that involve harming people in the Middle East with the UK military.
You seem to suggest that a powerful military is a good thing then.
It is a good thing if only it is used for defensive purposes. Other than WW2, the UK has practically never seen a defensive war. However, I am using your logic here. You want a powerful military for "national security". I am telling you that your politicians are not creating a powerful military.
I don’t believe in the UK harming anybody in the Middle East.
Then you are not keeping up with the news. The UK has provided a lot of arms to the occupation in Palestine and runs daily reconnaissance missions for them. Furthermore, the UK has been a willing partner of America in its war on terror.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were probably wrong (I don't know enough about them really).
In any case I don't think the UK is planning new military action in the Middle East. Starmer recently criticised Israel for its conduct in Gaza. Maybe we will see more criticism from the UK on that topic.
On the topic of Russia though, I think they do pose a threat to Europe. They've been waging war against Ukraine for over a decade now, and senior military figures across Europe think that Russia might try to attack another European country in a few years time.
In any case I don’t think the UK is planning new military action in the Middle East.
You're basing this on what? And who said that the UK's future aggression will only be limited to the middle east?
Starmer recently criticised Israel for its conduct in Gaza.
Congratulations for the mildly worded letter while still providing military parts and daily reconossaince missions I guess.
You keep talking about the Middle East. I hope Israel stops its war against Palestine. The UK shouldn't assist Israel's attacks on Palestine. I think Israel has a right to defend itself (and so does Palestine), e.g. with the Iron Dome system, but I don't think Israel should be harming any civilians in Palestine.
I think that's a separate issue from the UK and its allies spending more on defence in order to protect themselves from Russia, though.
I think that’s a separate issue from the UK and its allies spending more on defence in order to protect themselves from Russia, though.
It very much isn't. You don't have 2 seperate militaries, one for defense against Russia and one for use against everyone else.
I think they're two separate issues, because it is perfectly possible for the UK to increase its defence capabilities, while also refraining from attacks upon the Middle East, and refraining from giving support to attacks on the Middle East.
it is perfectly possible for the UK to increase its defence capabilities, while also refraining from attacks upon the Middle East
This is for a hypothetical UK that has divested from the imperial system in west asia, a hypothetical UK that does not exist.
It's absolutely possible for the UK to increase its defence spending while also not harming civilians, in the Middle East or anywhere else.
By your logic, no country should have a military, because a military creates a risk of harming civilians. I'm sure that would be great if we lived in a world with no militaries. But then one tyrant could decide he's going to build a military and then he could go and massacre lots of people who wouldn't be able to defend themselves, because they wouldn't have a military.
It’s absolutely possible for the UK to increase its defence spending while also not harming civilians, in the Middle East or anywhere else.
Not for imperial Britain. It's possible for other countries, but not for imperialists. If you have the slightest concern for the people of Britain and people in other countries, you should oppose all attempts made by the imperialists to arm themselves. I oppose the imperial British arming themselves for the same reason I oppose nazi Germany arming itself.
Has there been a single year in my entire life where the western powers were not at war against some third world country? If the British really can be trusted with a military, they should prove it.
Sounds like a next generation problem.
As much as I hate the austerity cuts across the board. I believe this is a good idea as long as the money stays in the UK and has proper procurement rules, which I would trust labour to do better than the Tories, and can't see Reform or Greens being as good.
It would lead to growth as a lot of that money would go to wages of UK employees and come back as taxes. Plus we need to be realistic about not relying on the US. We have strong university education and should build back up our engineering sectors.
the economy understander has logged in 😂
It would lead to growth as a lot of that money would go to wages of UK employees
Because that happens all the time
It's more likely to happen if we're making stuff here than buying it from abroad.