Code Named: Dave

Fun loving, straight talking bloke. Opinions are mine. No apologies...#Gunner

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

Someone has to do it, so I will. This policy is holed below the waterline before it begins.

Zia Yusuf wants Britain’s warships to push migrant boats back to France. There are only three small problems: the law, the French and the Royal Navy.

Operation Fortress will be “the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two”. Nigel Farage will grandiosely order “his Majesty’s Royal Navy” to intercept every unauthorised vessel crossing the Channel and return its occupants to France. No one arriving illegally will reach Britain. The border will become “impenetrable”. The invasion will be stopped.

It sounds magnificent, provided you know nothing about ships, sailors, France or the law.

The first clue lies in the name. Operation Fortress sounds like the title of a 1960s war film. Once the bunting has been cleared away, this new policy amounts to parking a few warships in the Channel and instructing them to make the small boats go backwards. Nobody appears to have asked what happens when they do not.

An overloaded inflatable carrying 60 or 70 people is rather different to a French fishing trawler whose skipper can be ordered to head for Calais. It may have insufficient fuel, an inadequate engine, and no one aboard capable of navigating it safely. The smugglers may have left the controls in the hands of one of the passengers. The boat may already be leaking, listing, or taking on water. A Royal Navy officer cannot order an inflatable to become seaworthy.

The Navy cannot legally fire across its bow. This is a border control operation, not a war. There may not even be enough bow to fire across. HMS Cottrell cannot ram the boat, create a wash beside it or undertake aggressive manoeuvres without risking a capsize. Sending a boarding party alongside an overcrowded dinghy creates another opportunity for dozens of frightened people to shift their weight at once and end up in the water.

The moment the boat becomes unsafe, Nigel's great military operation turns into a rescue mission. British sailors are legally required to save those aboard. The obligation arises under the law of the sea, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue. None of these contains a Zia Yusuf exemption.

After rescuing the passengers, the Navy must take them to a place of safety. Reform says that place will be France. France may have something to say about that.

Britain cannot sail warships into French territorial waters, seize boats, or disembark passengers in Calais without French permission. Nor can it deposit 70 people at the maritime boundary and invite them to swim the remaining distance. Returning them to France requires the French government to accept them. This is the gap at the centre of the policy. A Reform government can give orders to the Royal Navy; it cannot give orders to Emmanuel Macron.

There is already a UK-France returns agreement. It permits selected small-boat arrivals to be returned after they reach Britain, in exchange for Britain accepting an equivalent number via a legal route. The arrangement exists because France’s consent is required. It is limited, negotiated and reciprocal. Nothing in it authorises the Royal Navy to deliver every intercepted passenger to a French port.

Perhaps Reform has secretly negotiated a much broader agreement with Paris. Perhaps Macron has promised Farage that France will accept tens of thousands of people in exchange for nothing. Perhaps the French will also provide a complimentary cheese board. The details, we are told, will be revealed today.

Without French agreement, the Navy will intercept the boats, rescue their occupants, and bring them to Britain. Reform’s answer to the “free ferry service” is to paint the ferry grey and staff it with sailors.

The legal problems persist after rescue. Once British forces exercise effective control over a boat or take its passengers aboard, those people fall within British jurisdiction. They cannot all be summarily expelled without any examination of their circumstances.

France is a safe country, and there is no general legal prohibition on returning an asylum seeker there. However, any return must still take place under a lawful arrangement. Officials would need to identify children, trafficking victims, those requiring medical treatment, and anyone presenting a specific reason why return would expose them to serious harm.

Roughly one in seven small boat arrivals since 2018 has been referred to the National Referral Mechanism as a possible victim of modern slavery. Among those who arrived in 2025, the eventual figure reached 19 per cent. Those cases cannot be resolved by a sub-lieutenant circling boxes on a clipboard while HMS Harborne bobs around somewhere off Dungeness.

The European Court of Human Rights has already held that intercepting migrants at sea does not create a legal black hole. In Hirsi Jamaa v Italy, Italy was found to have violated the European Convention by returning intercepted migrants without considering their individual circumstances. In that case, the destination was Libya, so it does not establish that returning to France would be unlawful. It does establish that a government cannot evade its obligations by processing the entire group under the legal category of “off you go”.

Reform might respond that it intends to leave the European Convention. That still leaves the Refugee Convention, maritime rescue law, France’s sovereignty, and the stubborn tendency of drowning people to require rescue. A press conference cannot repeal the sea.

Then there is the Royal Navy itself. Britain possessed 32 frigates and destroyers in 2000. By October 2025, it had 14. Several of those were undergoing maintenance or preparing for operations. The Navy is also attempting to sustain the nuclear deterrent, protect two aircraft carriers, patrol the North Atlantic, support NATO, guard undersea infrastructure, maintain overseas deployments, and prepare for a possible war with a serious state adversary.

Amid this crowded programme, Zia Yusuf demands the largest Channel operation since 1945.

A Type 45 destroyer is a £1 billion air-defence platform designed to protect a carrier group against missiles and aircraft. It carries sophisticated radar, anti-aircraft weapons and a crew of nearly 200. Using one to chase inflatables off Dover would be rather like sending a new Challenger 3 tank to enforce parking restrictions outside Lidl.

The Type 23 frigates are old, scarce and already stretched. The River-class offshore patrol vessels are better suited to maritime security, but the newer ships have global commitments, while the older ones perform fisheries protection, patrol and training tasks. Moving them into the Channel simply leaves gaps elsewhere.

Border Force operates five cutters, six coastal patrol vessels and a range of smaller craft. These are the vessels designed for customs and immigration enforcement. Even that fleet cannot create an impermeable cordon while covering Britain’s other maritime borders. The Channel is one of the busiest shipping routes on earth, not a village pond across which the Royal Navy can stretch a chain.

Ships also require crews. As of April 2026, the Royal Navy and UK Marines had 32,520 regular personnel, of whom 4,580 were untrained. Recruitment has begun to improve, but the Navy remains critically short of experienced technicians, engineers and specialists. Some vessels have been alongside for extended periods because the service lacks the trained personnel to operate them.

A continuous patrol requires several crews for each vessel on station. One crew is at sea, while others are training, recovering, taking leave or preparing the ship. Each interception requires qualified boat crews, boarding parties, medics, communications staff and command support. If people are brought aboard, the ship also needs space, food, sanitation, interpreters and safeguarding personnel. Warships do not come with infinite sailors.

The smugglers would adapt before the first triumphant press release had even finished circulating. They would overload boats until turning them around became impossibly dangerous. Engines would “fail” as British vessels approached. Passengers would be instructed to call for rescue, enter the water, or threaten self-harm. Several boats would launch simultaneously during brief windows of good weather.

The absolute promise that nobody will reach Britain creates an incentive to treat every encounter as a humanitarian emergency. The Navy would either rescue those aboard or preside over preventable deaths within sight of its ships. No commanding officer should be placed between his legal duty to save life and a politician’s promise that not one migrant will set foot on British soil.

There are serious policy options available. Britain could negotiate broader returns with France, fund aggressive French interception near the beaches, attack the financial and logistical networks behind the crossings, accelerate asylum decisions, remove failed claimants, and build a Border Force fleet capable of sustained maritime enforcement. Joint patrols could operate under an agreement that defines jurisdiction, disembarkation, and responsibility for rescued individuals.

Operation Fortress contains none of the difficult parts. France will apparently accept everyone. Every boat will turn around safely. Every legal claim will disappear. The Navy will find spare ships and sailors somewhere in a cupboard in Portsmouth. Declaring the Channel impenetrable will make it so.

This is not a serious or credible policy. Operation Fortress is nothing but a press release wearing a sailor’s hat.

[Fox News @FoxNews]

FLASHBACK: Dr. Fauci's 2022 CNN interview isn't aging well.

He said he would "cooperate fully" with Congress, that he has "nothing to hide," and that he could "explain and validate everything" he's done.

Four years later, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during his Senate testimony.

[UY ❤️🤍 @Eleojo_Afc]

You've signed Lacroix
You've signed Henderson
You've signed Welbeck
You've signed Morgan Rogers
You've signed Palestra
You've signed Barco
You've signed Emegha
You've signed Quenda
You've signed Satpaev
You've signed Denner

That's a starting 11 and I'm sure you guys aren't done yet. More are coming. No issues.

You have only the league and domestic titles to fight for, that means you're basically not gonna be leaving England all season, just like united did last season.

I'm pleading, make sure you compete this season. Don't start being shameless by becoming a Doku and city fan come January or February. Have some shame this time around

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

Your parents arrived from Sri Lanka in the early 1980s.

Your father as a paediatrician. Your mother as a nurse. Both worked in the NHS. They settled. They naturalised. You were born here in 1986 as a direct result of that legal migration pathway.

Without the system that allowed skilled overseas medical staff to come, work, and stay, you would not be posting from London as a Reform UK frontbencher.
Now look at the language you just used.

You describe the post-Brexit intake as “the WHOLE Boriswave of 4 million non-EU unskilled migrants” who must be denied settled status and lifetime welfare access.

You frame any softening of retrospective ILR reforms as a catastrophic giveaway. Yet a significant slice of that same cohort includes doctors, nurses, paediatricians and care workers filling the exact same NHS and social-care roles your parents filled. Many arrived under the points-based system, paid the Immigration Health Surcharge, paid taxes, and worked the same shifts.

You are not drawing a clean distinction between legal and illegal. You are drawing a distinction between the migrants who produced you and the migrants who look like them today. The former get the full “my parents played by the rules” treatment. The latter get “unskilled” and a warning about welfare. That is not principle. That is selective memory deployed for political effect.

You know the difference between a Channel-crossing small-boat case and a nurse who entered on a skilled visa. You choose the broader, more emotional framing because it weaponises public anxiety more efficiently.

The TikTok dig at Burnham is theatre. The real move is to treat the settled-status question of people doing the jobs your family once did as an existential threat, while your own family’s story is presented as the model of legitimate immigration.

I can’t believe that this has to be said but here we are!

[Code Named: Dave @4rmDavesCave]

Jesus

[David Collier @mishtal]

Islamic terrorists in NIgeria just kidnapped the wife of Pastor Moses Guguma - and their three young children.

You won't hear about any of this from mainstream media because the widespread persecution and slaughter of Christians by Islamists is a subject they will not touch.

[Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo @ezekieldachomo0]

A Humble Prayer Request from the Mission Field

Dear beloved brethren in Christ,

If you are reading this message today, I ask you with all my heart to pause for just a moment and whisper a prayer for me, my team, and every missionary and evangelist who is tirelessly proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially here in Northern Nigeria.

Every day we walk into villages where fear has become a way of life. We have comforted widows whose husbands were murdered for their faith, prayed with children who have become orphans overnight, and stood beside believers who have lost everything except their hope in Christ. Many times we travel knowing that we may not return home. Yet we continue, because the love of Christ compels us.

There are nights when the sound of gunfire echoes through our communities, and there are days when the burden feels almost too heavy to carry. But in those moments, we remember the words of our Lord:

> "I will never leave you nor forsake you." — Hebrews 13:5

That promise gives us the strength to keep going.

Please pray that the Lord will surround us with His divine protection, fill us with unwavering courage, and grant us His grace and mercy as we continue to preach His Gospel. Pray that every missionary on the frontlines will remain faithful, joyful, and steadfast, no matter the cost.

The enemies of the Gospel may try to silence us through persecution, violence, and intimidation, but they cannot stop the work of God.

As the Apostle Paul declared:

> "The word of God is not bound." — 2 Timothy 2:9

By His grace, we will continue to carry the Good News to the ends of the earth until every heart has the opportunity to hear the saving name of Jesus Christ.

Please do not forget us in your prayers. Your prayers strengthen weary hands, encourage discouraged hearts, and remind us that we are not standing alone.

May the Lord bless you abundantly for remembering those who serve on the mission field.

In Christ alone,

Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo

[IKENNA @kena_ewuru]

Lmao he broke it down real good

[Baron Chymaker.𝛑 @chymaker]

Update

We have today received a Response from the litigation department of the HO regarding our intention to challenge the restriction of Dependant Rules especially for those with minor children born in the UK or currently in school in the United Kingdom.

HO’s lawyer has just requested details of those affected and whilst we have almost 30 persons affected, we understand that there are many people out there who were also affected as well.

There is strength in number which is why I am calling on anyone with child(ren) born in the UK or minor children schooling in the UK whose dependant visas have been refused recently to join this WhatsApp group. A large number will make a difference

Open this link to join the WhatsApp Group: https://t.co/cuDWvJ5yRw

To join, you have to be vetted and approved by the moderator because it is a group specifically for those attracted.

Please answer the security questions as factual as possible.

Do not join the group if you aren’t affected.

Thank you

[BBC Sport @BBCSport]

England's Bukayo Saka, Marc Guehi, Trevoh Chalobah and Eberechi Eze joined France's Dayot Upamecano, Maxence Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta in prayer after the final whistle in a powerful show of unity and respect 🙏❤️

[𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥 @Preach_DGospel]

.
IT'S NOT OVER YET!

Dear @officialEFCC, I am still demanding an answer or a public statement.

Around 3:00 a.m., EFCC officers used a master key to open my room, entered with guns, pointed one at me, and harassed me.

I have a simple question: WHY?

I am not hiding. I am demanding an answer because EFCC has nothing to do with religion, yet I have already suffered years of persecution because of my Christian faith and my work as an Ex-Muslim evangelist.

I have survived attacks. I have escaped several assassination attempts. I lost a colleague in one of those attacks, and I have been arrested and imprisoned before. Because of everything I have been through, I cannot treat an armed midnight raid as "normal."

When someone has already faced repeated threats to his life, every action that puts him in fear deserves a clear explanation. I will never allow anything that could become a threat to my life to be swept under the carpet.

I am not above the law, and I respect lawful investigations. But every law enforcement agency must also respect the rights and dignity of citizens. Accountability is not too much to ask.

I am calling on the EFCC to explain why this operation was carried out in this manner. Nigerians deserve transparency, and I deserve answers.

@Preach_DGospel

[Leandro Trossard @LTrossard]

To all the Arsenal fans, thank you for everything, from the bottom of my heart.

Once a Gunner, always a Gunner.

Leo

[Olaudah Equiano® @RealOlaudah]

Is this the reason why we have so much insecurity in Nigeria?
Watch.

[Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo @ezekieldachomo0]

We Lost Him 💔😭

My heart is shattered beyond words

Our little brother, 13-year-old David Raymond, has gone home to be with the Lord after fighting for his life for 18 painful days

David was not a soldier
He was not a criminal
He was only a child whose only "offense" was being born into a Christian family in Plateau State

On that dark night in Kawel village, Bokkos LGA, terrorists stormed his home while the family slept

His father, Raymond Maichibi, stood between death and his son, hoping to save him with his own body, but he was shot and killed

His mother, Nanlop Raymond, hid inside the bedroom, praying for mercy, but the bullets found her too

David tried to escape, but an AK-47 bullet ripped through his back and stomach, leaving his intestines exposed

As doctors struggled day and night to save this innocent child, his parents were already lying in a mass grave alongside 20 other Christians murdered simply because of their faith

The family could not bring themselves to tell David that he was now an orphan

They hoped he would recover first

But today, that painful secret no longer matters

David has gone to join his father and mother in eternity

Before he died, his trembling voice still echoed from his hospital bed

"They came in the night... My father tried to protect me and they shot him... My mother was hiding when they shot her too... I ran and they shot me in the back..."

How many more children must die before the world listens

How many more Christian families must be erased before our tears are seen

The silence of the world has become another weapon against us

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew 5:10

David's blood cries out from the ground

His story must not die with him

I plead with the Church around the world, do not stop praying for the persecuted Church in Nigeria

Remember us before the throne of God

Stand with us while there is still someone left to save

May the Lord comfort every grieving heart and may little David Raymond rest in the everlasting arms of Jesus until we meet again

Rest in peace, precious child
Your suffering is over
Your crown awaits you 💔😭🙏

[OurFaveOnlineDoc 🇬🇧 🇳🇬 @OurFavOnlineDoc]

Dear @AJEnglish

This lying double-mouthed dishonest aide called Daniel Bwala whose shameless hypocrisy was publicly exposed to the world a few months ago by @mehdirhasan on AlJazeera, now claims that Al Jazeera “apologised” to him over the interview done with him by @mehdirhasan

Dear @AJEnglish @AJENews
Please is this claim true?
And if true, what exactly did Al Jazeera apologise to him for?

Dear Nigerians,
Pls retweet until @AJEnglish @AJENews sees this and publicly responds to clear the air.

[Fejiro Oliver @fejirooliver86]

I’m a spy

You read me right. The Nigerian Government has designated me a spy and through the Nigerian Police @PoliceNG sent me a letter of invitation to appear before their Cybersecurity Crime Centre on allegations of ‘Espionage and computer related matters’

My only offense is using investigative journalism through our platform of @SecretsReporter @SRepnewsroom to report news we feel underreported and maybe few exclusives here and there.

The Nigerian state is accusing Secrets Reporters and myself of leaking government information and also giving information to foreign governments, an allegation so heavy, which is obviously the first of its type against a journalist in modern days.

Dear @TunjiDisu1 I am not a terrorist but a publisher. I have served Nigeria despite the country being ruthless to me and almost assassinating me through the same Nigerian Police force under Egbetokun. Our works in SecretsReporters and Network Against Corruption and Trafficking @NacatInitiative has caused numerous changes in the country and should be given award than branded espionage. And these works by the two organizations are purely self funded by other businesses run by us which deserves respect and applause.

For whatever intent it is, I demand that the letter should be withdrawn and those who instigated it punished.

Journalism is not a crime.

[Taps @AG_Taps]

@charles_watts Charles, i respectfully have to disagree with you here
Weren't you all journalists quiet when Cristiano's 3 match suspension had 2 matches suspended. Why didnt UEFA release a statement - because it benefitted Europe right.

[Káyọ̀dé Ògúndámisí 🇳🇬 @ogundamisi]

🌽 must be sweet.
When Babachir Lawal was accused in the ₦500 million grass cutting scandal, many people rightly demanded his removal from office. Today, some of those same people are insisting that Femi Gbajabiamila is "innocent until proven guilty" despite allegations involving a far more serious multi billion naira scam and bribery.

[Elnathan John @elnathan_john]

Behold, Nigeria’s smartest con artist, who was somehow able to get an appointment letter from the presidency, smuggle the name of his agency into the budget, find the high level documents necessary to open an official CBN account, employed staff, got an office in the Federal Secretariat, got a budget for his office, was able to summon and have meetings with ambassadors and international business people, probably had a diplomatic passport. And magically made the only person who could prove his story die tragically in a hotel fire that killed only one man days before he could be questioned. A superhero. A genius. Houdini would be proud. We believe you.

[Tobi @_Tobolos_]

Any relevance of PL officiated matches to the World Cup? - No

Did Arsenal score even 60% of their set pieces (let alone 60% of their goals) that way? - No

Did Klopp win multiple PL titles? - No

Should he cry more? - Yes

[Dr Joe Abah, OON @DrJoeAbah]

NYSC REFORMS:

On camping, the approved proposal is two weeks of civic, leadership, and life skills training; two weeks of basic accounting and financial literacy, access to finance, business planning, and career mapping; and the last two weeks would be a short immersion into your area of interest. So, you may have read English but be really interested in tech, environment and climate, or the creative sector.

Camps will be certified and graded to ensure that they meet minimum standards. State governments will be given a grace period during which to ensure they meet the standards for infrastructure, accommodation, safety and security and healthcare.

Posting will ordinarily be done impersonally using an algorithm that considers factors like state of origin, state of residence, school attended, etc.

Posting to security flashpoints will be risk-sensitive and people who are not indigenes of those areas or are already residing in those areas should not be posted there.

Regarding the timing of commencement and wider consultation, the NYSC Act would need to be amended for the changes to take effect. This should include public consultations and public hearings. Every legislation passed and assented to is a product of a series of compromises.

Good morning.