Cylinderhead

Labour, social democrat, LVT, Zionist

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

Sir Keir Starmer has left Andy Burnham with a series of unexploded bombs with his unfunded defence spending plans

1) The £4.7billion funding gap

After months of bitter in-fighting over defence spending, Starmer came up with an unexpected way of funding it — he simply deferred it to the next budget

Nearly a third of the £15 billion increase in defence spending, £4.7 billion, will have to be raised at the next budget. In other words, it will be Burnham’s problem

Expect tax rises or spending cuts

2) Defence spending targets

An even bigger bombshell. One of the key things missing from the defence investment plan was a date for hitting Starmer’s pledge to spend 3% of GDP on defence, or indeed 3.5% for that matter

Hitting 3.5% will cost an extra £25billion a year. For context the government has just ripped itself apart over an increase of £4billion a year

As Ruth Curtice at the Resolution Foundation, this is huge. A 3p rise in income tax. The equivalent of the entire of the MOD Budget. She says we need a national conversation about it. She's undeniably right

3) £10.7bn of efficiency savings

To describe these savings as amitious is to understate it. The language in the DIP on these savings is almost unreadable. It talks about saving £1.1billion from a new "defence operating model" which will provide a "unified enterprise to translate political direciton into strategy, planning and delivery".

It claims £3.3billion will be found from reducing the cost of the civil service by 10 - something successive govts have failed to do. It talks about saving billions by 'optimising land use and assets' without explanation. Huge savings from 'acquisition' and 'breaking down operational barriers', again unclear where they will come from

4) Military housing

Starmer has delayed a £9billion upgrade in military housing. The decision is not detailed in the spending plan, but ministers have admitted it on the broadcast rounds this morning. £6bn of those upgrades will now be spent in next Budget. Given appalling state of military housing this is likely to be contentious

5) Cuts to public services

The govt says it will raise £6.8bn from cuts to public investment - schools, hospitals, net zero, you name it. But there is little detail on where those cuts will fall. They are likely to involve some painful decisions. Ed Miliband, if he becomes chancellor, faces having to cut £2bn from his former department's budget

https://t.co/ec5IUaxrVW

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

UNRWA is a terrorist organization whose staff took part in the October 7 Massacre and whose senior leadership covered it up.

UNRWA’s schools produced the child-snatchers and rapists of October 7.

Not one penny of UK taxpayer money should go towards funding terror.

[Gabriel Epstein @GabrielEpsteinX]

Wessam Naeem Khalil Abu Anza (ID#: 804616969, age 30) was a squad leader in Palestinian Islamic Jihad's (PIJ) Artillery Corps, Rafah Brigade. His death was internationally yet indirectly reported due to his twin 6-month old children, who died in the same March 2, 2024 strike. 🧵

[Daniel Sugarman @Daniel_Sugarman]

We don't need to imagine, Diane.

UK Jews funded the kindertransport & were tasked with finding homes for all children, so as not to be 'a burden on the public'. Each needed £50 (£4200 in 2026 money) put up to fund what was expected to be post-war re-migration to home countries.

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

At its peak, the Ottoman Empire was roughly the size of the Roman Empire. It ruled over dozens of ethnicities and cultures.

And it achieved that, history professor Erdogan tells us, with "no genocide, no massacres, no oppression and [obviously, how dare you suggest otherwise!] no colonialism."

It conquered everything in sight through concentrated friendliness. Everyone just succumbed to the raw charisma of Ottoman rulers.

[Joo @JoosyJew]

You read that right. Our UK taxes are being funnelled to an organisation that LITERALLY took part in the October 7 massacre of 1200 people, with over 250 hostages taken, rąpe, mutilation and torture.

[Hillel Neuer @HillelNeuer]

Today we have called on the United Nations to waive all immunity for UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini—whose terms ends today—to allow his indictment for complicity in terrorism, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Lazzarini cannot claim he didn't know. We have all the receipts.

[Nicole Lampert @nicolelampert]

I don’t understand why we are giving more of our tax payer money to UNRWA in Gaza to give food and water when Israel is banning them from giving food - preferring to use other organisations.

[Campaign Against Antisemitism @antisemitism]

UNRWA has been scandal-ridden for years.

Its teachers have glorified terrorism, its schools have been used to store weapons and launch rockets, and its educational materials have long been accused of promoting antisemitism and hate. Indeed, many consider it to have played a significant role in the perpetuation of this conflict.

In November, it was alleged that at least 490 UNRWA staff have ties to terror groups, according to an investigation by UN Watch. UNRWA denies the allegations.

The Government has ignored our requests to publish its legal advice on providing money to UNRWA.

It is no wonder that, according to our polling, 89% of British Jews do not support the UK Government’s funding of UNRWA. Only 4% do.

Perhaps that is why @YvetteCooperMP has turned off comments on her post.

[Cylinderhead @cylinderhead]

When I have to queue at the checkout I protest to the Tesco staff that they're detaining me

[Dan Kovalik @danielmkovalik]

In the height of irony, I was detained at John Lennon International AirPort in Liverpool, England by anti-terrorism police concerned about my opposition to the Genocide on Gaza and the war on Iran. They seized my phone, computer, fingerprints and DNA sample. More to come . . .

[Cylinderhead @cylinderhead]

One by one

[Israel Defense Forces @IDF]

🔴ELIMINATED: Ali Qaid Mohammed Stitan, a Nukhba platoon commander in the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization who infiltrated Israeli territory during the October 7 Massacre.

Ali Qaid posed a threat to IDF troops operating in Gaza and was eliminated in a precise aerial strike.

[נועה מגיד | Noa magid @NoaMagid]

On the morning of October 7, he slaughtered families, then walked around with a child's bike helmet hanging from his side - a grotesque "souvenir."

These monsters will never have a country.

[Leslie Kajomovitz @kikas6652]

😂🤣 Ramy Abdu, chair of Hamas front organization EuroMed, is trying to claim the journaterrorists were only terrorists before the war, but during the war, they were legitimate "journalists," and the obituaries are getting used by Israel to "attack the journalistic body."

@EFischberger @Aizenberg55 @MiddleEastBuka @GabrielEpsteinX

[Cylinderhead @cylinderhead]

@Haqiqatjou Oh no holocaust denial by Islamists and white supremacists, how will Jews cope with this unprecedented development

[Cylinderhead @cylinderhead]

@AssalRad I'm sorry Hamas keeps doing this to Palestinian children. Palestinians complicit in the Hamas genocide must be held to account, no matter where they hide.

[Centrist Tweets 🌹🌐 @CntrstTweets]

As we said. Polls are transient. Why should anyone listen to ego and eyelashes now?

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

Status of Hezbollah’s largest underground compounds beneath the southern Lebanese village of Majdal Zoun

[Casey Babb @DrCaseyBabb]

It’s pretty incredible that countless Palestinians, and Lebanese, are more open to peace with Israel than leftists are throughout the West.

[Cylinderhead @cylinderhead]

Germans missing penalties, what's going on

[Cylinderhead @cylinderhead]

@earthygirl011 @andyburnham Future governments have a responsibility to either try to rehabilitate delusional weirdos like you or (the easiest option) just ignore you