Donald Trump has dealt a crippling blow to Ukraine, suspending US military aid just as Russia gears up for its usual spring offensive. The announcement came after Trump warned Zelenskyy he “won’t be around very long” if he doesn’t move quickly to end the war. Estimates suggest Ukraine has enough weapons to sustain its current level of fighting until summer…
The White House insists the pause is part of a broader push for peace, issuing a statement saying:
“President Trump has made it clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to share that goal. We are pausing and reviewing aid to ensure it contributes to a solution.”
The order also freezes funds for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows US dollars to be spent on new military hardware. Key figures in the Trump administration are also reportedly weighing further cuts to intelligence-sharing and training for Ukrainian troops and pilots. Trump is set to expand on his decision in a major speech to a joint session of Congress in the early hours of Wednesday…
Meanwhile, Starmer’s so-called “coalition of the willing” is already showing cracks. Italy has dismissed Emmanuel Macron’s latest ceasefire proposal as “premature,” while Starmer himself is reluctant to commit British troops in Ukraine without firm US guarantees. UK government sources say the UK will continue working behind the scenes to bring Trump and Zelenskyy back to the table while doing what it can to strengthen Ukraine’s military position, recommitting to Starmer’s current line. Starmer rapidly going from ‘hero’ to zero now…
Two weeks ago defence secretary John Healey told an Institute for Government event that his reforms, the “biggest shake up of UK defence for over 50 years” would turn the MoD into a department “that manages money better to secure better value for money.“ His civil servants haven’t got the memo…
The MoD has just advertised for a new position: ‘Diversity and Inclusion Learning and Development Professional’. For £38,790 the department is looking for someone to “maintain and deliver a blended methodology of existing Defence-specific D & I Programmes and Initiatives” within the Defence Academy, which provides higher education to armed forces and civil servants. This apparently contributes towards sustaining “the strategic and operational advantage.” New meaning to ‘culture war’…
Hiring closes on Sunday. In addition to the regular salary the new DEI hire will get £10,582 towards a gold-plated Civil Service pension. The Tories banned new DEI roles in the Civil Service before Labour said that policy was under review once it got into power. Looks like departments have been given the go-ahead to hire woke again…
Starmer has been updating the Commons on Ukraine-related foreign policy developments this afternoon including discussions over increased support for the country and the PM’s vague ‘Coalition of the Willing.’ £1.6 billion in extra cash for air defence missiles and British army boots on the ground are so far proposed…
Nigel Farage put a simple question to Starmer in the Commons today, asking Starmer how many British troops would actually be sent to Ukraine, given the size of our Army. Starmer refused to answer the question:
“[The minerals deal] not enough on its own. But can I just remind him that Russia is the aggressor, Zelenskyy is a war leader whose country has been invaded, and we should all be supporting him, not fawning over Putin.”
Starmer did say earlier in the Commons that UK is “nowhere near” the stage of MPs voting on a deployment of British troops to Ukraine. While briefing journalists today Starmer’s spokesman was unable to say what the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ would look like, if there will be anything to sign onto in order to join it, or what it will end up doing in particular. Number 10 has played down French suggestions that proposals for a month-long test ceasefire for energy, air, and sea is the preferred plan. Heavy on the rhetoric so far…
Broadcast regulator Ofcom has taken a break from pursuing GB News and has written this afternoon to BBC chairman Samir Shah over the notorious Gaza documentary. The BBC’s fumbling response to the documentary’s Hamas links ended up with its permanent removal and an acknowledgement that a Hamas official’s family was paid a sum for the piece…
Ofcom says that while it usually only accepts complaints that have “first been considered by the BBC” in “exceptional circumstances, Ofcom may intervene to handle and resolve a complaint which has not been resolved by the BBC.” The regulator says it has “ongoing concerns” about the “serious failings” in the programme’s production. You don’t say…
While it says it has decided to let the BBC conduct its own investigations with no current action it says it demands regular updates from the BBC and reserves “the right to use our powers to step in should we feel it necessary to do so, given that the BBC Board has decided these to be internal investigations.” Breathing down the BBC’s neck there…
Read Ofcom’s full letter below:
Continue reading “Ofcom Threatens to Intervene Against BBC Over Hamas-Linked Documentary”
Starmer’s in the Commons today to address MPs after hosting European leaders over the weekend, where leaders agreed to establish a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine and guarantee peace. He also announced the UK will give Ukraine £1.6 billion of export finance to buy 5,000 air defence missiles…
Watch live as Sir @Keir_Starmer makes a statement on Ukraine https://t.co/842WypzBFH
— PA Media (@PA) March 3, 2025
Read Starmer’s statement in full below:
Continue reading “LIVE: Starmer Delivers Commons Statement on Ukraine”
Later today MPs will debate a petition titled: “Don’t apply VAT to independent school fees, or remove business rates relief” after it was signed by 114,946 people. Bridget is apparently too busy to show up and a Treasury minister will be sent instead…
Labour has relied heavily on the widely-cited “independent” Institute for Fiscal Studies report into private school VAT which predicts that “the change in private school attendance levels will be small” because they haven’t changed much in the last ten years which leads “to surer increases in tax revenues and less need for additional public spending on state schools” – all thanks to tax receipts of “£1.3–1.5 billion per year in the medium to long run” because only 40,000 children will switch to the state system. As Guido revealed the report’s author Luke Sibieta was a Labour minister’s best man…
In private email correspondence with co-conspirators Sibieta has been much less confident on his report than he has been in public. Sibieta admits: “just looking at changes in attendance and average fees over time is not a particularly insightful way to make conclusions about the elasticity.” This is despite the key finding of the report being: “The share of pupils in private schools has been constant at about 6–7% for at least the last 20 years despite a 20% real-terms increase in average private school fees since 2010 and a 55% rise since 2003.” Which bit of the document is particularly insightful then?
Sibieta is also at pains to stress to concerned co-conspirators the IFS report’s “estimates are not a prediction.” The document is full of caveats – none of which make it to the think tank’s press releases on the topic. Maybe that’s why the Treasury and DfE decided to take its predictions as gospel…
The government’s response to the petition has restated that it “expects fees to rise by 10%” – already wrong as the average fee increase has been shown to be 14% so far. MPs debating with school tax supporters may find it useful to know its architect is far from confident on the matter…
Speaking at Davos, Zelensky said:
“Europe loves to discuss the future, but avoids taking action today. Action that defines what kind of future we will have. That’s the problem.”