The UK’s Military Crisis Explained
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- čas přidán 3. 03. 2024
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HMS Prince of Wales missed a NATO exercise and a Trident missile test recently failed. All while General Sanders suggests a civilian army may be needed to bolster the regular army.
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Just a heads up - an error has been pointed out to us at 4:09 in the video. The caption on the graph should read "UK's Historical Defence Expenditure as a % of GDP". We're sorry for this mistake.
No offense but do you take enough time to watch the video before posting it?
Well it’s not like you guys to make a mistake lmao.
Surely most people question your reporting as there are so many errors in your videos. Bizarre.
Yes but is South Africa heading in the right or wrong direction? :)
@@wendywolfmanlooks copy/pasted from another video
Imma say it - fire the bloody internet you’re not Bloomberg or Financial Times to make such mistakes!!!
(Satire let the internet live)
As a Finnish person, i'm VERY confused on why you would outsource recruitment of military personel.
The current government is deeply ideologically opposed to spending money on things. And is crushingly incompetent.
Well, OK, it's spending a lot of money on outsourcing, so I should rephrase - it's very ideologically opposed to doing things itself, and heavily in debt to business interests.
Exactly mate it is confusing. Welcome to Britain😂
@@TalisguyThey love spending money on deeply ineffective private enterprises that are happy to squeeze every last penny out of the taxpayer however!
Corruption with extra steps. They think that businesses should own and run everything. Sometimes they own those businesses, sometimes their mates do, sometimes it’s more of a vague ideological/class interest.
Also, they’re stupid enough to believe this is a good idea.
Some issues to consider:
1. It used to take 3 months to join the army. With Capita, it now takes 15-21 months. People grow up / move on. They keep losing people’s files, ruining dreams/prospective careers. They also have an overly defensive application of medical standards - there is no shortage of applicants but they reject so many people for say having had a collar bone fracture at aged 5 to protect themselves from getting sued.
2. Pay - pay freeze / low pay. Speaks for itself.
3. The old pension has been scrapped - was a big motivator for keeping in good people who had young children. People were forcibly moved on to it in 2015 to a worse one. Fewer people are staying on as a result. Why stay in a job that requires so many personal sacrifices (family time/your body/best years) if it doesn’t even provide security?
4. Housing - mouldy etc.
5. Civilian contractors. For things like food - the quality is awful - just gives you constipation. You are no longer guaranteed three hot meals a day - imagine what that does to morale. Also on quality - Imagine school food before Jamie Oliver but served with baked beans and frozen chips.
the army sound worse then prison unironically. I'd argue to say food is the most important bit and if they can't get that right there's no hope.
Sounds genuinely hellish.
Gotta love Tory austerity biting them in the ass yet again. Hilarious that they're now confused as to why it isn't all working.
"But muh invisible hand!?"
I wouldn’t compare it to prisons. There is hope - you can change things. Just takes ages to do so and takes people who are willing to risk their careers to change things sadly.
The medical is the worst. They put so much time into moaning about things from childhood treat yoy like sh*t and then laugh at you over the phone when you call them. Waste of time. Thankfully they are out now capita and its good because a non medically trained company should not be allowed by law to handle sensitive information as such.
You missed the anti-white rhetoric from the military and deliberate moves not to recruit white candidates.
4:22 - Damn South Africans not pulling their weight in NATO.
As a South African. Sorry. 😂.
Idk why thats there or what it means
Another mistake in a video that wasn't caught
@@choodledoodlersDoes feel like there's one in almost every release. Guys must be running themselves ragged. Small startups and healthy amounts of sleep seldom go hand-in-hand!
Which intern made this damn mistake?? My office now!!
It's not about the amount of money, It's about what it's spent on .... huge volumes are spent on middle management and sub-contractors rather than actual in-house knowledge and skill.
...same problem as the NHS. We're being ripped off by private businesses and private finance arrangements agreed by politicans who have little or no knowledge of the industry in question.
I read a lot of Chris Ryan, & when he says the people he worked for are too top heavy (& that was the SAS), I'm inclined to believe him. You need the rank & file who get things done, put boots on the ground, & so on, more than you do the admin, so your hiring practises shouldn't imply the reverse.
Same problem with the US, only spending on profit for certain people, instead of doing what it is suppose to do.
who wants to fight for a foreign jewish controlled govt that is replacing them with migrants?
@@biocapsule7311The difference is that the US has the money to spend 😂
As a German I am very pleased that we are not the only country where everything is going downhill at mach2
Seriously? I heard Germany is the only country in Europe that isn’t going to shit?
@@i_know_youre_right_butwhere did you hear that? This country is lost unless we do something about our government and illegal immigrants
You shouldn't be too happy, because the more countries in Europe fail to ensure their militaries are fit for purpose, the more the other countries have to up their game to compensate, or not, which then leaves European security in a dire position.
Britain has taken the lead decades ago. Germany has only just joined this stupidity
Same here in Canada, mate..
Going right downhill, AND swiftly too..!
I recently left the British army and I can tell you that unless there is a drastic change in culture in the armed forces then personnel will continue to leave in droves. Leadership at all levels is just poor and the offer is not what it used to be. People joining today are nowhere near compensated enough for the sacrifices you have to make in your personal life and the quality of life for those serving and their families is just not good enough.
From what I've heard during the Cold War (so this may be outdated), basically both the US and the UK started at a place where the enlisted person was just a body to do some work, but the US has actually grown to show them some respect, especially with regards to allowing much more freedom in choosing where they're gonna be, what they'll do and how they'll lead their lives, and the UK hasn't evolved nearly as much. Is that accurate?
@@dr.victorvs not if you believe enlisted US personnel.
@@dr.victorvs there is defo alot of freedom in choosing jobs and posts, problem is that freedom shrinks year on year as more jobs are left unfilled, and someone is always gonna be needed for the bad jobs :/
I think they are deliberately setting us up for failure. Something very pernicious going on
@dr.victorvs everyone gets complete free choice of any cap badge they are qualified for. Sometimes within a cap badge you have a job thrust apon you. For example you might join the artillery to work on light gun and get sent to air defence.
But that's cos there are requirements.
The easiest way to explain the answer to any "why is the UK in crisis" question is:
- About 40 years ago, it was decided that maximizing share value was the one and only goal of Government
- All economic decisions have been made with MSV in mind: Everything that could be sold off was, and any commitment to maintaining strategic infrastructure was sealed with pinky swears
- 40 years later, the rot caused by point #2 has finally reached the foundations
i personally love creating value for the shareholder it makes me feel worthwhile and history wont see me as a slave
We forget that's because the UK had a relatively stagnant economy and was overburdened with debt from the 50s till the 90s.
A lot of the rationale behind privatisation was to boost productivity, increase competition and cut waste (which public sector businesses are (still) notorious for), which arguably it did... For some sectors. For others it didn't work & was a costly experiment.
true, and this is the rationale behind massive immigration which has led to young men not wishing to fight for a country which no longer resembles England. Which is the main reason why none of the fighting age males in my family have followed our family tradition into the navy. In fact, we are all ready to fight against this government of traitors than for it in bankers wars.
About the time when Thatcher took over...
Gosh privatising recruitment hasnt worked 🤔 Shocker
Socialist programmes like the military suddenly become very important all of a sudden.
and the same company been given a 20 year PFI agreement to carry on (about 3 years ago)
Same for training, maintenance, logistics, security,.........
That's what happens when you focus on DEI targets and not on recruiting fit and able fighting men.
@@worldofameiso5491 Annoying as that shit is, totally unrelated issue. If anything, they contradict one another.
The private market will just focus on hitting whatever target they have, regardless of who. But private business interest and military don't mix, but the neo-lib brained Tories don't understand anything not driven by short term economics (and I'm questioning their ability on that as well).
Why would you compare UK military expenditure, less costs of maintaining nuclear weapons, to French military expenditure without reducing the French figure by the amount they spend maintaining nuclear weapons?
Utterly meaningless.
I thought the same. France has about a quarter more nuclear weapons to maintain, so the cost must be at the minimum of the same order.
More anti Brit rollocks on You Tube.
They also lowered the graphs for france
Capita has its hands in far too many of the UK Govt’s institutions I would be very interesting to see how many their shareholders are Tory Mates or Donors!
Capita not only do all recruitment for the MOD but employs and runs the health assessment for the DWP and other services that should be vital and kept within the public sector!
Time and time again its proven that the privitisation doesn't work... Well it does work just against the users of the service!
Funny, cos Capita used to be criticised for its links to the Labour party. 😂
should outsourced civil servants be classed as civil servants ?
@@0w784gAt the end of the day they are all one and the same no matter the party!
Don't forget they collect the tv licence
Saying if you 'remove the nuclear deterrent the UK spends less on it's military than France' is a ridiculous comparison, considering France spends money on its own nuclear deterrent. Comparing to literally any other European nation on the graph would have made more sense.
Own? I dont get it, isn't the UK's program her own?
Judging by the previous Graph France also lowered
I served onboard HMS Argyll, and i have just left the navy. Its a vicious circle. The more people leave the more strain and stress it puts on other serving members as the forces try and stick to all their commitments no matter what bending the rules as and when it suits them.
You used to have bonuses at the 5, 8 and 12 year mark to encourage you to stay in, the pension has been slash hugely. The good experiences are few and far between. The treatment is awful, the good blokes leave that can make something of themselves and the shite ones stay too scared to leave.
The forces, now takes and asks too much whilst giving too little in return.
Perfectly summed up. I'm sure the bureaucracy and lack of real leadership at the top were contributing factors as well.
You have huge respect from the majority in your country.
You also have large and increasing internal threats. How do you feel about that?
I'm serving in the Army, we're in a similar situation. Two things sealed my decision to NTT:
1. I was encouraged to stand outside a supermarket collecting for charity to be considered for promotion.
2. I was contacted no less than five times by my unit whilst on leave for my wedding and honeymoon. None of the calls or social media messages were essential - simply a organisation trying to do too much with too little manpower.
I'll transition to the private sector, where my skills will be welcomed and I'll be treated like a professional.
I'll never make my family live in the dire accommodation that the military provides.
Disgusting
5% payrise when inflation is at 15% is actually a 10% paycut. So those angry at their crap wages get a 10% paycut which will just push even more out
@FriendlyFreeSounds no it wasn't.
The Tories have cut the armed forces in the name of austerity, it’s their fault.
Problem is they haven't cut anything, ever since they got in power the amount of wasted spending has drastically increased, dead end projects in the army and navy, outsourcing important military functions to private companies who have drained the funds for profit. We have lost our state owned arms industry and every procurement decision the UK has made in the last 10 years has bit it on the ass.
@starwarsnerd95 they've significantly cut funding, especially in real terms whilst also creating obseen levels of waste and inefficiency to slide money out of the system and into wealthy pockets
I am a labour voter, the lack of military funding started in the mid 90's after Russia feigned a more peaceful approach to their politics and there was the belief that mutual assured destruction would stop a more military focused conflict.
@@TheUnluckyGama the funding cuts were to align with an intended downsizing of the uk armed forces, per pair of boots the funding today is pretty close to where it was at its peak
As though social democrat/centre-left parties would have spent more on the military? lol Get real.
I tried to join the RAF when I was 18 - it was a nightmare trying to figure out the status of my application. At the recruitment office, the officer pretty much implied that they were desperate for soldiers and told me my application would be fast-tracked due to my background at military academy.
It took six months after that for me to even be approved for a medical evaluation, another six months before I spoke to anyone from the RAF again. By that point I had a full-time job, recently promoted and with a new gf. 18 months after I first applied, I got a call from the recruitment office telling me I had some upcoming forms to fill out, and I told them I was withdrawing my application. Life had moved on.
The exact same thing happened to me mate. I was so excited to be joining the Army infantry. Basically, after nearly a year of trips/interviews/tests and paperwork, I finally got to basic training and passed no problem. It was the most proud moment of my life , I had done it!
Only a couple of weeks later , I received a call telling me they had got my date of birth mixed up and I would have to go through everything all over again to enter the adult section as I'd just turned 18.
By this time , I had a good job , a girlfriend and just bought my first car. I needed money!
I was and still to this day absolutely heart broken. It bothers me all the time.
At one point in my life I was interested in joining the reserves as a soldier. I was tuned off because the recruitment process - for a part time soldier - would take over a year. That's just the recruitment, they said that after I had completed this massive binder of tasks which take about a year to complete I would then be eligible for training. I did not want to spend the next year of my life jumping through hoops and ended up not taking my application any further than the 1st stage. I wonder how many other people have this experience and how many more people would end up joining the military if the recruitment process was done in a more reasonable amount of time.
Everyone has this experience. Vast majority of people will get rejected for stupid reasons anyway and we have no recourse. We are desperate to recruit people and it is deeply frustrating that an unaccountable shadow agency that cannot be held to account and has no idea what they're talking about is making decisions that we can't reverse.
@@user-tj4ee6si7xTo be fair, by accepting your word, they'd be relying on your the idea that people don't cheat on their husbands, and you'd bleed out to death during training, so that's not ideal. But are you talking about sickle cell anemia? Because it does occur in caucasians.
@@dr.victorvs with that logic you would have to test everyone for sickle cell which they don't do. Why the double standard
What I gather from TLDR reporting of Britian
Everything is on fire, everyone is fucked and the union will dissolve in 20 years give or take a decade
And thats the moderate opinion!
They try to indoctrinate but I will never replicate.
They would be correct then, lol.
I mean, it's not wrong.
I don't think it's quite that, but things really are dire. But I mean, it was obvious. Brexit was the stupidest geopolitical decision since 1939. You just can't decide for a clean break from partners you do 25% of your business with.
as someone who nearly joined the army i can tell you why it's failing, they throw so many hurdles before even allowing people to go in for the fitness tests (i was in limbo for 5 months) and when i was on the phone my recruiter was just subtlety rude because i wasn't drastically changing my lifestyle when i wasn't guaranteed to join 🤷
That's a red flag so big and bright you might double-check to make sure you're not joining the Red Army.
Be glad. The British army might have the worst employee benefits in all of Europe. There is a huuuuuuge class structure so you just gets screamed at by a bunch of fancy lads with old names. And just to make sure you’ll feel like shit the government doesn’t give a shit about your well-being after your service
I applied for more information on the RAF. I was over the BMI at the time which I explained. I’ve lost weight now but the lady on the other end was rude I feel no incentive to call them back 😂 alongside every other problem
@@MrJimheeren The class structure runs deeply throughout the whole of British life, from the Etonian twats running the show to the Etonian twats ordering our soldiers, sailors and airmen and women about. It's never been about ability, but which school you went to. Or more important which school mummy and daddy paid for you to go to. You could be the most capable, most intelligent and brilliant person around, but if you're up against Tristram who went to Eton or Winchester, they're choosing them over you who went to generic state comprehensive. Even if they're an absolute plank.
As you have never been in the Army you wouldn't have a clue why it's failing...
With the affects of austerity and the way they discriminately throw away perfectly capable people because of small medical inconveniences that show up on a form without even giving the applicant a chance to prove their ability to serve at the selection and development centre, its no wonder they have no one joining they are just as much the problem as well as the economic side of the story
That is true when your medical standards end up making Capita look sympathetic you know something up, but it feels the standards were made for a different time when the forces were full and have the luxury to be picky (and still act in that way) the problem is
1) people are more willing to go to the doctors about issues so there are more detailed records
2) The joke of the matter is that if your fitness declines while serving they'll still keep you on. Certainly what happened to me and my back.
The younger generation are very unlikely to fight for a country in which their voices aren’t listened to (Brexit, unaffordable house prices, ridiculous student loans etc.)
Isnt that a but short sighted though...I mean, to say the least of it. Regardless of whether or not they felt they have been dealt a fair hand with respect to houses ( one could argue they have been dealt a very-much-more than fair hand in all sorts of other respects) they share the same fate as our country. Unless they like the way Russians or Iranians do things they wont have any option, eventually.
They dont seem to get that the world is a competition, often a violent one, and what we have here, bad though it sometimes is, is very much preferable to any alternative that comes and takes it by force.
Do also think a lot more people are waking up and don’t fancy getting sent to die in bullshit wars for oil/greed. There’s a certain type of person who joins the military and as people have gotten more educated that pool has naturally decreased 😬😂
All the more reason to send them to the army. It will give them some meaning.
Or we aren’t naive enough to sign up to d*e in bs wars over oil/politicians greed. Plus there’s a certain type of person the military target for recruits and with more people being educated that pool has depleted 😬😂
@@bertrandrussell894
Do they? The demographics of the country have changed colossally in the past few decades with no sign of slowing. Young people are faced with the very real problem that they will be fighting not only for a nation that doesn't share the values of their grandparents but for a nation that may not even share their own values in a decade's time.
4:18 why is the question at the bottom about South Africa completely unrelated to the point made about British military spending?
Engagement. They put a mistake in there so you comment and the algorithm boosts the video.
I was confused too 😂
But fr, thats massive mistake
@@simonvanscolina?
Because they _still_ don’t proofread their videos despite years of these mistakes.
They spend all their time on advertisments.
I’m patriotic but I would never serve the armed forces just to line the pockets of defence companies and fight a pointless war in the Middle East then return home traumatised (or worse in a coffin) and ending up poor and homeless. I’d only join if there was a truly existential threat to this nation or if the British Isles were invaded (and that would never happen because of mutually assured destruction from our nuclear deterrent and neither Russia or China have the capability to even do so in the first place) It’s unsurprising that there is a shortage of people enlisting considering we are in an age where social media allows anyone to be well informed and public trust in the government is at an all time low.
And to protect Britain and it's allies from Russia? Russia didn't have the capability to attack and annex Ukraine, they still tried to anyway.
The world has changed.
I left due to pay. £50,000 is not enough for an officer in the forces with that level of responsibility
50k for 3 full days a week (late start Mondays, early finish on Friday, tea and toast mornings and Wednesday PT) isn't bad 😉
50k a year doesn’t sound bad
@@Destiny15 depends where you are. If you are living close to London, that is pretty shit, given the responsibilities and recent inflation.
@B-uk8eo officers work much more than this. There's always an expectation go work until 1800. My branch didn't get late start Mondays, Wednesday sport or early finish Fridays. Those are benefits for other rates
@Destiny15 Yeah the naval bases are plymouth and Portsmouth where 50k is terrible
I’m a reservist. When I first tried joining up 8 years ago now, it took over six months. This was due to a medical condition from my childhood. I was initially rejected on medical grounds despite never being physically examined. After months of appeals, I was finally allowed to attend selection where I was deemed physically fit for service. One of my friends who tried to transfer to the regulars was also delayed as they confused his medical records with someone else. By the time they sorted this mess out, circumstances changed and the regulars lost an excellent potential squaddie.
Well done.
Rather than encouraging people to join the army, encourage them to undertake military training. It's a much smaller commitment (easier to convince people) but as chronic procrastinators know once you take the first step the remaining thousand are easy.
Western countries should make an 8 week basic training program and give high schoolers the option to do it the summer before graduation for pay.
@@blueguy5588Honestly some high schoolers would pay to do it 😂 It's the commitment they don't want, and @zUfnej5j838dv is right that this is a good opportunity to engage in some sunk-cost fallacy recruitment. Charge for military training without commitment, then say it's free if you join.
@@blueguy5588 That's actually not a terrible idea.
@@blueguy5588 I say make it an annual thing for a small stipend or other advantage. I'm not sure how militarying works but surely they'd need a refresher.
For people leaving college and not wanting to pay for uni. There should be an option to do 5 year military service while studying for a relevant degree. Also there should be a foreign legion option for commonwealth citizens leading to a permanent visa for the UK, or even citizenship.
People don’t wanna fight for leaders like these
The Tories tried to save money by hiring a private company for recruiting, but it backfired and ended up wasting more taxpayer money. Now, some Tories are complaining because things didn't go well.
It was never about saving money, it was about rewarding donors, just like all privatisation efforts.
Probably just politicians trying to avoid doing work by giving it to someone else again.
It's almost like in the age of the Internet and with the average IQ having risen over 30 points in the last century via the Flynn effect, governments are completely capable of training their employees to be efficient and transparent and there's no benefit to hiring private companies.
*The Tories stuffed another private outsourcer owned by their friends into yet more government operations where they weren't needed to divert public money into a tiny number of private pockets
My uncle is a policeman. He tells me they did the same with the forensics service which has now fallen apart
They also do this via Housing Benefit which ultimately ends up in private landlords' pockets and tax credits which subsidise low wage employers. So much of the Tory rhetoric about "saving public money" and "wasteful public services" is really just cover for this rent-seeking game
It was probably more motivated by not doing work, rather than saving money.
4:40 small nitpick, there is no "the" before "HMS" when saying the name of a ship.
This is because if you spell it out it would be, "the His Majesty's Ship" which doesn't make sense grammatically.
4:20 im assuming that text there is wrong lol
Nope. UK Military is organised by South Africa.
The British military has been facing real terms budget cuts almost every year since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. After 35 years of this how is it any surprise that the UK's military capabilities are a joke next to what they should be? When you look at the wages you will quickly see that the miniscule budget has taken a toll on recruitment because the wages offered to military officers in no way reflects the amount of work and effort involved.
Britain isnt the only country this happened in. Pretty much every other country in Europe bar Poland is far worse off than Britain.
Hell, it was only 4 or 5 years ago that German troops were having to train with brooms instead of guns because the Germany military had scrapped too many of their small arms.
Budget cuts happened well before then. You see Thatcher is the real start of it.
You cant compare UK spending after taking out nuclear deterrence to france without taking out their nuclear deterrence 😂
When considering pay, I think you also need to look at the private security companies recruiting experienced soldiers at much higher rates than the regular army - with all the pressures that families are under, having a significantly higher income might be deemed as necessary to maintain it - plus following the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the regular army doesn’t have that much of a higher reputation than mercenaries
Oh, it would be CAPITA! They gave the recruiting contract to that shower? No surprise then that recruitment's a mess. Obviously, it's CAPITA, of course it's rubbish.
CAPITA got hacked and exposed a huge amount of employee personal information at the government executive agency I work for just before I joined last year.
Shitehall's university indoctrinated mandarins love crapita so they can push their woke DEI ideology without being directly criticised.
As with all government contracts, everyone should be aware that they always go to the LOWEST bidder lol. You get what you pay for!
I'm a veteran with Australia and had 11 years experience. I even have on the ground experience in Ukrainian. Now I live in the UK and volunteered with the reserves and they said they weren't interested. Interesting as to why they would not want a reservist with that type of experience. Something is broken if we're in a 'pre-war' world.
I'm a fellow Aussie, just wanted to chime in and say thanks, good on ya for helping out in Ukraine too! Somethings definitely astray if the UK wasn't interested in your experience, sounds like the recruiter is just a private company looking to minimise it's exposure to claims, clearly no interest in national security, just how much profit shareholders get.
I hope the inevitable Labour government takes the contract off Capita and brings recruiting back into the military proper. I say 'hope' because I'm not 100% convinced that Labour has fully left the Blair years behind when he went on his own privatising spree during his tenure as PM.@@skullsaintdead
I expect they have diversity quotas to meet and 'Aussie' does not qualify
@@22yards Nah, it's usually money. Just being honest.
They probably get commission based on how much training you need or something dumb like that. You'd need less so they'd make less. Maybe, maybe not, but I wouldn't be surprised if its an entirely financial reason.
Some corrections to what you’ve said:
Hms prince of wales was on 30 days notice to sail she sailed in 8 days and is now at sea on nato exercises. She was meant to have sailed in 7 initially but delayed it by a day. So getting down from 30 days to 8 is an accomplishment.
Hms Westminster and Argyll have not been officially confirmed to decommission as the mod has not announced anything that is just from a piece that was written by the telegraph.
Still not a good look when both your carriers break. Doesn’t instill confidence from A. The public that their taxes are being well spent and B. Our NATO and other Allie’s that if a war breaks out we’ll turn up on time cus our kit was FUBAR
@@blindside5094but in reality Britain is far from the only country who has had issues, the US had a bunch of issues with its Gerald R ford carrier which costed the US £13 billion nearly 2x more than both of our carriers combined. Also France has had issue with their carrier and they don’t even have a back up carrier. Warships are some of the most complex pieces of engineering in the world and Britain has some of the best in the world. It’s less about the quality of the ships and more about the lack of quantity that is the real issue.
@@FFContent It doesn't matter so much when the yanks have issues with their carriers, they have 11 of the bastards. We should have probably built 3 of the things and certainly not cancelled the other remaining 6 Daring class destroyers.
@@TalesOfWar yeah that’s what I said we have the quality we just need the quantity but it’s a good thing we built two carriers instead of the proposed one
14 billion on trident to begin with let alone all the maintenance! Then it just plops into the sea! So good to see our 2.3 percent of our GDP is going to be well spent!
coughed up 60billion for dido harding and dominic cumshot
it all seemed so easy for rishi back then..
There should be a clause that when such thing happens, the manufacturers should reimburse the army...
yeah, that's pretty embarrassing, our tridents have been almost flawless, wtf are you guys doing to them?! ;)
At least you got a splash for it ,Brexit didn't even leave a shite.
@@houseplant1016 you do know the missiles are leased from the Americans and do not belong to the UK (the UK designs and builds its own warheads) - and BTW they belong to the Royal Navy, not the army - there is a big difference
This is factually incorrect. HMS Prince of Wales sailed and has been the flagship of the NATO exercise for a month now. She is currently in the North Sea.
THNKS FOR THE INTERESTING INTEL.... MUCH OBLIGED!👍👍🙏🙏🌹🌹💐💐
Thanks for having the ad right at the end.
I believe at the source of the issue in UK domestic politics is the fact that the state has yielded too much to private companies and now has a smaller income. The state and government is a symbol of responsibility not just authority. How can the government be expected to pay for everything we expect it to if they state doesn’t get a large enough income on its own?? It was a mistake to shrink the state.
Shrink the state?
We spend a higher proportion of gdp on public sector now than any year from 97-07
Are you stupid?
The UK government has the highest tax take every, at over £1.1 trillion. The state hasnt shrunk at all.
In fact, the problem if the opposite of what you are claiming. The state is too bloated and full of itself.
We need our own version of Javier Milei. You could automate or cut away 80-90+% of the pencil pushers, bureaucrats, middle managers etc which would save tens to hundreds of billions of pounds.
no, it's immigration cut and dry. public sector shortages, housing crisis, crime etc. all immigration.
And now they want to reduce taxes (for the rich, again) and abolish national insurance. They're slowly trying to implement the same dumb ass policies Liz Truss did but not all at once, and we saw how that worked out for us all. We'd have been in a deep recession and likely depression right now if the Bank of England didn't step in.
People in the west have the wrong idea that nuclear is out of question. Cold War NATO policy was 100% clear on this: if the USSR invaded, NATO would ABSOLUTELY fire tactical nuclear weapons first. I have no idea why the public perception is that it wouldn't. Ask any weapons officer.
Because anyone under 30 outside of the eastern bloc nations has grown up in a world where they think war is something that happens to other people.
These days it's quite likely that a nuclear attack in a Nato capital would NOT end with a nuclear retaliation because feelings or whatever.
Their way of thinking is correct. The only country that used nukes (two times) throughout all history is the one who leads the west. It's always the west that starts wars somewhere in a eastern country and never the opposite.
That's if the USSR (or Russia) invaded NATO countries. There are a whole lot of conflicts going on around the world right now, and it's easy to imagine the UK (or other EU countries) would be dragged into wars which are *NOT* with Russia. Is anyone going to hit Yemen with nukes due to the Houthi's attacking ships in the Red Sea? I doubt any country would want to nuke a small-ish country which is already cut in half due to a civil war. And yet those attacks to shipping in the Red Sea are very disruptive for commerce that the EU depends on.
Only the french military got a first strike doctrine, the other nuclear powers in nato do not and follow one of retaliation. Dont spread misinfo people it aint cool
Tried to join the Navy in 2020, gave up after 15 months of deferrals.
It's kind of a relief to see so many people with similair experiences to myself as at the time having to withdraw the application that i'd jumped through so many hoops for left me feeling quite low.
I plan to attempt to join the reserves once I've finished my studies but one thing I've found that might be hindering recruitment is actually the medical requirements, things like autism or OCD can bar you, even if it's mild and would allow you to serve in other nations. Same with mental health things, I understand barring people if they are currently on antidepressants but the current rules are basically if you see a therapist or even if you have a history of seeing one for any reason you're barred.
Couple of points, hms prince of Wales was not broken down this time the delay in departure was simply the need to get it ready which was actually done pretty fast, and tidal conditions. Also the trident missles are joint stock with the usa so that is a fail for them too (we just put our own warheads on them). With regards to the point about the uk defence expenditure minus nuclear being less than France it should be noted that their budget also includes their own nuclear deterant. Could also have mentioned the MOD is further limited on budget by the absurd inclusion of pensions in the figures. Otherwise bang on and something that needs to climb up the public priorities with the world we now live in.
You can't compare UK budget without nuclear detterent with France spending without also taking out France nuclear detterent.
They did
Most of the advertisements for joining the army are pretty much based around belonging and having friends.
Which, A, you don't have to be sent half way round the world with ballistic plates for, and B, should go without saying rather than being a selling point.
I wan in the army from 2008 to 2014 and back then we had massive retention problems. I imagine the less people you have and ask to do more the worse retention you have. A benefit I got was they did offer 10k over 3 years for you to transfer to the reserves but most people left after those three years. The whole things a mess.
Is that comparison of expenditure ( 4:00 ) with France correct? Were the costs of the french nuclear program substracted as well in the comparison, because it isn't shown in the chart?
One might assume that it is similar expensive than the british program?
That didn't fit with the message that they were putting across. They hoped that no one would notice.
The words crisis and emergency would have more impact if they weren’t used for everything.
You're correct, but sadly much of the state of this country IS in a state of crisis and emergency thanks to 14 years of Tory mismanagement and incompetence. Let's also not forget outright malice and contempt too.
Capita were awful and would take months to even post a form for a recruits medical check but at least they aren't doing to intake anymore
UK is saddled with a huge middle management bureaucracy and an unhealthy tendency to outsource everything (Tories padding out thier own pockets effectively). This black hole of middle managers and consultants has become a political force unto itself and it resists being changed no matter what.
We are all trapped in games and spending of the older generations. I have resigned to the fact that some change will only happen when the oldies bite the dust and younger generations get control of power, which again is a slow process. So just focus on your own happiness and that of your loved ones
I think an overlooked issue in this video is reports of how toxic the culture in the military is compared to other industries young people can go into.
A friend of mine recently quit the Navy having described it as an "old boys club" with rampant homophobia, racism, sexism, etc.
sounds like a normal secondary school
anyone who believes in the very concept of "homophobia" "racism" and "sexism" should be nowhere near the armed forces any way
The armed forces is full of leftwing politics and anti white sentiment, most of my brothers are in their and its just a mess. Trying to make it seem like homophobia is the issue is hilariously out of touch with most who join the forces lol
I mean he mentions that, does mention tho when the RAF was determined to have discriminated against straight white males who tend to make up a majority of the armed forces
You mean it is no longer bum, rum and baccy lol.
At 3:55 you say if the cost of the Nuclear Deterrent is removed from the equation then Britain spends less than France. But France also has a nuclear deterrent requiring 1 of 4 submarines to be at sea at all times- exactly like the UK. So surely they must be paying a similar amount?
What you're actually doing is providing an unfair comparison.
WHOLE UK is BROKEN not just f..g millitary
At this point what is not in crisis in the UK under the last 14 years of Tory government.
The political system in UK is rotten 😂😂😂😂
Young people aren't idiots. Shocker!
Members of the UK forces have been saying for years that this would happen. I served from 2001-2017, any suggestions/complaints made to senior officers were met with 'If you don't like it, sign off.' But this was literally the heart of the issues we were having, not enough people to do the job. The more leave, the more strain put on those left behind, the more fed up the blokes get and the more likely it is they'll just sign off as well. A vicious circle that eventually leads to ships being left inoperational. Well, looks like that attitude has done no favours for anyone.
I loved my time in the mob, but I wouldn't go back in a million years.
You're treated like a child. The rank/rating structure is outdated. You have people in the jobs for years, know it inside out, have wives and children, being told what to do by some snotty little scrote with a history degree because he's been to Hogwarts and thinks he knows the world.
The pay is poor for the time you spend away/working. The world has changed and the forces won't compete with it, why sign on for £24k a year to spend 9 months away from your friends and family when you can get a decent job in a growing sector like IT, get paid £30k+ and be able to plan holidays and life in general?
You used to get a decent pension out of it, which they changed to a worse version in 2005 (but you had the option to stay on the '78 one) to save money, and then again in 2015, this time they forced you to change.
The recruitment process is rubbish now, when I signed up, you went to a recruitment office and spoke to a senior NCO about what you wanted to do and how you'd be able to do it. Now it's outsourced to a rubbish civvy company.
Housing is shite, just google anything about military housing and you'll see why.
The culture has changed massively. It used to be a lifestyle, you'd join up, make mates for life, see the world. Now it's just a job.
This is the same problem we have among the entire public sector, for much of the same reasons. Lack of investment either people, infrastructure and equipment. Just ask people in the police, fire service, NHS, teachers, local council workers etc. They'll all have the same story. Not enough resources, management either doesn't care or has no power to improve things because the people with actual power also don't care. And with the NHS at least, the whole long term plan there is to run it into the ground and sell it all off anyway. They're doing this with everything else though too, not just the NHS, it's just more obvious there.
I thank you for your service, and I'm sorry your government has let you down. But they let us all down by extension of treating those tasked with protecting us from harm so poorly.
Topic for a short video maybe: “what’s working well in Britain”. Won’t take long
Russian oligarch profits are through the roof in the London property market! So are British Gas profits! Along with our bills, especially if you're a commercial property who have no price caps applied. So many businesses have gone bankrupt because of their gas bills literally going up by thousands of percent.
EVERYTHING in britain is broken!
Including infrastructure to repair things!
To have let decades of experience in naval aviation go to waste is, in my opinion, criminal.
As for the recruitment crisis, it does not only affect Great Britain, it affects all Western democracies.
Even in France we have this kind of problem, but when you see a soldier who risks his life starting with the same salary as a town hall secretary snug behind her desk, you begin to understand the problem.
Comparing England to France is objectively not a good idea, why?
Since the end of the Second World War, France has tried to be independent in terms of both nuclear and conventional armaments, to do this it has to maintain its research and production capacities for its most important weapons, which has not been the case. unfortunately Great Britain did not integrate too much with the USA.
(We gave up our ability to build our own infantry rifle for example, but we no longer have battalions of several million men either, so this was deemed "less" important).
One of the air groups of the two British aircraft carriers is composed of US Marines.
After the publication of an ad on Linekedin to recruit an admiral commanding the British SSBNs left a lot of people on their butts.
And our military budget is recorded and will increase by 500 billion euros over the next 5 years and this is "protected" even if a new government comes tomorrow it will not be able to touch this money.
We must not lie to ourselves, in France we see the concerns of the British armies, our allies during the two world wars and many other “interventions” as a catastrophe.
Idk where you found that 500 million figure. We will have a budget of 413 billion euros from years 2024-2030. If we increased it by 500 million we would be too OP lol... I wish
The biggest issue really is you don’t teach young people to be proud of British achievements of the military or promote the military thru school you don’t create enough bad ass adverts and opportunities
The Brittish militairy is not broken. The Brittish militairy is BROKE.
Its because india has stopped giving aid to uk.
I spent 8 years in the Army. The problem isn't just recruitment it's retention.
When you join the army you sign on to do 12 years with the ability to sign off every 4 years. The average soldier signs off on their 4th year. Reason? Because everything we do has no meaning. Sometimes you'll get something interesting like Op Pitting but these are few and far between. The only Ops you'll likely go on are Tosca and Cabrit but both are complete nothing burgers that consists of stagging/going out on the lash (Sometimes). Which is brilliant from 18 - 24 but you'll only do one of these every 4 years or so, the rest of the time you're on exercise or sat in a Squadron Storeroom waiting for the clock to hit 1730 so you can go back to your room.
The truth is the Army is mostly for lads who don't know what to do with themselves. Either they failed school or got the basic GCSEs. The Army gives them the false idea of learning a trade that has "transferable" skills onto civvy street but in reality it's not true. For example I was a Plumber within the Royal Engineers, when I left the army I was told if I wanted to do plumbing on civvy street I'd have to do a 4 year plumbing apprenticeship where I'd be on £17k... I have a family to provide for so this was off the table instantly. Luckily I had HGV and ADR qualifications as well as doing my CPC while on resettlement so managed to jump onto a good driving job making £34k. I was lucky compared to other lads, one of my mates from Hull ended up having to go back to working in Maccies after leaving the Army and another works for the council for £22k.
I'll give the Army one thing though and it's that their resettlement system is a lot better than what it was. The civilians who run it offer a lot of support. The only issue is the money grants are tiny.
My perspective is obviously from the eyes of a post-Afghan Soldier (Served 2016 - 2024). From what I heard Op Toral was just force protection so a warmer Cabrit 😂
David Cameron then prime minister signed off on allowing the nuclear deterrent to be included in the defence budget where as since its inception was a separate budget
This is also why it's been reduced in real terms so much, both the deterrent and the rest of the forces. It's even more disingenuous because they now include pensions in the budget which they didn't used to do. That too used to be a separate pot.
All I want is to learn the trade of the infantry but unfortunately I was medically rejected. I could see private armies which actually recruit and train civilians becoming quite popular.
MOD has 60,000 civilians working for them, more than the navy and RAF combined
The Trident test a firing test from a sub, which was successful. There wasnt a target, it was only a submerged firing exercise. Its lazy reporting to say it was a failure when you dont know the aim.
4:12 “is South Africa heading in the right or wrong direction”😂 some one messed up the graphic for a chart about overall UK military spending since 1970
It’s just embarrassing, absolutely embarrassing
hey TLDR there is an error at 4:18, your graph says "Is South Africa Heading in the Right or Wrong Direction?"
just 4 months ago i applied got contacted by a recruiter in 3 days but the first word out of his mouth where it may take atleast 6 months to get you in. excuse me? 6 months? ive already got a full time job and fuck knows where i'll be in 6 months from now. and this was just getting me into basic. not to mention the army portal is about 20 years out of date
Bernard, we have a magic wand - Trident.
Nobody understands anything about it,
except that it will cost £15 billion,
which means it must be wonderful, magical.
All we have to do is write a cheque
and then we can all relax.
- Sir Humphrey Appleby
This whole charade belongs in an episode of Yes Prime Minister
My thoughts would be
1) spoil removal to avoid dumpers tracking back and forth
2) before becoming a heritage site used for removing cut stones for local building works
3) used to bring in material to rebuild which I believe the Victorians like to do
Reminds me a lot of the US military lol. Tried to join thr Air Force twice but didnt cause of medical history.
My brothet did though. His stories are really shocking. He is having a decent time thankfully. But the military is a really bad part of life for many young people. The incompetence is amazing honestly
As soon as you hear 'The HMS', you know they have no clue about the UK Armed Forces except some stats.
It's almost like consistently reducing the defence budget, threatening job security of soldiers and scrapping large amounts of equipment was (shock horror!) a really really bad idea
If only multiple people had told them this at the time or before it happened and constantly since! Oh...
I find that the main reason I don't want to work for the Military is because form experience in the cadets I just don't have the motivation to maintain the uniform or fitness required. If I knew of roles where I could completely avoid both of those I might go for it, but no such thing really exists.
It's an easy answer. No one wants to fight for an economic zone, instead of a country.
4:00 NOTE: The NATO 2% guideline INCLUDES all aspects of military including nukes. So to _remove_ the Nukes from UK budget and then compare to France (which has 290 nuke warheads) whose figure INCLUDES nukes is unfair. Increasingly TLDR reporting is showing obvious and wide inconsistencies. Such a shame.
Inconsistencies or bias? The latter seems to be becoming more noticeable on this channel.
4:25 "Is South Africa going in the right or wrong direction?"
Looks like the editor has been copy/pasting the After Effects project file and forgot to update the title. 😂
Well i hope it improves
France has a nuclear deterrence of four submarines too, so subtracting the cost of our nuclear deterrence from our defence spending but not the cost of the french nuclear deterrence from the French spending is disingenuous.
Also "Is South Africa Heading in the right or wrong direction" under the graph of British defence spending as a percentage against time @4:13 is kind of shoddy.
I don't think you are a reliable source of news if you can't do basic research or title your graphs properly.
Agree, not the first time they mislabled a graph.
Culture plays a big part in recruiting.
Right now people see the UK government shovelling millions of pounds a day into facilitating mass migration, they are protecting energy companies and suppliers so they can maintain above-market costs for energy and food, there is a cost of living crisis, and local councils organise priority housing for the homeless putting immigrants at the top of the waiting list, and military veterans at the bottom. Seriously, if you are a homeless veteran you will NEVER get given social housing, but someone getting off a boat at Dover is automatically provided with money and housing the same day. Put simply, when a country is mocking its own people, they should not expect those people to go out and lay down their lives to protect a system that shafts them.
In last month at least five people have been arrested for public order offences, for merely carrying a Union Jack.
They shouldnt expect people to die thousands of miles away in a ditch, carrying a flag they will get arrested for flying at home.
you wont here them say it on the channel tho the truth hurts
Im from the UK and this has received so much backlash that the UK government went back on it due to so many people simply refusing constription myself included!
i remember i applied to the airforce in 2019 and i got rejected because i had been prescribed a steroid cream by a doctor in the last 3 years. I applied to the army back in 2015 I also was declined at medical because i had an inhaler when i was 10 ( i was 21 at the time of applying). They told me to reapply the next year so I did and i got declined this time because I had a bit of dry skin on my face and it was classed as an "active skin condition". Its almost impossible to get in if youve even spoken to a doctor in the last 15 years they see it as a liability that they have to pay for your treatments/ get sued for medical negligence if you get in with a condition and it gets worse from working with them. I think if something in your records to them is a "oh i dunno about this" they should phone you and get more info not just a flat out decline and if needed get you in for an actual in person assessment and then if they think ah its alright really its only a small thing they should be able to give you a wavier with both of you signing it to say yeah x is a small issue but it shouldn't effect duties and you agree not to sue or have them pay for treatments.
Your story is similar to mine. Army for me, rejected because I had a cough and the gp wrote the word asthma (plus a bunch of other stuff they could investigate) if it didnt improve (it did) when I was about 12. I couldn't be bothered with the months of appeals and moved into the private sector. The reality is theyll accept anyone that neglected their health and never saw a doctor over someone who cared and got themselves checked out.
Never mind. Not my problem anymore.
Is there a SINGLE thing in the UK that is actually funded properly?
Yes, politicians pensions.
Immigration?
@@22yards No. Even that is underfunded. Why do you think there's such a huge backlog? Which is by design, so they can bring out the foreigners in small boats argument to rile up the racists and simpletons every now and then when there's something else in the news showing them being so massively corrupt and incompetent or just outright evil.
Nothing will solve the recruitment crisis. Your chance of getting in is about 10%, if you are willing to wait over a year. Very few quality candidates will wait that long when the private sector will happily take them on.
The primary reason is that most people that have visited a GP are no longer considered fit for service.
I've also been told that part of the retention crisis in the last year is due to a growing number of personnel leaving the army to fight in Ukraine. The numbers are not huge but they disproportionately affect infantry and special forces, but the MoD cant acknowledge it due to political and diplomatic sensitivities.
Probably a good idea for the British Crown to not try picking fights and starting wars with Russia.
I'm confused - at 3:50 when comparing UK defence spending (without nuclear weapons as 1.75%) to France's almost 2%, this doesn't take into account the fact that France also has nuclear weapons which it presumably also spends some of its budget on? It would be much clearer to compare UK defence budget without nuclear weapons spending to France's defence budget without nuclear weapons spending which I'm guessing would show that we still spend more than France does with that taken into account.
Think about what young people realise they would be fighting for in the army.
Why would I put up with awful conditions see the friends I make in the military die and go to war for my landlord who takes 80% of my pay for mouldy bed room in a over populated HMO.
Lots has to change in this country before young people even consider the idea of dying for it
3:58 It's not fair to compare the UK's budget without nuclear deterrence to France's budget with its own nuclear deterrence.
Do you think a reform of some of some of the medical screening requirements for the armed forces would help boost numbers?
I ask as I know many people deemed medically unfit by the Armed Forces Occupational Health, despite being fully capable in other aspects or specific jobs within the military. These shortfalls are including conditions such as food allergies
The whole UK has sunk into crisis thanks to Tory government incompetence. A massive amount of UK military spending is wasted on a bloated Ministry of Defence, the MoD are civil servants and in 2022 they numbered over 57,000. This is almost as large as the Royal Navy and RAF combined!!
Dad's Army comes to mind. Still singing "Who do you think you are kiddin' mister Hitler if you think old England 's done" ..