- This week I was in London for a live sequel to Sky News' podcast 'The Wargame'. On stage we had former British ministers Ben Wallace, Jack Straw and Amber Rudd, and former Commander of Joint Forces Command General Sir Richard Barrons, playing out another round of simulated attack from Moscow. [1/9]Feb 1, 2026 13:55
- The audience was engaged, interested, and there because they know this is serious. This is the UK's national conversation on defence, security and resilience, in action. The problem is, it's not happening with the current British government, but without it and in spite of it. [2/9]
- Does anybody remember the flurry of defence warnings at the end of 2025, when it seemed the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Armed Forces Minister, and others, suddenly seemed to have been permitted to admit the UK has a serious conventional defence problem? [3/9] news.sky.com/story/uks-so...
- Those warnings are devalued and undercut by government's refusal to act visibly in response to them. The warnings must just be alarmism, the logic goes, because surely if government actually believed this, it would be doing something about it. [4/9] x.com/John_Foreman...
- Instead, the Defence Investment Plan, Home Defence Programme, and other vital steps continue to fail to appear. And the Resilience Action Plan, and "Prepare" advice for the public that it fails to link to, send a clear message to the people of the UK: [5/9] committees.parliament.uk/committee/24...
- Get ready for a crisis, but when it comes, don't expect help and assistance from central government, because you're on your own. [6/9] prepare.campaign.gov.uk
- The UK's National Security Strategy lays out what defence-conscious, thinking people - including within Parliament - have known for years. Changes are vital for the UK not to be a soft target for coercion and, potentially, overt attack. And public support is essential - [7/9]
- - people have to be on board with uncomfortable change, and serious redirection of how their tax pounds are spent. That means, these sensible government policy papers say, that "driving a conversation on risk and preparedness with the public is vitally important". [8/9] www.gov.uk/government/p...
- But as we see from initiatives like Sky News allowing Deborah Haynes and Robert Johnson to lead the conversation where Keir Starmer hasn't, government isn't in the driving seat - it has missed the bus and is watching placidly as it heads off down the road. [9/9] podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
