Snapshot · The Rest Is Politics
The GCAP fighter jet being developed with Italy and Japan won't be delivered until 2040, raising serious questions about its relevance in a world increasingly defined by drones and AI.
Where this was said
At 21:30 · chapter starts 19:30
With the US spending a trillion dollars a year on defence and able to 'bet on everything,' the UK faces brutal prioritisation decisions it is politically incapable of making. Stewart runs through the five main defence capabilities Britain theoretically wants — aircraft carriers, a sixth-generation fighter (GCAP), advanced submarines, army recapitalisation, and munitions stockpiling — and argues bluntly that the country cannot afford all five simultaneously [1] — Rory Stewart "US defence spend: The US spends approximately one trillion dollars a year on defence, enabling it to bet on every capability simultaneously…" 19:39 . He singles out aircraft carriers as the most obvious candidate for cancellation: they only work with a support fleet Britain can't afford, and they were designed for counter-insurgency projection into the Indo-Pacific, a mission Britain has largely abandoned. The GCAP fighter is equally questionable: due in 2040, at perhaps £200 million per unit, possibly obsolete before completion in a world of cheap mass drones [2] — Rory Stewart "GCAP fighter delivery date: 2040: The GCAP fighter jet being developed with Italy and Japan won't be delivered until 2040, raising serious …" 21:30 . Campbell connects this to John Healey's resignation, suggesting the former Defence Secretary was particularly frustrated by the Treasury blocking the Canadian-proposed Defence Security and Resilience Bank.
The US can bet on every defence capability simultaneously. The UK cannot. Aircraft carriers need a support fleet we can't afford. The GCAP fighter arrives in 2040, by which time drone warfare may have made it irrelevant. The real investment needed is in the engineers and industrial capacity to produce new software every 6 weeks.
The US spends approximately one trillion dollars a year on defence, enabling it to bet on every capability simultaneously — a luxury the UK cannot afford.
John Healey's resignation letter included a cryptic line about 'other ways of raising money without causing too much trouble in the markets.' What it referred to was the Canadian-proposed Defence Security and Resilience Bank — a vehicle for defence investment that avoids hitting fiscal rules. The Treasury blocked it. The gap between defence need and fiscal reality has never been wider.
Ukraine is a war of cheap hovering drones and frozen frontlines. Iran was the dream of US-Israeli planners — exquisite expensive aircraft taking out all air defences in 24 hours. Britain has to decide which model it is building for, and neither answer justifies a fighter jet that won't arrive until 2040.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.