'Chronic lack of sea time' and low morale hitting Royal Navy with force running out of Captains trib.al/HtnQ1xD

Exc: Ministers have been secretly warned that some English reservoirs are at risk of running dry, hitting water supplies to homes in the run-up to Christmas. The government’s emergency committee, known as Cobra, is meeting up to twice a week to discuss the situation in the southwest of England and Sussex. A secret “reasonable worst-case scenario” was drawn up, anticipating that several reservoirs’ water stocks could fall to 0 per cent — dubbed “day zero” — within weeks. Officials warned that without action, supplies to some homes could be affected, along with disruption to the construction of a nuclear power station and operations at a prison. Steps have been taken by ministers and water companies to try to mitigate the risks, which insiders stressed were already starting to push back the “day zero” dates. Experts on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have also been brought in to help review water companies’ modelling for protecting stocks for the weeks ahead. Heatwaves over the summer left half of England in drought. Sussex and the southwest were the most severely affected. Wimbleball reservoir, which supplies more than 400,000 people in Somerset, has 13 per cent of its capacity, while Ardingly, which serves 280,000 customers across West Sussex, is at 17 per cent, figures from yesterday show. Reasonable worst-case scenario plans were drawn up by the government, setting out a “day zero” envisaging Wimbleball and Ardingly reservoirs’ stocks being completely depleted by December. Subsequently, the government privately said it was told by South West Water that it did not anticipate Wimbleball running dry due to measures it had put in place. South East Water is also taking action that has shifted Whitehall “day zero” forecasts at Ardingly into next year. Even if the reservoirs did run completely dry, water companies would probably be able to transfer supplies from elsewhere. However, significant concerns remain in government about water disruption to properties supplied by Devon’s Venford reservoir in early November. “Day zero” risk monitoring has also started for Cornwall’s Stithians and Drift reservoirs. Water companies were asked to model the impact of water-saving measures, which have been scrutinised by members of Sage. Ministers were told that shortages could affect daily operations at HMP Exeter and the construction of Hinkley Point C, a nuclear power station being built in Somerset. Normal levels of rainfall over autumn and winter will not be enough to counteract the effects of the drought, which was extended to cover Yorkshire this month. Officials have calculated there will need to be 120 per cent of long-term average rainfall over the next six months for a nationwide recovery.

The Storm Shadows sent by the UK last week have been rapidly put to good use. The Proton plant in Oryol and the Energia plant in Yelets, which both produce missile components, were hit this week. Thank you to our UK allies for helping us cut Russian missile production.💙💛

BREAKING: Actor Walter Koenig, known as Ensign Chekov on the original "Star Trek" series, has died at 90. apnews.com/article/walter-ko…

The latest on the coming cost of living crunch from @emilygosden Household energy bills are forecast to surge by 27 per cent to an average of £2,192 a year from January, leaving consumers facing the highest domestic gas prices yet Renewed conflict between the US and Iran in recent weeks has pushed the wholesale gas price to a fresh four-year high, after months of disruption to shipments of liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz Ofgem’s energy price cap is due to rise from £1,723 a year now to £2,192 a year in January, according to a new forecast by EDF, one of Britain’s biggest energy suppliers. It could then rise again to £2,389 a year from April All of which will add to questions over whether John Healey's planned intervention on energy bills - increasing the warm home discount for those on benefits - will be enough... thetimes.com/business/energy…

A chip fabrication facility at Russia's Proton military electronics plant in Orel was heavily damaged over the weekend. Footage shows several Ukrainian Storm Shadow cruise missiles hitting the factory.

this is so bleak

EUROPEAN GAS: Prices across Europe are closing in on €100/MWh as the weather starts to turn cold, stocks remain at record lows, and the LNG market remains tight. BUT, we're still a long way from the 2022 high of €320/MWh and the now defunct EU price cap of €180/MWh. #ttf #ongt

New post: We have a fascinating and candid interview with Tony Radakin who was head of the armed forces 2021-2025. Covers decisions on Ukraine, the lessons from the UK, the threat from Russia, defence spending and the disaster of military procurement. samf.substack.com/p/when-rus…

Energy crisis? What crisis? US natural gas benchmark price falls to ~$2.5 per mBtu, approaching a fresh 2-year low.

Elon Musk is without a doubt the most grotesque example of extreme wealth being mistaken for virtuous genius that I’ve ever seen, no contest. A dude whose business empire has had the exceptional luxury of upwards of $38 BILLlON in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits that lectures us on government waste, fraud, and abuse. He takes a literal fucking chainsaw to government aid, while hundreds of thousands die from the lack of access, and simultaneously engorges himself at the public pig trough of endless money. He then takes the grift cash to buy elections, outright rig them, gains extraordinary access to the backrooms and convinces panting sycophants that he’s “fighting the establishment.” He IS the establishment. Years and years of missed deadlines, self driving promises just around the corner. Spectacular theatrical marketing presentations presented as new technology, with an army of ball riding zombies to explain why his latest failure is actually evidence of 5D chess wizardry. All in line to be the friend he doesn’t have. He was emailing Epstein to find about the “wildest parties” on child rape island, and you people still clamber. Speaking of mouth breathing followers, the cult surrounding him is even more disturbingly dangerous. Every glaring contradiction becomes an insult worthy misunderstanding. Every dumb comment is a masterpiece. Every legitimate totally fair criticism becomes proof that the questioner is stupid, jealous, or secretly working against humanity itself. It’s so blatantly a cult. At what point does this bizarre admiration become deliberately and completely giving up independent thought? You can acknowledge the success of his companies and the remarkable engineering feats without cosplaying that he’s some infallible prophet. And give his employees some credit. He’s a trillionaire with huge political influence, a pretty pathetic appetite for public attention indicative of someone that’s insecure, and a documented history of promise after promise that he doesn’t deliver on. Please, don’t confuse money with intelligence. They rarely go hand in hand. Also, realize that proximity to great power is not synonymous with moral authority. The truth is historically the opposite. And for fucks sake, stop worshipping people who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.

🚨 ROYAL Navy is on track to have just ONE working ASW frigate available for ops next year. They need 13 They have 5 2 could be ruled “unseaworthy” in months as per @NavyLookout That leaves 3, all over 24 yrs old 1 on ops 1 in work up 1 in maintenance thesun.co.uk/news/40806181/n…

After Elon Musk posted on X saying he had throttled Ukraine’s use of Starlink after it was used for offensive attacks, House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) says the billionaire’s ability to wield that power is “beyond disturbing to me.” “It cannot and should not be the case that a tech oligarch, a private citizen, who has that much control over our national security, who is unaccountable, who is unelected, with zero transparency, is making life and death decisions on the battlefield in systems that our service members and our partners and allies rely upon,” he adds.

Regarding Russian conscripts, this is not the case. The overwhelming percentage of Russian forces fighting in this war are men well over 30 who accepted service contracts for money. They were not conscripted, or mobilized. For more on this topic: warontherocks.com/a-return-t…

The worst tank of WW2 might be one that never fired a shot in battle. Britain built more than 1,700 of them anyway. It was called the Covenanter. In 1939, Britain knew war was coming and it was short on tanks. So the Army ordered a new cruiser tank and did something reckless to save time. It ordered the thing into production straight off the drawing board. No prototype first. No testing. Just build it. And the company chosen to design it wasn't even a tank maker. It was a railway company, the London, Midland and Scottish. On paper, the Covenanter looked fine. It was fast, around 30 miles per hour. It sat very low to the ground, which made it harder to hit. It carried the standard British 2-pounder gun of the time. Then they actually started building and testing it. The engine was in the back, like most tanks. But to keep the tank's profile low, the designers put the radiators up front, next to the driver. That meant the engine coolant had to be piped all the way through the crew compartment, front to back. The result was a tank that cooked its own crew. The fighting compartment got brutally hot. And the cooling system still couldn't keep the engine from overheating. Not in the desert. In Britain. The Covenanter overheated in the cool, damp English countryside. Engineers tried fix after fix. Modified radiators. New louvers. New marks of the tank. None of them truly solved it. It had other issues too. It was cramped. Its armor was thin. Its 2-pounder gun was already falling behind German tanks. And its cooling problems made it useless for North Africa, the one place Britain actually needed tanks in 1941 and 1942. So the Army made a decision. The Covenanter would never be sent into combat as a battle tank. And the factories kept building them. Britain was desperate to keep tank production lines running, keep workers trained, and keep units equipped with something, anything, to practice on. Over 1,700 Covenanters rolled out of the factories. They spent the war in Britain as training tanks, driving around Salisbury Plain while other tanks went to fight. A handful of Covenanters did eventually see action, but not as tanks. Some had their turrets removed and were converted into bridgelayers. A few of those were used in Burma and in Europe to help other vehicles cross gaps and ditches. The tank that couldn't fight ended up as a bridge so other tanks could. Plenty of WW2 tanks were outgunned, outarmored, or obsolete. The Italians had tankettes so small they were nearly useless. The Japanese had tanks with barely an inch of armor. But all of those at least went to war. Britain built an entire fleet of tanks, more than many countries had in their whole army, and decided they weren't good enough to send.