Matthew Palmer

A Cynic's Guide to Defence Jargon WMD: Words of Mass Confusion

‘Autistic men in suits talking loudly and self-importantly at each other in jargon that nobody understands’

A decent summation of the defence pundit class, who delight in arcane language. As such, I've written a guide to the most annoying phrases out there. Let me know what I missed!

Anybody involved in Defence does the exact same. Its an in/out group thing.

Its a shame because the message and idea is quite good but the prose is clunky and the whole post is overly long.

Politics that makes a difference Over half a million children, lifted out of poverty

Keir Starmer doing an email newsletter is a good idea, but the execution needs a complete overhaul:

🇺🇦 Zelensky: Today we celebrate the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – an independent Ukraine, a Ukraine that knows how to defend itself, a Ukraine that stands in such a way that there is simply no one in the world who could afford to ignore us, our state.

Casablancas. Casablanca 3: Return of Nazis. Casablanca 4: Rick's Revenge.

Spinoffs include 'Rick' (film) and 'Laszlo' (10-part miniseries)

'ENGAGE audience with non-lethal informational fires iot CONVINCE aud of friendly narrrative. Endstate is aud CONVINCed and en. narrative CONSTRAINED'

This is why I hate the term 'Fires' so much. Not only was it stupid to begin with, it has entirely lost all sensible meaning.

Glad you enjoyed it!

A Cynic's Guide to Defence Jargon WMD: Words of Mass Confusion

Oustanding non-physical fire with effect! Vital reading

crackingdefence.substack.com/p/a-cynics-g...

Hi Sam,

Netflix, which rarely carries a single movie from before 1980, wants you to know how thrilled they are to acquire that classic piece of franchise IP, Casablanca

MPs Are Divided Over Whether They Should Use AI To Do Their Jobs MPs are divided over whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help ease the pressures of parliamentary workloads, with some hailing it as an effici...

And the original @politicshome.bsky.social story here 👇

I was very tempted to include 'integrated' in the mix...

It has been a major problem for years. The submarine service is close to breaking point and we lack enough frigates.

I've spoken to @robinpotter.bsky.social before on the merits of obtaining conventional submarines vs doubling down on robots to fill the gap. Yet to come to a decision myself.

The FT Influence List 2025 Who are the people who shaped the world this year?

Horrifying/funny/horrifying again to spot how many of these were definitely written by ChatGPT

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

A formal safety investigation into the Army’s Ajax armoured vehicle will take at least two weeks, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed, in a move that deepens uncertainty around the programme.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-to-decide...

His photos are a goldmine for when you need 'slightly pissed off looking staff officer' imagery.

One of us! One of us!

As an autistic woman in a suit who absolutely hates jargon, I endorse all of these!

'Two nations divided by a common language' has never been so apt.

I would note that it goes the other way as well - I think British politics suffers from being too obsessed with American politics, which we can all understand because its in English.

A Cynic's Guide to Defence Jargon WMD: Words of Mass Confusion

‘Autistic men in suits talking loudly and self-importantly at each other in jargon that nobody understands’

A decent summation of the defence pundit class, who delight in arcane language. As such, I've written a guide to the most annoying phrases out there. Let me know what I missed!

The past year of Russian hostile activity has been the most obvious and blatant example of 'boiling the frog' that I can think of.

Hostile activity within our borders - now targeting key strategic assets - by a malicious actor is now basically tolerated as a fact of everyday life.

According to French media reports the 🇫🇷 navy last night shot down five drones flying over the Ile Longue, in Brittany, home to France’s SNLE nuclear-armed submarines, the naval component of France’s nuclear deterrent

Drones over French nuclear submarine base last night.

Iraq 2025 election: Reform candidates pushed out by a system that rejects change Hopes that reform of Iraq’s political system would be possible from within have been dashed by the poor electoral performance of candidates associated with the Tishreen protest movement.

🇮🇶 | Hopes that Iraq’s political system could be reformed have been dashed by the poor electoral performance of candidates associated with the Tishreen protest movement.

Read @haydersh.bsky.social's latest analysis for Chatham House⤵️

Germany votes to bring back voluntary military service programme for 18-year-olds The shift in its approach to its military follows a push to create Europe's strongest conventional army.

"Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, has voted to introduce voluntary military service, in a move aimed at boosting national defences after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I read it.

I think I now could do with a stiff Scotch.

To no one’s surprise, German air traffic control finds more drone sightings by German pilots than ever. We’re up to 208 sightings this year already, first time it’s over 200.

This was bloody good. Do read it.

"Russia would never attack Ireland" -people in my mentions four days ago