John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 26/09/2026They only look unnecessary until something goes wrong. The government’s public information campaign is a welcome start, but rebuilding national resilience will require rather more than finding the torch. 0160 16
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Food, water, a torch and knowing how you’d cope with a prolonged outage isn’t extreme prepping. It’s common sense. The bigger issue is that we’ve spent decades confusing efficiency with resilience, removing spare capacity and redundancy because they looked unnecessary. 1223 22
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 26/09/2026I’ve followed UK resilience policy closely for the past couple of years and this feels like a significant change in the conversation. There is a sensible middle ground between complacency and scaremongering. 2111 11
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Yes. There’s at least six up at the moment. Most days, night and day it’s the same. Plus the occasional big Wokka-wokkas (if you know you know 😂) and Apache gunships up from Suffolk some evenings. So no! Not police. Just regular Shawbury stuff like this is quite normal. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Sadly behind a paywall for me. Is this another “CIA Director William Burns’s trip to Moscow in November 2021”episode in your view or something else? A warning and an offer of a deal perhaps? Fascinating either way. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 20/07/2026If other departments (MOD, Cabinet Office, Home Office, FCDO) begin opening verified Bluesky accounts over the coming weeks, it would indicate that the UK government sees Bluesky as a mainstream communications channel rather than a niche alternative. But that’s still a big “if”. 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 18/07/2026The generals can preserve relationships and provide reassurance, but they cannot substitute for political decisions made in the White House and Congress, even in the longer term. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Military relationships matter enormously, but ultimately elected politicians decide: * whether America honours treaties, * whether troops deploy, * whether weapons are supplied, * whether Article 5 is invoked. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 14/07/2026One final thought. Having followed this issue quite closely over the past year, including correspondence with ministers via my MP, I think NRR 2026 represents genuine progress. There is still plenty to do, but the public conversation has moved on considerably. That’s encouraging. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 14/07/20265 things I’d still like to see: A layered civil warning system beyond mobile alerts. Clearer household preparedness guidance. Visible community resilience structures. Greater public visibility of how these ambitions will be delivered. Greater public understanding of individual and family resilience. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 14/07/20265 things I like about NRR 2026: Hostile state threats taken seriously. Whole-of-society resilience. Cascading risks recognised. Home Defence Programme. A much more serious tone overall. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Fair point. I was thinking more in terms of a layered system rather than a single primary channel. But credit where it’s due. The NRR feels a much more serious and mature document than the public discussion around resilience did even a year ago. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Still no alternate civil warning system unveiled unless it’s in the classified version. Lots of policy but not much actual infrastructure. But it’s serious progress all the same - at last. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 11/07/2026The ‘Spit’ showed up as private on FR24 as well. Having been brought up in Southampton in the 60s and 70s the sound is unmistakable. Looks like we may see a Hurricane today as well from what’s on the air show flight schedule. #sleapkosh2026 020 2
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Understood! But Shrewsbury folks get their TV licenses in English and Welsh so it works both ways. Greetings from Yr Amwythig 😉 020 2
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Thank you to the BELMAS team for all their hard work that led to such a great event. #BELMAS2026 111 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 13/06/2026We’ve spent decades measuring defence in ships, tanks and aircraft. The harder question is whether Britain could still function after six months of sustained disruption. That’s the resilience challenge. 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Has Whitehall become so conditioned to peacetime Treasury discipline that it can no longer think in those terms? 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 10/06/2026I wonder at what point does government simply decide that defence requirements drive the budget rather than the other way around? Reading this, I was reminded that in previous periods of rearmament Britain did not begin with an affordability envelope and then fit strategy inside it. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 06/06/2026Here’s one from yesterday @woolertonoldhallgarden - ok it’s a moth but one that likes the sunshine 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Thank you. The distinction between presidential misjudgement and deeper structural realities is particularly thought-provoking. If the Iran war is ultimately remembered as a moment of revelation rather than transformation, its historical significance may prove greater than many currently appreciate. 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 02/06/2026The old MTB logic may be coming full circle. A Coastal Forces concept I modelled in 2025 produced around 70 crewed craft for ~£600m. Substituting USVs now yields more than 130 hulls for a similar budget. Distributed presence is becoming hard to ignore. 070 7
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 22/05/2026Ulysses. No fear of including AI content. Great for long form writing like a thesis. Export to Word when you complete your chapter. They have a student subscription price too. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 23/03/2026The complacency of the reply to my written question (sent via my MP) that I received from the MOD Procurement Minister was frankly staggering. 020 2
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 23/03/2026They have had plenty of warnings, which is more than we will get if we are attacked: open.substack.com/pub/johngl55...open.substack.comWhen the Sirens Slept: What Civil Defence in Europe Can Teach the UKWhy Britain’s civilian readiness is falling behind — and what we can learn from our neighbours. 160 6
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 02/03/2026The current situation with UK sovereign bases only serves to highlight the rapidly changing situation. It takes just a very little imagination to work out how the threats being faced in Cyprus today could be faced here in the Uk very soon. What do we get …. silence. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 25/02/2026After which I wrote this piece: open.substack.com/pub/johngl55...open.substack.comWhen the Sirens Slept: What Civil Defence in Europe Can Teach the UKWhy Britain’s civilian readiness is falling behind — and what we can learn from our neighbours. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 25/02/2026I raised a ministerial question on this matter through my excellent local MP last year. The reply from the Minister was …. as you’d probably expect, vacuous to say the least. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Trump calling Newsom a “loser” over the UK–California energy MOU says more about the mood in Washington than London. Britain isn’t shouting at the Trump avalanche. It’s quietly moving. Looking for firmer ground and steadier partners while the snow shifts above, hedging against further turbulence. 001 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 07/02/2026My garden on 22nd January this year. Floreat Salopia! 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 06/02/2026😂 oh the joys of life in the countryside. Know it well. But even with the sign some will try their luck - FAFO! 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 02/02/2026If someone needs to test whether US-shared intelligence leaks to an adversary, while Congress can’t access a classified whistleblower complaint about the head of US intelligence oversight, the question isn’t “Is someone compromised?” It’s “Who still trusts the system to tell them if someone were?” 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 28/01/2026This isn’t really about Brexit. It’s audited digital trade and parcel tracking stuff that was coming anyway. If €3 feels like a sovereignty crisis, just wait until he sees the climate border taxes plug into the same system. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 24/01/2026When warrants and probable cause are treated as optional, the Fourth Amendment stops protecting people in practice. From there, discretion expands and accountability shrinks very quickly. 070 7
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 20/01/2026I share the concern, though I’d frame it less in terms of Americans themselves and more in terms of institutional blind spots. This feels like a failure of systems and assumptions rather than public understanding alone. 2223 22
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 20/01/2026This is a structural break, not a temporary crisis. The challenge is to find an effective response. Starmer’s options are limited, but there’s agency in preparing for US unpredictability, deepening European cooperation, and reducing dependencies. This work is important, if seemingly unspectacular. 040 4
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 20/01/2026What I find striking here is the emphasis on misrecognition. The real risk isn’t overreaction, but continuing to treat this as a normal, cyclical crisis rather than a structural break. Surely systems fail when assumptions lag reality? 28113 81
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Really enjoyed this. What stands out is the shift from rules-based restraint to material constraint: finite military posture, overextension, and crucially allies no longer absorbing costs quietly. Power here is shown to be conditional on followership. That feels like the real limit now taking shape. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 19/01/2026When voices embedded in mainstream establishment media start openly questioning US reliability as an ally, it usually reflects a shift that has already begun in private diplomatic and security planning. The real issue is what this implies for European assumptions and preparedness going forward. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 17/01/2026Tariffs over Greenland isn’t leverage, it’s desperation. When tariffs replace diplomacy, power is slipping, not growing. Europe sees it. Markets see it. And the US pays the inflation bill. 062 6
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 04/01/2026The real danger is not that Trump seamlessly annexes half the hemisphere, but that unilateral assertion normalises discretionary force, fractures the post-war order, and accelerates American decline from within. Alarm is warranted. Inevitability is not. 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 04/01/2026History suggests the opposite: empires rarely fail because they are resisted at the margins, but because overreach corrodes legitimacy, alliances, markets, and internal cohesion long before territorial control can be consolidated. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 04/01/2026Where I suggest the analysis weakens is in its reliance on linear Nazi-era analogies and near-frictionless escalation. Panama to Greenland to Canada is treated as an almost mechanical sequence, as though imperial ambition automatically produces imperial success. 100 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 04/01/2026This article is right to reject the comforting fiction that Trump’s territorial rhetoric is mere bluster. He tests ideas aloud, watches for resistance, and advances when institutions hesitate. That pattern is now well established, and ignoring stated intent is no longer a defensible position. 110 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 10/12/2025I agree with Behr, but the silence isn’t the mystery folks think it is. Britain sees the avalanche coming and knows full well that yelling “stop!” won’t make the mountain behave. Starmer’s quiet isn’t bravery or cowardice, it’s the sound a country makes when it’s run out of good options. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 08/12/2025Trump can cause chaos, but he can’t undo the trans-Atlantic bond. Congress, the services, and European partners are already adapting to the turbulence. The drift is significant, but the counter-forces are strong and lasting, far beyond one presidency. 000 0
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 08/12/2025Now the strategy is written down in black and white, aligned with far-right European parties and echoing Moscow’s talking points. The timing of the panic says more about Europe than the NSS. 010 1
John Luker @johngl.bsky.social · 08/12/2025The NSS hasn’t changed. European leaders’ tolerance for pretending it was performance art has. For years analysts flagged the trajectory, but the political class preferred to believe the alliance would auto-correct. 110 1
Reposted by John LukerDr-Ayman @dr-ayman.bsky.social · 05/12/2025Call for papers Theme: Educational Leadership in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Abstract deadline: 9 January 2026 Submit via: lnkd.in/dg6s72TH For more details, read the full call. 002 2
