Signal Failure, Leaks, Bombs, and Budget Cuts

Mid-Atlantic - conversations about US, UK and world politics

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This week’s Mid-Atlantic felt like reading classified memos in the group chat, except the group chat accidentally included a journalist and the memos were about bombing Yemen. Host Roifield Brown and his panel of sharp minds, Aram Fischer in Oakland, Denise Hamilton in Houston, Steve O’Neill in London, and Leah Brown in Broadstairs, looked at two transatlantic absurdities: national security leaks from Team Trump 2.0, and a British Labour government budgeting like it’s still 2010.

In the US, cabinet officials used Signal to discuss military strikes in Yemen, adding a reporter to the chat by mistake. The conversation quickly turned from emoji-filled incompetence to existential dread. Denise Hamilton called it what it is: “a cabinet of convenience and fealty,” while Aram Fischer reminded us that when the “vibes” run the state, reality bites hard. Bombs fell, 53 people died, and somehow no one resigned.

Across the pond, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a Spring Budget that sounds progressive until you read it. Welfare cuts, frozen benefits, and a forecast of a quarter-million more people—including 50,000 children—falling into poverty. All while wealth remains virtually untaxed. The panel didn’t hold back. “Tories in all but name,” Roifield declared, with Steve admitting he didn’t vote Labour to get austerity rebranded with a red rosette.

Takeaway: If this episode had a moral, it’s this: Government by vibes kills. And Labour’s soft technocracy might just be Tories on mute.

5 Pull Quotes:

“This is not a cabinet of excellence. This is a cabinet of convenience and fealty.” – Denise Hamilton
“They added a journalist to the Signal thread and thought, ‘Eh, it’s fine.’ That’s where we’re at.” – Aram Fischer
“Nothing really matters as long as the vibes are right.” – Aram Fischer, summarising MAGA foreign policy
“Labour’s playing a long game with no message. That’s a strategy with a short shelf life.” – Leah Brown
“You knew what the Tories stood for. I’ve got no idea what this lot stand for.” – Roifield Brown

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