Many thanks to Emilio Casalicchio for including my analysis (aka my 'screaming into the wind') in today's Playbook.

x.com/POLITICOEurope…

“The government is trying to have it both ways by saying this is a game changing amount of investment going into defence, but also this is small enough that we can make up for it by getting rid of a few thousand civil servants.”

Ben Zaranko on BBC Politics #PoliticsLive

I'll be on BBC Politics Live shortly talking about this. I'll be the man in the jazzy tie who needs a hair cut and forgot to shave this morning.

For decades, steady reductions in the amount spent on defence allowed for extra spending on things like the NHS without a need to increase taxes. In essence, we replaced a warfare state with a welfare state.

The challenge now is that we're going to have to pay for both.

I will continue to argue that we desperately need a switch towards more pay less pension in the public sector. You can’t get a mortgage based on your future pension.