Coffee House Shots: how prepared is Britain for war?
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
General Sir Nick Carter, former chief of the defence staff, joins Tim Shipman to discuss Britain's military preparedness – or rather, lack thereof. While a friendlier US presence at the Munich Security Conference may have provided some relief, the military threats to the UK and to Europe presented are still stark. So what choices need to be addressed to ensure that Britain is equipped to deal with these threats? Is the government doing enough to address the awareness gap with the public? And how could AI change warfare?
Tim's cover piece, Defenceless: the grim truth about Britain's military, can be found here.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Join me, Toby Young, on Wednesday the 18th of February for another installment in the Spectator's Speaker series. |
| 0:07.3 | I'll be joined by the star of Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones, John Reese Davis. |
| 0:12.6 | We'll be covering his fascinating childhood in Tanzania, the secrets behind his lasting success, |
| 0:17.8 | and what he sees as the challenges facing Western civilization. |
| 0:22.2 | Join us in the library at Old Queen Street Cafe at 7pm on Wednesday the 18th of February. |
| 0:28.8 | Book your tickets at spectator.com forward slash book now. |
| 0:44.2 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shops. I'm Tim Shipman, political editor of The Spectator, and I'm delighted today to be joined by General Sir Nick Carter. Nick was head of the army between |
| 0:49.4 | 2014 and 2018 and then Chief of the Defence Staff, the top job in the armed forces between 2018 and |
| 0:55.7 | 2021, man with vast experience. And we're here to talk about the strategic picture, British |
| 1:01.0 | military readiness. And Nick, you've just been at the Munich Security Conference, which |
| 1:05.5 | feels every year like an increasingly important sort of event. It's the sort of Davos for the armed forces, |
| 1:12.0 | essentially. What were your reflections from what you heard over there? I think there was obviously |
| 1:16.6 | a slight sense of relief after the previous Munich Security Conference when people will recall |
| 1:21.2 | that JD Vance effectively gave Europe a good kicking on the basis of all sorts of things. |
| 1:27.4 | Well, of course, |
| 1:27.8 | the American presence this time was probably not quite as large, but was led by Rubio, the |
| 1:33.0 | sector of state. And although he made similar comments and observations, he did it in a much |
| 1:38.3 | more tactful and diplomatic fashion. So I think people were relieved in a way to hear that he |
| 1:43.5 | certainly regarded Europe as |
| 1:44.9 | still being America's ally, but was of course encouraging Europe to step up to the plate |
| 1:50.0 | and maximise its or begin to realise its potential in terms of its power and certainly military |
| 1:54.6 | power in relation to NATO. I also think there was a certain amount of people trying to follow |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.