Mick Smith - Times Online - WBLG

Nimrod - The Warnings the MoD Ignored

Regular readers of this blog will not have been surprised by the furore over fuel leaks on board the RAF Nimrod spy plane XV230 which exploded over Afghanistan in September last year, killing all 14 on board. The emails, which showed the concerns of middle-ranking RAF officers over the leaks, are only a small piece of the picture that has emerged of problems with the aircraft, which was due to go out of service in 1995 and will not be replaced – under current plans – until 2010.

Wanted: The New Miss Moneypenny

MI6 is searching for the new Miss Moneypenny, the loyal personal assistant to the head of the secret service who never succumbed to James Bond’s charms. A job advertisement on the TimesOnline website comes shortly after the death of Lois Maxwell, the actress who played Moneypenny in 14 Bond movies over 25 years, although intelligence contacts tell me that it is a pure coincidence. There is of course already a new Miss Moneypenny in the films, the actress Samantha Bond (no relation).

Sorry Jock. The UK Has Failed in Basra!

It is sadly not true to say, as the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, does in an interview with The Times today, that British troops have not failed in Basra. It was not just the government that was suggesting our troops could do something worthwhile in Iraq’s most southern city, it was British military commanders themselves. Too often, we heard that UK troops were better than their US colleagues at winning hearts and minds and that we could do something in the south that our American allies had no hope of doing further north.

Remembering Those Who Died to Make the Lives of Others Better

Finally, there has been an acceptance from the MoD that the more than 15,500 members of the armed forces killed since the second world war should be commemorated. We have all recognised the fact that British troops have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is really not understood that there has been just one year since the Second World War – 1968 – when British troops were not fighting and dying for their country.