Mick Smith - Times Online - WBLG

Have We Made Harry a Marked Man for the Rest of his Life?

The news that Prince Harry has been out on the frontline firing a heavy machine-gun at the Taliban and directing allied aircraft on to their targets has provoked a storm of debate in the UK. Why was his life put at risk? What would have happened if he had died? And what of the compliant media, keeping stumm at the behest of the MoD? Would they have even told us if he had been killed?

Letters from the Left Coast

This is a guest blog from Ian Bowater, a friend of mine living on the US West Coast. He's a screenwriter so he's had a bit of time on his hands!

I've been in L.A. for twenty years now and this is my sixth Presidential Campaign. I can't vote because I refuse to become a US citizen even though it means I cannot become a responsible signatory of the trust where all our wealth resides. Notwithstanding that and if Sherrie dies - the fates forbid - I'll have to apply to my octogenarian brother-in-law for my spending money, I still refuse to engage in the tragi-comedy of the American electoral system. Still wishing to have a voice, I'm sending the first in a series of occasional Letters From The Left Coast as my way of trying to get deported.

The Lies Ministers told over Afghanistan

Last week’s attacks by two separate coroners on the MoD’s failure to provide troops in Afghanistan and Iraq with essential equipment diverted attention away from the full import of the board of inquiry report into the death of Capt Jim Philippson, the first British soldier to be killed in action in Helmand. The contents of this hard hitting report should not be allowed to pass unnoticed, not least because it heaps the blame for much of what went wrong on Gordon Brown’s Treasury and the then defence secretary John Reid, as well as providing yet more evidence of ministers’ willingness to play fast and loose with the truth, even in their evidence to MPs.

Looking After Our Forces the Swiss Toni Way

The government has been insisting for months that the defence budget is on the rise, that Gordon Brown loves the forces, and the very idea of defence cuts is absolutely absurd. But a leaked document passed to the Sunday Times shows that to be complete and utter tosh.

The Disgraceful Way We Treat Our Servicemen

Getting information out of the Ministry of Pretence (MoD) is difficult, even if you’re an MP, as a series of recent responses to parliamentary written questions show. From these questions we now know what the Royal British Legion has been saying for some time. The system of compensation for servicemen and women wounded on active duty, and for their dependents if they should die, is an absolute disgrace and is clearly designed to save the MoD money rather than improve the lives of those who risk life and limb on our behalf.