Mick Smith - Times Online - WBLG

My Son's in Afghanistan. He's buying his own kit while MPs get ten grand fitted kitchens!

More news from Mandy, the mother of a soldier fighting in Afghanistan

I found an unopened letter addressed to Ross on the Monday after his deployment to Afghanistan. It was a warrant for his immediate arrest. I light the cigarette that has been patiently on 'stand by'  for six years. Tom's disgusted, and it's not relieving the stress, but hell! ...the rebellion feels good!

Letter from the Left Coast: Barack Doesn't Quite Disown the Skeletons

Here is Ian Bowater with his weekly look at the US elections

It’s all Obama, all the time! From electable, to unelectable, to oratorical colossus, to victim of State Department snooping, it’s been a helluva week for Barack Obama. On Tuesday, Barack forsook the 20,000-seat arenas and the rock star introductions, to speak to a small invited audience about an issue that is very dear to his heart – his career. Going all Presidential, he appeared in front of half a dozen silken Stars and Stripes to deliver his “why we can’t all get along” high school essay on racism in America. It was the first time an American politician used the ploy of hiding in front of the flag. The actual issue he was trying to get in front of was the matter of his troublesome mentor Reverend Jeremiah Wright. This week Obama proved himself to be a consummate and seasoned politico. When faced with having to answer some very tricky questions, he changed the question.

Des Browne and the full extent of the attempts to gag coroners

It was interesting to see Des Browne, the part-time defence secretary, trying this week to stop coroners criticising the Ministry of Defence. It is of course no coincidence that this feeble and ill-conceived attempt came shortly before the inquest begins into the shooting down of a special forces Hercules C130 transport aircraft over Iraq in January 2005. The inquest is more than three years late, no doubt in part because of the MoD’s stubborn refusal to provide the necessary documents. 

My Son's in Afghanistan. Me? I'm Marching for Peace!

Now the first edition of a weekly letter from Mandy, the mother of a soldier fighting in Afghanistan

Ross was never going to be a 9-5 person. At age 4 he would hang out of the school gates waiting to be let in! Not even a cursory backwards glance did I get on his first day at school. His 11th birthday saw him metaphorically doing the same with the Air Cadets. They let him in before the statutory age because he was such a pest! He loved the action. Many times I found myself delivering fish and chips out to the middle of nowhere, only to have him dropping out of the sky like Andy MacNab on steroids! Right now? He might as well be abseiling off the moon for the Peace that this war will bring.

Letters from the Left Coast: Clinton Super Delegate laid low, but for a high price

Another letter from Ian Bowater, our LA correspondent

Contrary to the uncaring MoD, George W Bush knows how to treat his troops fighting in Afghanistan. He told them in a call to the front line that he envied their experience fighting for freedom and democracy. He described it as “kinda romantic”. Just like Vietnam – the other war he failed to turn up for.

MoD civil servant gets more for back strain than soldiers disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan

You really, really couldn't make it up. A Ministry of Defence civil servant who suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and depression received £217,000 in compensation last year. Another MoD civil servant received £202,000 for “back strain due to lifting a printer". Meanwhile a soldier who suffered third degree burns over 70 per cent of his body in a Taliban rocket attack in Afghanistan is awarded £98,000. Another who lost the use of a leg and a hand as well as suffering serious internal injuries when he was mortared in Iraq get £57,580. These are not figures made up by the media, they come from the 2006/2007 annual report of the MoD Directorate of Safety and Claims. Unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

Letter from the Left Coast: "Come on home to mama!"

Another report from Ian Bowater our ex-pat correspondent in California on the mysteries of the US elections:

Texas? Hold ‘Em! Barack went “all-in” as they say at the Poker contests that infest late-night programming cable sports channel. He outspent Hillary by as much as four to one in TV ads. As he pushed the stacks of chips across the table, she didn’t blink. She came up with one good commercial. “It’s 3 a.m... Somewhere in the White House a phone is ringing.” – Scary stuff! – Terrorism? No! “It’s the Chinese, President Mrs. Clinton. They want their money back.” It’s all about experience. Question… why does one highly talented, accomplished woman call another highly talented, accomplished woman a monster? Answer… inexperience. You can’t be part of a campaign and do a book tour. Samantha Power might be our conscience on Darfur but she ought to learn a bit about Girl Power at home.   

We Need to See Our Servicemen and Women in Uniform, Not Ban Them

It is sadly all too frequent for relatively insignificant events to be blown out of all proportion, particularly once the media gets hold of them. So it was with the case of RAF personnel being told not to wear uniforms when they go out and about in Peterborough. Heaven knows what our American readers think! Go anywhere in uniform in America, and despite the increasing opposition to our misguided presence in Iraq in recent years, you will be slapped on the back and the only abuse you will get is if you try to put your hand in your pocket to buy your own drink.

Letter from the Left Coast: Hillary Blows her Stash!

Right. That's quite enough about Harry. While I respect his willingness to go to fight in Afghanistan, he is only doing what I would expect any officer to do. I was more impressed with his remarks about his wounded colleagues being the real heroes, which suggested a growing maturity. Hopefully, that will extend to other areas of his life, although whether a cavalry officers' mess is the place to learn such maturity is I fear open to question.

The fight for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate enters an important - maybe even its final - phase this week with Tuesday's primaries in Texas and Ohio, what does our correspondent on the Left Coast Ian Bowater have to say about it all? 

Last time, I promised something on Hillary blowing her stash; little did I know that she was going to blow her stack. Still lacking traction after good debate performances, she laid into Barack Obama over last weekend. The Press Corps – bless ’em – were outraged. Their tender ears aren’t accustomed to passion or truth so, yet again, they circled the wagons around the Senator from Illinois – or as Hillary calls him “my  opponent”. Why can’t they invoke each other's name?