Mick Smith - Times Online - WBLG

Letter From The Left Coast: Modern Democracy At Work

From Zimbabwe to the San Juan Capistrano School Board, Ian Bowater observes democracy in action and doesn't like what he sees.

Let’s talk about elections. Is it just a year ago that Gordon Brown was wading gloriously through the summer monsoon floods and bird flu? He was on course for another big election win in the autumn. Then he decided to bottle it because Dave Cameron’s Tory bandwagon slipped into town with its usual threadbare, gold lamé policies. Diamond Dave derailed that whole new era of dour, competent government thing in one fell swoop. I still reckon Gordon could have seen off Dave but he choked, leaving the panting, expectant press corps at the altar. There is no fury like that of a bunch of drunks scorned and the Fourth Estate turned on him. “Why shouldn’t it be election year every year?” they cried. Well, it is. Elections are like death and multiple orgasms, there’s always someone somewhere in the world having one.

My Son's in Afghanistan: Maybe It Might Be Doing Some Good?

A telephone call from her son has set our soldier's Mum Mandy wondering if there might not be a reason to be in Afghanistan

“Oh mum!……Listen to this. I’m standing right in front of a ferris wheel, near a small fun fair, and slap bang in the middle of a city. I can’t say where, over the phone, but I could be in London! Well, apart from the heat….it’s still a killer. There are about twenty children hanging off my legs, all laughing and joking, and one of them, he’s about Tom’s age, speaks perfect English. I’m stopping people in cars and he’s translating for me. I really can’t believe it! And the kids here mum, they go to school! It’s how the whole of Afghan could be.”

It Wasn't Like That in My Day! Is It Time For The Land Rover to Go?

With attention focussed on the use of Snatch Land Rovers in Afghanistan, and with one eye on Friday’s Veterans’ Day celebrations, our resident vet Chuck Unsworth looks back at the vehicle that was the mainstay of the army during the Cold War.

For many years and in quite a few countries, both during and after my military service, I’ve travelled about in Land Rovers of various configurations.  They’re very unsophisticated, generally reliable and, whilst not soldier-proof, they are hardy beasts of burden.  They have been modified and maltreated in myriad ways.  Some of these modifications were successful, some not so.  I always preferred the long wheelbase – the 110 – to the slightly more agile 90.  These nomenclatures represent the length of the wheelbase in inches, of course, and rightly so, given its British origins.  Doubtless this anomaly is currently being examined by some committee or other in Brussels, determined to ensure ‘harmonisation’ on the way to a European Defence Force.

My Son's in Afghanistan: Making Designer Sofas Out of Sandbags

Another snatched satphone conversation with her son in Afghanistan for our resident soldier's mum Mandy

The sun did not shine this week. Not a moment has passed when thoughts of the families, friends and comrades of those five soldiers from 2 Para weren’t clouding my head. The guilt that I feel reflects their pain, because today it is them…

Life just fell apart. Laura left home. Tom couldn’t face school. Beenie decamped to her and Ross’s room. She had spoken to two of the soldiers on her Facebook site. And for a while I lost my footing. To Daniel, the beautiful busker who sat with me for a while in Parliament Square on Sunday night, I just want to thank you. Your words meant a lot. Sometimes, it’s all too easy to lose sight of what you have.

And then, so unexpectantly, Ross phoned me.

It Wasn't Like That in My Day! National Service Meant Everyone Had the Same Education!

Chuck Unsworth, our resident veteran, has a look at one of the aspects of service life that those who have never served rarely understand 

It occurred to me the other day, reading how Des Browne, our defence secretary, apparently believes that most soldiers aren’t well enough educated to get any other job, that the education given by anyone who does join the forces is second to none. No wonder our troops don’t think that the rest of us value them sufficiently. Frantic Friday night commuters hurrying west out of London to their various homes, weekend cottages, and country seats are usually too busy trying to preserve life and limb on the motorways to pay much attention to the passing terrain.  But the Thames Valley and the areas surrounding the M3, M4 and M40 are full of military and naval establishments, some large and some miniscule, where the forces are given a far better grounding in life than many civilians. It isn’t just about learning how to kill, even when it seems to be just that.

My Son's in Afghanistan: Any Para Killed and I Think It's Him, or One of His Mates

Mandy, the mother of a para currently serving in Afghanistan and a regular contributor to this blog, describes what it's like when any British servicemen is reported killed in Helmand.

Ross's girlfriend Beenie burst through the door with the news just after 11.30pm on Sunday night. “Mandy… Three Paras have been killed…there may be more! A suicide bomber.” She’d been across the road and a friend from her British Airborne Wags Facebook network had just called. “She doesn’t know any more, just yet…” Oh god! My knees just went and I wanted to be sick. Beenie was crying and all hell seemed to break out...

Letter From The Left Coast: Obama and His School Kid Politics

Ian Bowater in his latest letter points out the misogyny of the US main stream media - make that the international media - and the way they gave Obama a free ride.

False consciousness is a wonderful thing. The week that saw the end of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for President also saw “Sex and the City” reap $100 million at the box office. The best hope of a woman in the White House for several generations to come was forced to concede. The film that equates female empowerment with an urban myth about four over-sexed harridans being told what designer shoes to wear by its Gay male creators is so popular, there has to be a crossover demographic among the fans. I have near anarchist friends in West Finchley who think the girls’ antics are great. I know highly intelligent, fully paid-up, bleeding heart on their sleeves liberal women who don’t think the anti-Hillary campaign was sexist. When she was asked to pass the Commander-in-Chief test, they dubbed her a warmonger. When she showed emotion, it was crocodile tears to get her own way. When she touted her experience, she was riding her husband coattails. When she faltered, she couldn’t control her old man. When she wouldn’t give up, she was being a stubborn bitch. When she didn’t concede on Tuesday, she was a troublemaker-in-waiting.

In Memoriam: A Tribute to The British Servicemen Killed in Afghanistan in Our Name

The latest UK death in Afghanistan takes the number of British servicemen killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 128, of whom 118 died in action, in the south since British troops deployed there in April 2006. Unlike the MoD's list, this blog includes anyone killed in combat even if they are officially deemed to have been killed in non-combat related incidents, as in the case of the 14 servicemen killed when their Nimrod aircraft exploded over Kandahar province. They all died in action. An additional ten servicemen have died elsewhere in Afghanistan since October 2001, three of them in action prior to the current deployment, three as a result of bomb blasts in Kabul and four as a result of illness or non-combat related accidents. It seems sadly inevitable that over time the number killed will surpass the 176 who have died so far in Iraq?

Another Senior Officer Quits the Army Amid Anger Over Cuts

The resignation of one of the army’s most experienced and decorated special forces officers follows his outspoken criticism of the government for failing to provide enough troops and equipment is a bitter blow. Brig Ed Butler, a former commander of 22 SAS, is the most senior of three key commanders to have resigned in the past year amid widespread anger over lack of funding and his resignation came in the same week that Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, called for better treatment for the forces and more money to be spent on defence.

The Idiocy of Scrimping on Intelligence Analysis

Defence chiefs appear to be as concerned as this blog over plans to cut 121 jobs among the Defence Intelligence Staff analysts who warned that the government’s dossier on Iraq was wrong. They have apparently ordered a rethink of the assault on the Defence Intelligence Staff, part of a “streamlining” of government departments ordered by Gordon Brown when he was chancellor, describing it as a risk too far. I am told that the intelligence services watchdog, the Intelligence and Security Committee, has taken evidence from Chief of Defence Intelligence Air Marshal Stuart Peach with MPs on the committee expressing concern over the plans and that officials have warned internally that the cuts mean vital intelligence will not be adequately assessed and “in some cases may not even be read”.