My Father
Last week my Father was told that he has many secondary cancers. If I could be half the man that he is… I am so proud to be his son.
Where Have All The Poppies Gone?
I had the misfortune to have to visit London briefly last week. I was thoroughly disheartened to see how few people in Hammersmith were wearing poppies.
They should be ashamed of themselves. More worrying though was just how difficult it was to buy one. Hardly any of the shops had them available. Even those that we should be able to rely on to show a responsible lead like Tescos and Sainsburys are letting down our heroes. None of the staff are wearing them. What is going on? Weymouth and Dorchester are doing much better and the BBC appears to make it a compulsory requirement – and that’s no bad thing.
London is a miserable place full of miserable, selfish people and it reminds me again how I have no enthusiasm for ever returning there. Tired of London? Yes, tired of death.
“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
— Samuel Johnson, 1777
Samuel Johnson
To someone living in 18th century Britain this famous quotation may have had some relevance After all, you could walk from the heart of the city into open countryside in little more than an hour.
Today, any man, with any intelligence, will spend only as little time in London as he has to, for today London is all about death.
The death of our children as they run wild, out of control, knifing, abusing and assaulting each other.
The death of liberty as we are watched and spied on relentlessly without proper cause by jobsworths and parasites.
The death of our culture as we have allowed minorities to create ghettoes that now overwhelm our indigenous communities.
The death of integrity as those who run our government and financial systems become ever more venal and corrupt.
Perhaps the only cause for hope in London is the bright light that is Boris Johnson. This apparent disinterest in the Poppy Appeal, this insult to our heroes really is the final straw for me. London has become a vile, oppressive hot bed of greed, violence and selfishness. I shall fiddle with delight while it burns.
The Heart And Soul Of London
A Billion Words For Barack
I have found it a little depressing to see the acres of newsprint and gigabytes of cyberspace dedicated to anticipating and welcoming the new President-Elect. As a writer it makes me feel I have to shout very, very loud to be heard at all. I am delighted to join in the party though because as many have said before me, whatever his specific policies I do believe he represents a sea change in politics. When will we have the first black British Prime Minister I wonder? His is an inspiring story and a beacon for the spirit of man. I hope that everything looks and feels just as positive in a year’s time.
Jonathan Ross, The Pratt And Incompetent BBC Management
I don’t want even to mention the other one’s name because he is and always has been a complete and utter pratt. His “brand” of entertainment appeals to the lowest common denominator and generally contributes to poorer standards of taste and behaviour. There can be no doubt that he should be removed permanently from the BBC and it would be better for us all if he was never seen or heard of again.
Jonathan Ross though is an entertainment genius. It is deeply disappointing that he has blundered like this but they say that genius is close to madness and participating in this has been insane.
The other one at least has the excuse of a spontaneous mistake. No such excuse can be proffered by the editorial staff who made the decision to broadcast the show even after Andrew Sachs refused permission.
The award for the worst, most incompetent and simply ludicrous behaviour though must go jointly to the Director General and the Chairman of the BBC. What utter stupidity they have demonstrated to flounder about doing nothing for days and days and then to impose these suspensions. This is not a mistake but premeditated idiocy.
We Will Remember Them
The Poppy Appeal is my charity of choice. Of course there are thousands of worthy charities and many cats homes that do good work as well but I believe that this is the one cause that deserves everyone’s full support.
I believe that I am of the generation that the heroes of the Second World War died for. My parents were children themselves at the time and it was for them and their future that our soldiers, sailors and airmen fought. I am that future and I owe an inestimable debt to everyone that fought, was injured or died to give me the freedom that I enjoy.
So give generously and wear your poppy with pride.
The Number ONE Show
Whoever said “It’s Blue Peter for grown ups” hit the spot perfectly. Perhaps it’s because I’m hopelessly besotted with Christine but no, it’s much more than that.
I admit, openly, without regret or embarrassment that on Facebook I am a member of the “When I grow up, I want to marry Christine Bleakley from ‘The One Show'” and the “Christine Bleakley: the sexiest TV presenter in the world” groups.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=578616094&ref=profile
The One Show is a masterpiece. It crams so much information and entertainment in. It rivets me, not least because every day now I look for the slightest reference to Christine’s “Strictly” life. (Yes, I am obsessed).
I think the secret is that it’s live and that many of the features are made under pressure within very tight timeframes. These are the circumstances that bring out the best in many creative people when the adrenalin kicks in and the job just has to be finished.
I think The One Show has all the makings of a BBC classic. It could even be around for as long as Blue Peter.
Yet Again the MOD Fails Our Heroes
Hercules XV179, Call Sign Hilton 22
I hope that I never have to experience the reality of war. but, I think like every man, I am fascinated with how I would behave in combat. We all want to be heroes and, as I have read, courage is often forged from the fear of disgrace. The idea of letting down one’s comrades can be more frightening than bullets or explosions.
Even during the Second World War, I would now be deemed too old to fight. They won’t even have me in the TA, much as I would love to volunteer. Yet every day, right this very minute, there are men and women younger than my own children, who are being called on to put themselves in mortal danger on our behalf.
Our Hercules Heroes
These people deserve the very, very best that we can do for them. Clearly, the reality of combat means that there will be times when circumstances are less than ideal. Ammunition may run out. It might have been preferable to have larger calibre weapons given the force that the enemy deployed. If air cover had arrived earlier, lives may have been saved. The very nature of combat is that it is unpredictable but when there are lessons to be learned it is imperative that they are studied in depth and acted upon.
Why, oh why, is there episode after episode where the MOD refuses to acknowledge its failings and seems to duck and dive to avoid responsibility? This isn’t about civil service office politics, about covering one’s back or manouvering for promotion. This is about death and pain and blood and grief. It’s about mothers who will never see their sons again, about fit, healthy, beautiful bodies and minds that are broken, twisted and consigned to the scrapheap with – yet another scandal – insultingly inadequate financial support.
The Steve Jones Memorial Bench
Steve Jones was an SAS Lance Corporal on board the Hercules shot down over Baghdad in 2005. When I first came across the memorial bench on Thorney Island (see http://pjroldblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/walking-the-dog-2/) I was deeply moved and when I returned there a few months later to find a memorial book full of glowing tributes and commendations, I felt that this story was one I wanted to take further.
So I made contact with the MOD press office and very tentatively enquired what support they might be able to offer me with a further story, perhaps even a documentary. A very charming female Wing Commander seemed interested and said that two of the men on the Hercules had been personal friends. The Army though were different. I received a courteous but frosty reception and was told that there was no question of being put in touch with the victims’ families.
I can understand, of course, that some of the families will just want to move on and that journalistic investigation may prolong their grief. In the end it was made clear to me that while the MOD wouldn’t stand in my way, it believed that the story had already been exhausted and wouldn’t offer me any support.
I have been an MOD spin doctor myself. Some years ago I was the communications advisor to the Assistant Chief of Staff, UK Support Command on the launch of the British Forces in Germany Health Service. The year that I spent working at Joint Headquarters in Rheindahlen gave me an insight into the services that I am very grateful for. One memory is of the extraordinary combination of austerity and luxury that I experienced while staying in the Officers Mess. My room was like a prison cell but in the morning there was silver service at breakfast as I sat at a huge four inch thick mahogany table surrounded by oil paintings, regimental colours and memorabilia. There was no menu. I could just order whatever it was that took my fancy.
My overwhelming memory though is of the incomparable integrity of the people I worked with. It left me with a feeling (entirely undeserved) of connection with the military and an understanding of how one really could trust the man next to you with your life.
In the extraordinary age in which we live, when cocaine-fuelled w**nker bankers abuse their customers and the taxpayer, when venal politicians grub around in the muck on billionaires’ yachts, whilst in Afghanistan our boys lay their lives on the line in medieval conditions, it is time that the MOD displayed a fraction of the courage that men like Steve Jones have and admitted its failings to start the process of putting them right.
For the full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7683909.stm
Not In The True Spirit Of The British Forces
Corporal Mark Wright
I was dismayed, upset and disillusioned to hear Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt, Commander of Joint Helicopter Command, speaking about the inquest into the death of Corporal Mark Wright and the maiming of his six colleagues in Afghanistan.
The Coroner, the “guardian of the crown’s pleas”, with the full authority of the Queen herself, found, as a matter of fact, that the mines were detonated by the downdraft from the Chinook helicopter that went into rescue the men. Yet the Rear Admiral had the audacity, impropriety and outrageous, traitorous arrogance to say “that’s not true at all”.
Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt
The Coroner said that the MOD should hang their heads in shame. The Rear Admiral should hang his head in a noose for the disgraceful, insincere, weasel and wicked words he spoke in an effort to deflect the Coroner’s criticism.
Clearly these men were badly let down and the Rear Admiral’s conduct will bring more pain to those that survived and to all the families and friends concerned.
Why can’t the senior officers and the MOD display just a fraction of the courage that Corporal Wright and his colleagues did and admit they failed them?
Behaving Like Mad Geordie Crackheads
So is this to be pattern that our rescue of the w**ker bankers will follow?
Northern Rock is now owned by you and me. Not by Gordon, Alistair and their cronies but by British taxpayers. Do we want them throwing people out of their homes onto the streets so that we then have to pick up the bill for re-housing and supporting them?
Now that the “new” management has got its greedy hands back on the tiller they’re heading straight for deep water where they can pillage, plunder and overfish yet again.
I say get rid of all the w**ker bankers and put some real business people in charge. We don’t want the “experience” of those that have mismanaged banks already. We want new blood, fresh ideas, people who know the reality of business, not the fantasy world of banking.
I hope and pray that our rescue of these organisations will prove successful based on root and branch reform of the way they do business. We don’t want a few token sacrifices. We want all the dead and rotten wood cut out.
Let’s remember that these scoundrels still owe most of us many thousands of pounds in illegal bank charges they have stolen from us. Perhaps as much as £50 billion over the last six years. The sooner the OFT gets its finger out and resolves this outstanding matter the better.
Peter Reynolds 