Welcome to MY world

The latest government cock-up regarding the evacuation of British subjects from Libya causes me to wonder just what thought has gone into the background planning for all the wonderful things they propose to do. The recovery of our Nationals from Libya showed just how faulty was the Defence review. What we needed to do was almost exactly what the MOD thought was it's most likely scenario. Yet it all fell apart from the moment the commercial airlines decided that the air space over Benghazi and Tripoli was just too dangerous to venture into. We didn't have a plan B; Plan A was useless anyway. When it was appreciated that civilian planes do not fly schedules in what amounts to war-time, MOD was forced to seek a charter flight at we do not know how eye-watering cost. We ended up with one that had a fault that kept it on the ground for hours. The charter company should have been told that it was 'their' plane with the fault and 'ours' needed to be wheeled out of a hanger somewhere.
The antique ship HMS Cumberland was lauded by the Men from The Ministry as part of their 'Plan' At the time of it's being drafted into a PR cum rescue role it was steaming home to be broken up. What would have been useful was something such as HMS Ark Royal but that had already berthed at Scrap Yard Quay.
My concern is that the evacuation farce is merely indicative of the organisational capability of this government. I get an image of them in opposition in the last days of Brown. Realising that after so long on the wrong side of the House their turn might come. In amongst their dreams for bigger and better duck accommodation and real estate finagling was the attitude 'what I will do when I am a boss' It is a heady moment - and I speak from experience. Sell off the forests and woodlands. Increase university fees. Get rid of the NHS as we know it. Sort out the police, Immigration. Get a grip on the Army. And, of course, the Big Society. All in broad brush sweeps with, it seems, a lack of detail in the 'nuts and bolts department' as some turnip Tory will have described it. Well, the chickens are coming home to roost; chicken or vulture?
Such club smoking room plans as have been exposed to the light seem to have gone tits up. Policies dropped, delayed as too difficult or radically changed on a cut to fit basis. Some of the broad brush ideas were so thin on substance that there is a risk we will thrown baby out with the bath water. The intent would seem that outsourcing works wonders. The plan included

Allow independent healthcare providers, as well as NHS Foundation Trusts and other NHS providers, the freedom to supply services to the NHS, if they can do so at the NHS price and NHS standards. Commissioning of NHS services will be separate from healthcare providers and overseen by the independent NHS Board. An independent regulatory structure will ensure high standards of service and care.

But the organisation is to be radically revised so any NHS prices or standards will be out of date. The new framework is also supposed to lead to improvements so these prices and standards will change as time progresses. The new supervisory and commissioning bodies will be set up and would appear to be the top heavt bureaucracy we complain of now. There is an added factor - the Government plans refer to :

Reverse the top-down power relationship governing the NHS, putting patients, not politicians, in the driving seat. Patients will have a real power of choice over their care: which GP or other healthcare provider they want to use, which hospital they go to and even whether they want the privacy of a single room, rather than a ward.

This idea of choose where you sit is associated with an environment where many hospitals still have Bedlam era mixed-sex wards. There seem to be issues over morale of nursing staff and these are unlikely to be addressed by the changes - no one likes change. So, that is the NHS; looks like a real dog's dinner and the other 'radical improvements' are no more appetising.

The BBC TV4 programme has screened some hard-hitting material in its time. Last night's episode was billed as examining how the Nation treats those who are unable to settle back into civilian life after the shocks of active service.
This is, of course, nothing new. Way back in the Crimea War, our troops were considered as little more than cannon fodder. When the heroes of Waterloo returned to their home soil strict legislation was introduced to deal with those forced to beg and scrounge. There was some recognition that they were not as other men when what was known as the military covenant was adopted.

Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices - including the ultimate sacrifice - in the service of the Nation. In putting the needs of the Nation and the Army before their own, they forego some of the rights enjoyed by those outside the Armed Forces.
In return, British soldiers must always be able to expect fair treatment, to be valued and respected as individuals, and that they (and their families) will be sustained and rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service.
In the same way the unique nature of military land operations means that the Army differs from all other institutions, and must be sustained and provided for accordingly by the Nation.
This mutual obligation forms the Military Covenant between the Nation, the Army and each individual soldier; an unbreakable common bond of identity, loyalty and responsibility which has sustained the Army throughout its history. It has perhaps its greatest manifestation in the annual commemoration of Armistice Day, when the Nation keeps covenant with those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in action.
Army Doctrine Publication Volume 5

Note that there is nothing in the actual covenant that is specific. Nowhere does it say what is included and what is excluded; it is meant to be unconditional and ever-lasting like a mother's love of her child. Once the covenant got into the purlieu of politicians of the modern day variety, it was adopted as a rally round the flag subject to be trumpeted when they showed their red blood on swift visits to the fighting cadres. They had no idea as to why it was and little care for how it was. It took them very little time to abandon their crusade to deal with it."David Cameron 'broke 10 pledges to troops'. Top of his list of empty promises is his failure to make law the Military Covenant, the historic pact setting out Britain’s duty to its fighting men and women. The latest manifestation of observing the covenant is a 'promise' by Liam Fox that he will provide an annual assessment of what the Government has achieved in specific areas; plenty of options there for weasel words and Civil Servant maths.
In the event, the programme really lacked anything of substance merely repeating statistics well published already. The presenter was Lt Col Collins who has himself felt the lash of MOD disapproval. We had the traditional scene where intrepid reporter goes back in time and repeats some stage in a witnesses past. Sleeping rough for one night cannot in any shape or form give an example or replicate the real thing when the 'one night' was in fact months of deprivation with no guarantee of a hot breakfast. Given his past form, Collins was strangely muted.
He identified successful charitable works where individuals had stepped in to help the otherwise abandoned former soldiers. A point missed here was opportunity to review the local authority cost cutting targets to see just whether these good works could continue where their meeting places were closed. We could also have benefited from a look at Simon Weston and what he did with his life after the Falklands. Weston was greatly assisted by his Welsh Guards regimental association which could be a model for what we do now.
Another factor that I would have expected to see was some reference to Cameron's army of volunteers that will run the country whilst the Cabinet sips white wine at Eton reunions. The Armed Forces are the biggest Army of Volunteers he is ever likely to see and the way they are messed about can only be a preview of the future. The plans for that are already going awry.