Media bias? surely not!

Having taken the Queen's Shilling and then being forced to earn it over more than twenty years, I know just how useless the media is at presenting really faithful accounts of service life and conditions. It's hard to do anyway. Either it is quite routine (aka boring), rush and wait with false alarms or total chaos interspersed with a fair degree of disorienting panic.
Because of this, I've not been too confused by the lack of convergence in tales from Iraq as related in the media and as told by many of the military bloggers. There are some exceptions though but mainly unsponsored. I have found quite a fair report on a military-inspired initiative to correct the inbalance. Makes good reading and it seems a shame that, by it's very nature, it is unlikely to get widespread coverage.

Winter drawers on

This is what we have NOT had but I thought it might invoke the curse of the snow gods. What should have been nice crisp snow has come down in abundance but as heavy, freezing, driving rain.
Flooding all over the place. I was worrying about the road salt under the car but no problem with that after today's rain. We used to have a petrol Citroen and the engine died under damp if a dog so much as peed within half a mile so I was dubious about the car we now have. No problem at all - she just sailed on through.
I upgraded my mobile this week; part of my Christmas present to me. It is a NEC 343i - matches my iPod dontcherknow! Thing is, it has a zillion and one settings that can be personalized. All described in detail in little tiny print and a great strain on eyes and mind. It is very thin - just like two slices of Ryvita and I think I'm going to like it when I get it all set up. I think back to the old carphones marketed by GPO that were the size of half a jerrican and weighed about six pounds. We'll soon get them down in size so that they can double as the rings on a belly button piercing.
Read a report today that thongs (for women) are now 'just so last year dahling'. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. If - the Lord forbid - I get to my late 90s, I can go onto Sky and relate the impact they had. With photographs of today or so.
Amused today watching a TV clip about rugby to be played today. They had some of the really big boys on show. Looking at the potential players, every one of them must have a body weight vs. height sort of figure that would make them on the far side of obese. No chance of any serious medical procedure for them then?

Anticipation

So, serious snow was threatened for today. We didn't get any in the village. What should have been snow came down as rain. We certainly had the high winds from the North East and they were showing about zero degrees so, with wind chill, that was quite impressive. I drove missy to the lunch time exercise at the Whiteadder picnic place and we had almost a white-out there with wet snow coming in at about 30 degrees. It was settling on the grass but not on the roads. The picnic valley is always colder than surroundings and today was much worse. I had expected this and had a good selection of clothes on but it still forced me back to the car after about 20 minutes. That dog is as weird as can be. Sometimes here she wants to go outside and sort herself out but does a refusal on the very doorstep if it is raining to the slightest degree. She firmly resists any nudging and squats down periously close to the threshold. However, get her out into weather like today and she is off and running with not a care in the world. She normally keeps a check on me to see where I am. Today's weather meant that anything more than 30/40 yards away was invisible but she dashed off like a runaway train.
George Best finally left us today. I never saw him play live but always watched on the television where possible. He was a star in the days when football was far tougher than today; if defenders could not see the ball, they kicked the man who had it. In addition to getting the ball off them and controlling it as if it were stuck to his boot, he ran around his attackers. I once saw him play the ball by bouncing it off a defender and then re-take control and run away. His private life was his undoing. I think that he was easily bored with something he found so simple to do and had to find things that would turn him on. He had a native wit as one would expect from the back-streets of Belfast but not much education to do more than booze and play the social life. I do not join with those who criticised him for - as they put it - wasting his transplant. If it fitted medically then he should have had it. To allocate spares on the basis of the value of the receiving individual is not the way to make life-saving decisions. It does seem to be creeping in. Some NHS trust has said that it will not do hips or knee replacements if the patient is obese. That, to obese me, is like saying that it is OK to drive over wobbly cyclists.
We're well ahead of the game here. All the Christmas presents are collected in and only await wrapping and despatch. Card lists ready. Early skirmishes have been made on the food front with a big fishy order off to Loch Awe. I'm already in Christmas mode - wishing it was all over.
My puppy and I have a bonus day tomorrow. Norma is away at sparrow fart to some 'Ladies who sew' event at Harrogate which means an early start and late return. I am due to go to the Farmers' Market at Haddington for big chunks of venision but, other than that, the day is our own. Mind you, all bets are off if the looked-for snow descends tonight.

Rule Bri.. er, um, Rule Who?

Because of my somewhat trenchant views, I attract quite a bit of the “League of St. George” sort of publicity. I treat most of it as humour but now and again I come across something – or, rather, it comes across me as I do not seek it out – that makes me think we are going a bit awry. Here’s something that lays out a number of my concerns. Small ‘taster’ below.

THE WHOLE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM IS FIGHTING FOR ITS EXISTENCE, HOWEVER SOME PEOPLE HAVE NOT YET WOKEN UP TO THAT FACT. WE HAVE BEEN INVADED BY FOREIGNERS FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE, ALL DETERMINED TO TAKE A PIECE OF THE PIE THAT WAS ONCE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. THE LIBERAL FRATERNITY HAVE COMPLETELY UNDERMINED US WITH THEIR RIDICULOUS PC IDEOLOGY. SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS HAVE SOLD US OUT, PIECE BY PIECE, BUT NONE MORE SO THAN THIS TREACHEROUS BUNCH OF CORRUPT, LICENTIOUS DESPOTS, RULING BY DEFAULT AND FRAUD.

What knoweth a man who knows only......

For some reason today, I found myself wondering how many Americans had passports. This came from reading postings from that country on an obscure forum. These, in the main, displayed a very sad lack of knowledge of what goes on outside their own little world of McDonalds County. I had some granite chip in my brain that was bleeping with a figure of 30%. Never mind, I'll save any dispute as someone has already done a fairly convincing analysis. Well, 20%. That's not a lot is it? The point is made that they do not need passports to go into Mexico, I cannot say how many this covers but I do not consider Mexico to be a mind-broadening destination. My 30% was also relevant it seems as that is about the figure for members of Congress who have never been out of the country (except, maybe, Mexico).
Now, this is scary. America has a tremendous influence in this world. Good or evil is immaterial, just possession is sufficient. They seek to involve themselves - mainly with good intentions - in the lives of a large proportion of the people on the earth's surface. They have the idea that theirs is the ideal way of life without too much knowledge of how things are arranged elsewhere.
Methinks they would be better occupied in putting their foot on foreign soil rather than in their mouth.

Oh! Some of these customs have to be preserved...

And this is happening right now in a village in Pakistan. It is a country-wide custom in a land where the President is described as a strong ruler supportive of Western values.

A village council in Pakistan has decreed that five women should be abducted, raped or killed for refusing to honour childhood "marriages"

Pakistan is a country appealing for much more aid after the latest earthquake. They claim they would have been better treated if more Europeans had been involved.
Yeah - right.

Many a true word spoken in jest

Save our police

I have waited for the dust to settle a bit before writing MY take on the recent shooting of a West Yorkshire police officer.
We have had ‘not a woman’s’ job comments, ‘better protection’, ‘arm all police’ and ‘bring back capital punishment’ responses.
Insofar as job for women. There is nothing about police work that inherently determines which sex should do it. It is only fairly recently that female officers have been fully integrated. It used to be that they were reserved to deal with offences against women or young children and none would wish that they went back to this limited range of tasks.
Better protection. This presumably means armour. What is most often seen on our police is only a stab vest. This offers no real protection against firearms of even small calibre and low velocity. It is possible to buy proper bullet-proof waistcoats or to upgrade the stab vest by fitting ceramic plates into pockets. This does, however, make the item very heavy and cumbersome. Getting in and out of vehicles or running is made difficult. Additionally, the vest does not give full cover of vulnerable areas. On some, the vest looks like a support bra. The sides of the body are unprotected as is the head and lower body. They cannot be considered really effective. There is also the problem that once an authority recognises the danger by providing bullet-proof clothing, they fall within the scrutiny of Health & Safety who would rule whether they are adequate; they obviously are not.
Arm all the police. Well, funnily enough, they do not all want to be armed. A recent police federation poll showed this to be against the wishes of a large majority. Many said they would leave the service the day the police were universally armed. Some may be concerned at what happens to a firearms officer who does open fire and kills someone. The investigation is intensive and prolonged. Not everyone is capable of being trained to just handle firearms safely still less decide when to shoot and have a real confidence of hitting their target. Police numbers would not permit the removal from current duties of any significant number of candidates for a firearms course and the annual reclassification. Metropolitan police firearms instructors claim it takes five years for an officer to reach the stage where they regard them as fully competent.
Bring back capital punishment. This has a permanent season ticket in the minds of the general public and appears whenever there is a particularly harrowing murder or series of murders. The calls from the public however, never seem to find resonance in the ears of MPs who reject change with a large majority whenever the subject comes up. I did find a well-reasoned presentation on why this should be. The main objection is that execution is so final and there is no redress in the event of a flaw in the legal proceedings that led to the judicial killing. There are opinions that such miscarriages would be much reduced because of advances in forensic science such as DNA and fingerprint analysis. I personally do not thing that a reduction is quite enough. There are no degrees of death – it is as unlikely as being ‘a little bit pregnant’. Another risk is typified in the case of Timothy Evans who was hung for the murder of his wife and child. Evans was somewhat backward and was suggested as the killer by John Christie who lived in the same buildings as Evans. Christie was later identified as a serial killer of prostitutes and it was he who had killed Mrs Evans and her child.
So, what can be done? Firstly – do we really need to do anything? The loss of one life is to be condemned but we should recognise that police do what is a dangerous job and their death is an unfortunate element in their work. I do not want police officers to give their lives when there is an alternative. Changing the publics’ perception of their police is a risky business. Confidence and results declined when the policeman on the street was relocated into panda cars. We like to feel that the ‘bobby’ is approachable and friendly. Dixon of Dock Green was a figure to whom we could relate. Replacing PC George Dixon with the heavily protected and awesome Officer RoboCop would be a bad move. To me, it is clear that we need to have both.
Couch potato critics will say that we already have Armed Response Teams on patrol. Yes we do. They still do not have the operational freedom to mount their weapons and there are not enough of them. Their numbers need to be much increased and they should have the best resources and administration we can provide. Faster transport. Dedicated drivers with advanced driving qualifications. Better nation-wide communications. Targeting of high risk areas. A range of weapons and ammunition to cover all circumstances. There is a reluctance to issue Tasers because someone might get killed. Tough – issue them and leave it to the officers’ discretion when to deploy them. Remote control from someone sitting in an operations cell miles from the action is not satisfactory to deal with a fast-changing and developing situation. The Rules of Engagement need to be re-evaluated and made known to everyone – police, general public and the crooks. I am expected to know that shoving a broken bottle in someone’s face will get me a life sentence so why can I not know what will happen if I insist in waving a real or replica weapon in a manner that suggests I might use it?
Sentencing is part of the legal review that is also required. Evidence that the policy of “Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime” is for real must be firm, clear and widespread. Police abuse of the old Judges Rules led to introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. This introduced essential safeguards but was written at a time when law and order was not under such a heavy and serious challenge as today. For example, police were constrained in the latest incident in releasing descriptions of men they wanted to interview as this could have compromised the evidence from eye-witnesses at any identification parade. There are more.
Attempts to ban handguns after serious incidents were somewhat knee-jerk in style. All that has happened is that those who held short weapons legally have had to surrender them. The crooks can still buy very effective arms and ammunition illegally. There are even people who will rent them out by the day. In the context of their intended crimes, possession of an unlawful weapon is the least of their concerns. Therefore, greater attention must be given to removing weapons from the community.
As in all crime prevention or reduction, much depends on the risk of being caught. So, in events where arms are involved, the odds relating to detection, prosecution, conviction and imposition of a significant sentence have to be significantly raised in favour of the police. If needs be, new legislation. Just let it be written by a proper team of draughtsmen and not on the back of a fag packet by some jovial old buffer of a Home Secretary. Do away with the term ‘life’ or define it exactly. Until death, for 15 (or so) years. Say it, mean it, and stick to it. Get the judiciary on side. No release on licence or grounds of ill-health. Heighten the threshold of judicial review.

Weather watch

Another fine, dry day. Big blue skys all around with just a bit of cloud coming in for the morning and evening sun rise and set displays.
Only small cloud on my horizon with all this is that it looks to me to be the sort of conditions that comes ahead of a lot of snow. The good looking ladies of the weather forecast offices seem to think the same so my aching knee agrees with the computers.
I like snow - don't get me wrong. Only problem is that it will disrupt Madam Pointy Nose's trips to exercise areas and we will have to cope with an ADD dog inside the house. She revealed a new trick yesterday after catching a really big cock pheasant. Once I had done all the 'good dog' stuff she set about it again and had it plucked as neat as a whistle inside five minutes. Course, we then had to run off as the wind-blown feathers revealed our position and I thought she might have nicked the bird from under the noses of the beaters. Might get a few quid hiring her out for the festive season. Oven ready birds from sky to table in 10 minutes!

Well written? Phone 0800.....

I have always appreciated the grace and dignity of written English. The ability to express oneself is much to be valued. My years in the Army were under the cosh of officialdom where there was plenty of form but little style. This is not to say that the services encourage illiteracy; their staff writing has very serious style directives but is drawn to convey intentions and to report detailed fact rather than wander lonely as a cloud.
This explains why I enjoyed something in today’s Times Register amongst the obituaries. One of these concerned a Romany man who became a leader of the organised Gypsies. (It’s OK – the p.c. brigade cannot touch me - I used a capital G).
He was described as having an ‘impressive physical presence, softened by a touch of the dandy that emphasised his Romany heritage’. Having grown up in Essex where Gypsies were known for the purity of their breeding, I can see him before me. So well, almost, that I could have forecast the next comment. “S***h left his wife for a male friend, which led to some tactless criticism amongst traveller families in southeast England whose social tolerance lagged behind those of mainstream society”
There, is that not wonderful?

Common sense really

A good outlook

Having let you into the medical secrets of the day, can I just cheer you up with this forecast?

Have a nice day!

As today is Friday, I intend to have a theme for today’s blogging.

As an aged oxygen-thief and coffin-dodger, thoughts of health occupy most of my sentient hours. How I might improve it, is it worth the bother, where will it all end up.

So, some good and some bad. Let us start with the bad.

We have heard much about a bird flu epidemic and how it would be wise to remain in peak condition lest we start to develop feathers and wings. One of the things was a mass effort, all out, intensive, cost no object campaign to produce zillions of injections of tamiflu for mass distribution to all. OK – now read this little crumb of comfort.

U.S. probes deaths of children who took Tamiflu

WASHINGTON(Reuters) - U.S. regulators are studying the deaths of 12 children in Japan who took Roche AG's flu-fighting drug Tamiflu, officials said on Thursday, but they said it was difficult to tell whether the drug played a role in any of the cases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was "concerning" that 32 psychiatric events, such as hallucinations and abnormal behavior, also had been reported in children who took Tamiflu, which is in high demand because it is considered to be one of the best defenses against avian flu in people.

So – whaderugonnado? I suspect there is little one can do. The government is certainly not going to waste all the drug they spent all that money on are they? It will be renamed. We will be told it is better than tamiflu. Get it down your neck.

OK – let’s balance that with something that might, loosely be termed as good. There is a pun in there that you should detect as you read on.

Daily dose of good bacteria cuts sick leave

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Workers who took a daily dose of beneficial bacteria, also known as probiotics, were much less likely to call in sick than their colleagues given a placebo, a new study from Sweden shows.

Probiotics are contained in yogurt and other fermented foods. They've been shown to have a number of positive health effects, helping, for example, to prevent gastrointestinal ills and to boost immune system function.

So, all one needs to do is spend idiotic amounts of

money on those stupid little bottles. From my experience, the people who had the real McCoy did not call in sick purely because they were closeted in the lavatory whilst foul smelling liquid flowed out of just about every orifice designed for one way traffic. The results of the battle between the ‘good’ bacteria and the ‘bad’ bacteria were such as those last seen on the Somme in World War One. Apparently, the rationale is that the ‘baddies’ are very powerful once ensconced in the gut and massive over-prescription of ‘goodies’ is needed to ensure they do not storm the stomach as some sort of Forlorn Hope.

Statins may delay effects of Alzheimer's -study

LONDON (Reuters) - Cholesterol-lowering drugs may help to delay the progression of Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia in the elderly, French scientists said on Thursday.

In a three-year study involving 342 Alzheimer's patients, they found that the illness did not develop as quickly in sufferers with high cholesterol levels who were given statins as in patients not taking the drugs.

Professor Florence Pasquier, of the University Hospital in Lille, France, said the drugs "may slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and have a neuroprotective effect."

Nearly 130 patients in the study had high cholesterol levels. About half were given statins while the remainder did not receive any treatment.

So – I might get to the final curtain with a clear idea of what is to happen to me and exactly how it will come about. Thanks God – I was kind of hoping I’d miss out on that degree of awareness.

Now, this final one is really the bees knees. These guys don’t care about bird flu, tamiflu, Delhi belly or Who the fcuk am I? I think it is a worthwhile enterprise. My only concern is that they might not let me nominate those who should be drafted into the movement with a view to cleaning up the gene pool.

VHEMT (pronounced vehement) is a movement not an organization. It's a movement advanced by people who care about life on planet Earth. We're not just a bunch of misanthropes and anti-social, Malthusian misfits, taking morbid delight whenever disaster strikes humans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Voluntary human extinction is the humanitarian alternative to human disasters.

We don't carry on about how the human race has shown itself to be a greedy, amoral parasite on the once-healthy face of this planet. That type of negativity offers no solution to the inexorable horrors which human activity is causing.

Rather, The Movement presents an encouraging alternative to the callous exploitation and wholesale destruction of the Earth's ecology.

As VHEMT Volunteers know, the hopeful alternative to the extinction of millions of species of plants and animals is the voluntary extinction of one species: Homo sapiens... us.

Way back when...

Our local paper republishes items from the archives.

This comes from fifty years ago:

A former rector of Berwickshire High School, Doctor D. S. I**** is receiving protests from parents against their boys taking part in the school swimming classes in the nude. The swimming master says it is the most hygienic way because wool from the costumes clogs up the pool filters.

And this is from a hundred years back:

Residents of our cities are familiar with the imposing vehicles reserved for the accommodation of transgressors of the law. In country districts a much more primitive means of transit is adopted. The good town of Coldstream boasts a humble two-wheeler drawn by a quadruped that may have been a frolicsome young colt something like twenty years ago. In its infrequent runs to Duns, this gaunt steed is driven by the policeman who has charge of the prisoner. But though the distance between the two places is ten miles and the intervening country is very sparsely populated, efforts of escape are seldom, if ever, made.

What a lovely picture this paints from 1905. The leisured style of writing, the words chosen seem so very dated in what is really not much more than my lifetime. As for the nude swimming! I cannot imagine that this was just fifty years back. All costumes were wool – no Speedo skin-tights then. I can remember the woollen shorts. They looked so very smart until getting wet when they drooped down like rhino skin. No matter where purchased, they all looked like they had been knitted by your mum. I doubt if the matter would be so easily disposed of today when one needs almost a licence from Interpol and certificate of approval from the World Health Organisation to come within 100 yards of a fully clothed juvenile. When I concentrate, I can remember that by 1955 I was quite an exponent of mixed bathing and skinny dipping at midnight. I doubt if we would have thought of the excuse about clogging filters had we been challenged.

Underpants and soldiers - saucy eh?

I see that David Davis’ wife has revealed that after 30 something years, the passion has gone out of her marriage. She says he still likes a cuddle though.
The fop Camerooon claims that he protects some of his vegetables by planting garlic around them. Just last week we were given the low-down on their preferences in the underwear department. Funny that I know this much – more than I care for – about them but find myself almost totally ignorant of what they are claiming to do for us when one or other of them gets eligible for a Leader of the Opposition pension. Not that it matters who will lead. Neither will have the opportunity to decide what the country does. In a way, I hope it is not Davies who wins. The thought of PM questions every week involving a statement about how he is the child of a single parent and grew up on a council estate is quite daunting.
The circles in which I move are getting quite het-up on the question of politically motivated courts-martial involving soldiers in Iraq. A senior officer has been warned for trial. Opinion seems to be divided between this being a serious case of political correctness where the Guardian-reading community are doing a mea-culpa over the war or just another example of T Bliar again selling the troops down the river in some holier-than-thou act of penitence. To the ordinary Tommy-in-the-trench it is no more than he expects after seeing the lack of support they feel exists. This time though, it is serious. The officers feel wronged. I think the government has nailed its colours to the mast by claiming that the decision to prosecute comes from a totally independent body free of all political influence. Yeah – watch out for effects of blue moon tonight. Some means will need to be found to escape this sackgasse which is leading to no good way out.

MRSA kills

There was a radio item this morning about a guy who claims that MRSA is far more widespread than has been admitted by the NHS. He sells MRSA cleaning kits and the general opinion of experts is that he is a con merchant.
Well John, that was interesting – not. Why bother us with the news and then deflate it by saying it was rubbish?
There was much talk about MRSA and cleaning standards. That struck a chord going back to some while ago when I was sitting around in a ward as a visitor. Yes – there was a cleaner operating in the ward. Yes – we had all treated our hands with some spray thing. However, the cleaning method was poorly devised or supervised. The operative had a mop which she fumbled around on the floor. The water used to rinse the mop was dirty. The mop left dirty or greasy smears on the lino. Items such as side cupboards, tables and desks were not moved and the mop was just run along the outline. There was no apparent cleaning of anything between the floor level and flat surfaces such as desktops. The moulded skirting board was not cleaned. There was no sign of any disinfectant.
I cannot understand the debate about proper cleaning. Even if the ward I saw had received attention to the deficiencies, I still would not regard it as ‘proper’ cleaning. I started mentally to draw up a specification for a cleaning contractor and it was quickly apparent we were really looking at a decontamination operation. After all, if it were possible to control MRSA with a Jiffy cloth and Mr Muscle, what is the problem? Even with a decent specification, there could be no guarantee that the standards were maintained by operatives. They would need special training and constant supervision. The Health & Safety people would get involved in protection for cleaners and would doubtless call for the wards to be emptied whilst the work was in progress.
Given the serious complications – not least death – that MRSA brings, it is surprising that the risk has not been better handled. Maybe there is a connection between the cost to achieve the proper standards and the government’s half-hearted response to the threat?

It was the big kids made me do it

I read (Daily Mail mainly) that someone ‘in government’ has suggested that the age of criminal responsibility be set at 16 years of age. It is currently 10 years and attempts are being made to raise it to 12. Just to set things in perspective, this means that the killers of Jamie Bulger would have escaped trial and punishment. In addition to the free-under-16 idea, there is mention that the majority of young offenders come from broken homes.
Home Office research this year showed that one in four boys between 10 and 17 are 'serious or prolific' offenders - a figure that suggests there are half a million boys engaged in burglary, robbery, drug dealing and other serious offences. The report said that a presumption that children are incapable of understanding right from wrong should run until the age of 16. "This would allow for the gradual and highly variable process of moral development in children," it said.
There should be 'normal immunity from prosecution' until 16. Instead, offenders should be dealt with through "family conferencing, restorative justice and youth offender panels".
Family conferencing means talking to an offender with his family; restorative justice involves the offender apologising to and making amends to the victim; and youth offender panels handle probation and rehabilitation schemes. Of course, one first has to get the little scrote to recognise and admit that he was even responsible for what happened. If he denies it, he cannot be put on trial to see if he is a wrongdoer.
Well now – isn’t that all very nice. Where is the ‘man’ who said they would be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime? Some little sewer rate will get someone older to read the legislation to him and will be away as the Al Capone of the high-rise world. The police will encourage crime reports to reflect that the offender was a small wee bstard thus allowing them to lose interest as not much more than an interview with hyper-activity sticky drinks and Wagon Wheels will result.
I hold to the theory that some people are just evil. They are born evil and will die evil. Nothing that happens in between will cure them or deter or divert them from their wickedness. These Omen-kids will not be detected until they are sufficiently developed mentally and physically to be a real threat to us all. The idea that under-16s lack the capability to understand right from wrong is clearly fatuous. If need be, teach them by showing them what happens when they put their hand in the fire. Modern parents withdraw from many of the things they should teach their kids and this proposal will only encourage them more in this laziness.  

Legit.

Finally gave in and got myself an ID card.

Remember them

Out and about today, we saw numerous gatherings – large and small – for the Remembrance Day ceremonies. Duns had a large turn-out with the pipe band leading a parade of cadets, guides, brownies, cubs and Scouts and a goodly sprinkling of the Old & Bold. I think it is an important thing to keep going. Not just for those who will have sad memories but also for the young. Inevitably, the significance of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month will die out. The wars of today are not the human mincing machines of yesteryear – never again, thank goodness, will the country have to deal with 15,000 lost before breakfast. Any human death is a disaster but there is not the same national impact even when we may lose six in one incident. So few today know what went on in The Great Wars. Many of those who bother to listen or find out will have the modern day attitude – “Why did they fight? I’d have just refused to go”. There are reports that as battalions were marching towards the trenches, they passed engineers digging vast pits. They asked what these were for and were told they were for the dead from the forthcoming battle. Just imagine your caring Sun reporting that sort of thing today!
I’m quite intrigued about the fuss over ex-Ambassador Meyers and his memoirs. It seems a little bit difficult to work out exactly what it is that has roused the politicians ire. He has revealed the way that ministers and civil servants relate to each other. Is anyone so amazed that they sometimes met under intimate circumstances? Is some important matter of state to wait whilst John Major adjusts his braces? The disclosures of this sort help to de-mystify politics. Background detail that turns the writing into something better than dull as ditchwater reiteration of facts.
Maybe it is his frank but unflattering remarks about the abilities or otherwise of politicians. So, are there many that think Prescott has the vocabulary and delivery of Noel Coward? Jack Straw was a blustering rabble-raiser as a student activist – what may have caused him to become a latter day Descartes? B Liar – of whom anything unflattering is believable.
My end-of-exam verdict is connected with Meyers status – Civil Servant. That bugbear of lower middle classes who get some authority – pas devant les servants? Don’t they know their place? We are the Masters.
Luckily for me, it is all academic. My attitude is that all politicians are neer-do-wells. It goes with the job. Falsehood, blustering, plotting and duplicity are required ‘talents’ in the murky world in which they crawl.

There is always MasterCard