Gnashing of Teeth!

If there was a single news item that was destined to spoil my day it was the interview of the ever popular ex soldier, ex-Lance Corporal Joe Glenton formerly of the Royal Logistic Corps.  This sanctimonious excuse for a former soldier is going to “return his medals” or his “veterans badge”, I’m not sure quite which given the conflicting reports on the television.  In any event if I had my way I would have demand them back the day he was convicted of going absent without leave and disobeying a lawful command which  resulted in this useless article serving a well deserved six or was it nine months military detention.

This is a man who now pontificates on the manner in which the war in Afghanistan was, is and should not be fought.  This is a former logistician who served ONE six month tour in Afghanistan and then refused to go back.  All I can say is that he should not have joined up in the first place if he was going to pick and choose which orders he was going to obey, which oath he was to take and which battles to fight or not.

He brings shame on his regiment, the army and his country as well as on himself for he is NOT a proud example of a man at all.  He is supported by a fringe of left wing unpatriotic wasters who would rather see the world spin out of control in a nice liberal free from control nanny state.

Glenton, stuff your medals and badge where the sun don’t shine and let the real heroes of Afghanistan wear theirs without your slimly shadow casting itself over them.

NOTE:

Joe Glenton was a British Army Lance Corporal and war resister from York. He argued that the war in Afghanistan is illegal under international law and faced court-martial for Absence Without Leave as well as charges related to his protesting the war. After pleading guilty to going AWOL for 737 days at a court martial, on 5 March 2010 Glenton was sentenced to 9 months in the Military Corrective Training Centre,  the UK's military prison in Colchester. On pleading guilty to going AWOL, charges of desertion, disobeying orders and bringing the Army into disrepute, were all dropped.

By way of contrast, Wootton Bassett (Wikipedia)

Recent history

In the early twenty-first century, the bodies of fallen UK servicemen and women from the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places, having been repatriated to RAF Lyneham, usually pass through the town on their way to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, in readiness for the coroner. This has led to people assembling along the route of the funeral cortège initially from the local area and occasionally some mourners with a connection to the dead. On 12 October 2008, a parade was organised by the armed services to thank the town for their support.^[9]. This drew national attention to the town's salute to the fallen; and relatives/friends not attending the RAF Lyneham ceremony choose to pay their first respects at Wootton Bassett, joined by representatives from their towns and other, unrelated visitors, leading to speculation that the event had become a form of 'grief tourism'^[10][11]. On Friday 29 January 2010 HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Wootton Bassett to lay a wreath at the War Memorial and to meet local people.^[12]

The War Memorial in Wootton Bassett is a simple pedestal topped by a bronze of hands holding up a globe. The erection of the memorial was quite recent, and was the vision of local girl Jay Cunningham who felt that the memorial garden in the cemetery and the memorial hall on Tinker's Field were not a prominent enough memorial.^[13] After a successful five year publicity and fund raising campaign, the memorial was unveiled in October 2004. The design was chosen by public vote, designed by Lance Corporal Alan Wilson of the Wootton Bassett army cadets with the bronze sculpted by artist Vivian ap Rhys Price^[14] from nearby Calne, 10 miles to the south.

In 2009, Wootton Bassett made headlines after radical UK Islamist group Islam4UK suggested the town as the site of a proposed march. The proposal, led by Muslim extremist Anjem Choudary, came under widespread condemnation from British citizens, including Muslims, politicians, and the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Some right wing citizens, mainly from outside of the town, said that they would "defend" the town if they felt they needed to.^[15] However, on 10 January 2010, Islam4UK announced that it decided to call off the protest, claiming that the publicity generated had "successfully highlighted the plight of Muslims in Afghanistan" and so "no more could be achieved even if a procession were to take place in Wootton Bassett".^[16]

In May 2009, the Royal British Legion honoured Wootton Bassett with a special award in recognition of Legion members who turned out to honour hundreds of fallen British servicemen and women being repatriated from Iraq and Afghanistan^[17]. In 2009, it was revealed that the Queen had spoken to Gordon Brown about the possibility of granting Wootton Basset Royal Patronage, making it the third 'Royal' town in the country, after Royal Leamington Spa in Warwickshire and Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent^[18]. However, the news was received with mixed reactions. Whilst over 2,600 people signed a petition on the Downing Street website calling for Wootton Bassett to be 'officially recognised in some form',^[18] Wootton Bassett Mayor Councillor Steve Bucknell stated royal patronage would not be welcome, claiming that whilst local residents were "humbled" by the honour, "we didn’t expect anything...[in return]...and that is still the case".^[19] On 21 December 2009, Wootton Bassett received one of The Sun's "Millie" awards for its tributes to the fallen. The award was presented by HRH Prince William and received on behalf of the town by Mayor Steve Bucknell and British Legion treasurer Ann Beavis and Cross Keys landlady Kirsty Lambert.^[20]

In March 2010, in another example of the national symbolism of Wootton Bassett, there was a mass parade of bikers. Associated charity fundraising is reported to have reached £100,000.^[21] Motorcyclists from The Royal British Legion Riders Branch, many of whom are former service personnel, attend every repatriation held in the town.^[22][23][24]

Obama and BP: White House is not Anti-British?

Hmmm, you do have to wonder don't you?  OK, lets see now what is it that BO has against BP.

• BP is “British” as in British Petroleum
• So What.  In fact the company is INTERNATIONAL and the workers involved in the disaster were AMERICAN!
• OB’s gandpappy was “tortured by the British in Kenya”
• Well who says he was?  IF he was a member of the Mau Mau then he would have been initiated into the group in a secret ceremony which involved eating human white flesh!! Mau Mau were only sort of Freedom Fighters and in 1950’s Britain mistreatment of captured fighters was not typical as at this time they had not met anyone from the American CIA !!
• BP is a successful company in the USA and provides many jobs.. Hmmmm
• The economic and financial destruction of BP by BO would be of benefit to the good old US of A and the Oil industry

Darn me I almost forgot.  BO has a forgotten that Britain seems to be an ally who’s soldiers are fighting themselves ragged in an unwinnable war.  So why don’t we just up and bugger off back home and leave St Barak and his merry men to fight off the Taliban on their own? 

See this little spoof report I found on the internet

Obama and BP: White House is not Anti-British

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i76160

Finally, yes I do love to drive every nail home I can, will we ever stop importing so many American English words and sayings into our own dear language?

Britain declares war on words that snuck into our skedule...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1284254/Britain-declares-war-words-snuck-skedule-.html#ixzz0q5kLwEjw

Is it summer?

After several days of clearing the garden shed, cleaning out the garage of empty packing cases left over from our return from Ibiza, planting a new shrub in the garden, feeding the lawn and finally buying some plants for the front of the house. What can it all mean?  I suppose that now I have started wearing shorts and layering on factor 50 to my head, I have to conclude,  it must be summer. 

The clincher must be cutting the grass every week which is now becoming lush and green and the fact that I seem to be thinking plants all the time.

As it’s summer, we have had a short break in Brighton with the obligatory meal at Indian Summer “the only Indian restaurant in Brighton”  We had lunch a few weeks ago at Chilli Pickle in Brighton another fine eatery which I cannot recommend highly enough.  We stayed at “One Broad Street” in the care of the ever humorous, helpful and Queen of Granola making, Ramola!! (and Mary who we have never met).  This is a fantastic little place just far enough away from the busy centre of Brighton and near enough to the sea to be perfect.  The rooms are bright and clean and full of little quirks that reflect the personalities of the owners of this B&B.  We love it there and plan a return visit in the not to distant future.

There was another “first” this visit to Brighton with a visit to the Brighton Pavilion and the current exhibition about the many hundreds of Indian Soldiers who  were treated there during the First World War when the Pavilion was used as a hospital.   I was a little disappointed by the rather small nature of the exhibition but it did have some excellent photographs and a short film showing King George V during a visit to the hospital and presenting a Victoria Cross to an Indian Army Officer, Jemadar (Lieutenant) Mir Dast of the 55th Coke's Rifles ( Frontier Force ).  He insisted on standing to attention to receive his medal despite being very weak after having been gassed.  Much of scene at the hospital was so similar to scenes today of our wounded soldiers recovering and rehabilitating at another “Brighton Pavilion”, Headly Court today.  History does have a habit of repeating itself doesn't it?  We still need the same “Help for Heroes” today!!

An Open Letter to the American people

Dear "Uncle Sam"

I just wanted to write and remind you that those of your citizens who are seeking a boycott of all things British and Scottish should think again about what it is they are doing. America is the worlds only remaining "Super Power" which is a sad reality as this terrible legacy serves only to reinforce the belief in the people of America that they and the nation state are the only true font of all knowledge and righteousness in the world.

This is of course entirely untrue and a distortion that will lead only to isolation and even more hatred of the USA than exists already today. Yes dear people, you are possible the most hated nation in the world which is possible grossly unfair but sad to say sometimes, well deserved.

Let me explore some reasons why this has come about and how we of other nations often feel we could willingly strangle you all.

• You are not always right or indeed in the right!
• You ride roughshod over many "lesser nations" with a cavalier disregard for any national sensitivities. Often, as with Britain, these are nation states with over a 1000 years of history and tradition - Yours is only a little over 300 years ! (I am being unfair in omitting the early colonization periods)
• You certainly have little or no understanding of British history or tradition even to the extent that (mainly due to Hollywood) some even think that America was invaded by the Red Coats and that the War of Independence was the result and that only the USA won WW2.
• You steal inventions without an ounce of shame when the inventor was British but had to come to you for the cash, you conveniently forget the true inventor.
• Some of you threaten or even demand a trade embargo and you don't even understand that Scotland is a separate country in terms of Government, that Wales is not part of England and that Northern Ireland is a willing part of the United Kingdom. No, you call it all "England" don't you, I forgot that.

So while you complain about the release of Megrahi you should remember that the USA would and does do everything in its power to win International Contracts in the face of all other competition and is ruthless in that pursuit and has had many "Gaddafi" type friends in the world.

You complain about this Libyan terrorist being released early from prison yet you happily force a British government to sign up to a deal in Northern Ireland that saw the release of hundreds of convicted terrorist killers both IRA and Loyalist. What is the difference between Megrahi and the IRA bomber or the Loyalist gunman, Oh I know Megrahi is only a "rag head" - yes, we have heard your soldiers calling them that! Our IRA and Loyalist killers are lovely Irish people who have been cruelly imprisoned by the nasty English.

Remember this also. Today in Afghanistan British soldiers, that is Scottish, Welsh, English and Irish (from both sides of the border) in British Regiments and being killed and horribly wounded in support of a war that many here feel cannot be won and not perhaps even entered into in the first place.

If you boycott Britain and British goods then should Britain boycott the war in Afghanistan? Should we pull out from the hell that is Helmand and leave your super heroes to win it on their own? May be we should.

Now, why not get down off your high horses and remember that many of your Lockerbie investigators may have something to hide and as you love conspiracy theories so much look deeper into your own involvement in Lockerbie and ask yourselves why no one ever got prosecuted for the shooting down of the Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes where the crew seemingly mistakenly identified the Iranian Airbus as a F16 Fighter apparently attacking. however, the Iranian government has maintained that the Vincennes knowingly shot down a civilian aircraft.

Dare I mention the word Hypocrisy?