The greatest failure of them all - by Richard... Sunday, June 20, 2010

The greatest failure of them all - by Richard... Sunday, June 20, 2010

"When the IED detonated, I knew immediately what it was. There was a loud, elongated pop, a lot of dust and the vehicle was thrown about six feet into the air," says Lieutenant Colonel Roly Walker, the commanding officer of the Grenadier Guards battle group.

Read more on DEFENCE OF THE REALM.

Print ready

Booker - by Richard...

An interesting and unusual Booker column today, in three parts as usual. The lead story, aboutforced adoption is not our bag but, as another story in the paper attests, something has gone very wrong with the system.

In the second part of his column, Booker takes on board the experience of The Boy at his first European Council, and ventures on a few reasons as to why he might come to regret breaking his promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Then, for the final story, we get observations about the cuts announced last week. These were deeply revealing of the Cleggerons' priorities as the most significant cut in the £2 billion public spending programme was an £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters – to finance a 15,000-ton press for the huge castings needed for nuclear reactors.

This would have helped Britain to build the new generation of nuclear power stations that we desperately need, but which our lover boy Chris Huhne so dislikes. I t would also have made Britain a world leader, with the potential to generate billions of pounds of exports, enabling the loan to be swiftly repaid.

But with Huhne at the helm, this was not to be. Still in place, however, is a £200 million loan to Nissan (£20 million from our administration, the rest from the European Investment Bank), to enable its Sunderland plant to build thousands of Leaf electric cars, which will only be able to drive 100 miles before they need recharging – with electricity from CO2-emitting fossil fuels.

What puts the £2 billion cuts into depressing perspective, of course, is the fact that our public debt is now rising by £3 billion a week. I suspect that, by the time Osborne gets to grips with this (if at all), many a Leaf will have fallen – and it won't even be autumn.

COMMENT THREAD

Print ready

Go boil your head - by Richard... Saturday, June 19, 2010

We really do not need any lessons on duty from David Cameron, the man who has presided over a lacklustre opposition, which more often than not has failed to engage and lacked coherence .

The Boy is stating that with Britain at war in Afghanistan, the public has to give full and unequivocal support to troops and their families. And that demand comes a week after he returned from his first visit since taking office to Afghanistan, where the number of British troops killed since 2001 stands at 299 and will soon reach 300.

But there is no "has to" about giving support to the troops, and especially not about giving support to the Afghan adventure. If Cameron chooses to keep the troops in Afghanistan, that is his decision. But it is not one with which we agree and it is that which places the greatest stress on the armed forces, and exposes them to the greatest danger and hardship.

If he wants to improve the lot of the armed forces, he needs to get them out of Afghanistan – not come bleating to us about "duty".

COMMENT THREAD

Print ready

No place in government - by Richard...

"This might seem a minor story when set against issues such as Afghanistan, the economy and numerous other major topics. But if this country is ever to move beyond political pygmies and to enjoy honest and responsible government, liars and cheats like Huhne need to be weeded out of positions of responsibility."

So says Autonomous mind on hearing the news of Huhne's latest infidelity. "Huhne has broken a trust and cannot be relied upon to be honest or honourable. In short, he has no place in government." But actually, nothing has changed. The man was a shit before he did this, and he's still a shit now.

COMMENT THREAD