Failing Our Troops - Yet Again

Yet again this government and the MOD our failing our troops. New equipment that is not fit for purpose, spares not available, fixes that make things worse and just plain incompetence seem to be the order of the day for MOD Logistics. Apparently only 57% of requests are fulfilled on time.

The Telegraph reports that Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee which oversees the work of the NAO, said that he found it

"surprising" that the MoD still had not sorted out the problems with the supply chain.

He said that it was a "woeful state of affairs" when commanders lost confidence in a new vehicle like the Vector so quickly.

"Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are giving their all, but they don't always have what they need to get the job done," he said.

"We owe it to them to make sure they've got what they need, when they need it. The Ministry of Defence should not rely so much on the famed ability of our armed forces to make do."

Troops in Afghanistan face delays getting vital equipment, says NAO - Telegraph

Not for Self but for Country

Not for Self but for Country - Perhaps something worth remembering in these troubled times. Whilst all the hoo-haa is going on about greedy and sleazy politicians we need to remember that back in the real world people are dying in the service of our country.

The Telegraph reports on the homage paid to the dead as hundreds lined the streets of Wootton Bassett to honour the return of four soldiers killed in a single day's violence in Afghanistan.

The men's bodies flew to RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, where their families paid respects at a private ceremony, before the cortege drove through Wootton Bassett.

As has become tradition at each repatriation, well-wishers formed a guard of honour on the three-mile route that campaigners want to rename the Highway of Heroes.

Sergeant Ben Ross, 34, from 173 Provost Company, 3rd Regiment, Royal Military Police, and Corporal Kumar Pun, 31, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, were killed by a suicide bomber during a patrol in Gereshk, Helmand province on May 7.

Rifleman Adrian Sheldon, 25, from 2nd Battalion The Rifles, died in an explosion when travelling in a Jackal vehicle near Sangin in Helmand province, that evening.

Corporal Sean Binnie, 22, from the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed in a fire fight with insurgents near Musa Qaleh in Helmand province, on the same day. Cpl Binnie was part of the Battle Group mentoring the Afghan National Army (ANA).

May they rest in Peace.














Hundred line streets as four dead soldiers return from Afghanistan - Telegraph

More Brownies from Gordon on Expenses

Watch this video at about 2:45 mins in when Toenails skewers Brown on when he actually dreamt up his plan.

As the BBC reports this is yet another Brownie by our dear Leader. The BBC report has this to say

Asked if he had been forced into a response by Mr Cameron, Mr Brown told the BBC: "I have been discussing this for days and we have been looking at this matter for some time. We had hoped to make some progress yesterday and now all parties are prepared to accept this."

But two senior MPs told the BBC he was "misrepresenting" what had been agreed by the committee.

They said the committee only agreed to examine the idea of an independent audit, that there was no "firm or final agreement" and would meet again on Wednesday after seeking advice on whether it was possible.

Even on an important point as MP's expenses Gordon just can't stick to the truth. Why should we trust him on anything. This whole interview is yet agian a car-crash as Gordon tries to grab all the kudos for sorting out a problem when in fact he has yet again been the problem.

BBC NEWS | Politics | All MPs' claims to be scrutinised

Total Clegg Up

Watch Clegg blame Conservative for just about anything. The man is deluded. The main interest starts about 2 minutes into the extract. It's like listening to Nick Griffin the BNP leader espousing his fear of immigrants but in reverse. Fearmongering at it's worst. Some background on the European Arrest Warrant which was also opposed by Liberty. As John Wadham, director of Liberty said of the Bill:

"Speeding up the bureaucracy of the extradition process needn't be a problem - but we need safeguards to ensure you aren't sent to a foreign prison, under foreign
laws, without good reason.

"This Bill, and the EU arrest warrant, seek to cut away those basic protections. Foreign authorities should need to show they have a
substantive case against the person to be extradited. We must have adequate protections against improper extradition".

BBC NEWS | Politics | Stand tall in Europe, Clegg urges

More funds for Combat Stress

A good news story for a charity that really deserves some highlighting. Combat Stress attempts to help veterans with Mental health issues as the BBC says

A charity that helps support war veterans with mental health problems has been given £2.8m of Scottish Government funding. Combat Stress will use the money to improve access to a treatment centre, Hollybush House in Ayr.

Combat Stress is the leading charity specialising in the care of British Veterans who have been profoundly traumatised by harrowing experiences during their Service career and who are suffering from poor mental health as a result. Many Veterans leave the Armed Forces with highly debilitating conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety disorders. Their problems can remain masked for years, and they and their families may be struggling to deal with matters at home.

Combat Stress dealt with over 1200 cases last year of which 300 were from veterans of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The question though that remains is why are they relying on charities to help them with their problems and issues. In this time when we are requiring more and more from our Service Personnel we should be ensuring they have proper access and treatment in Government funded programmes rather than relying on Charities and the general public.


BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | More funds for veterans charity

Polly Toynbee - Gordon Brown must go

"He made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The Labour party can't go into the next election under Brown's leadership"

At last you've worked it out Polly. Gordon is a just not what you need for your Socialist Paradise.

As she says

It's all over for Brown and Labour. The abyss awaits. As long as he remains leader, there is nothing that wretched Labour candidates can plausibly say on the doorstep at next month's European elections. They are struck dumb. Why should people vote for them? The horse manure bought on expenses is garnish for a decomposing government. The heart of the matter is the economy, and Brown's responsibility for the bubble years. He personally is to blame for Labour's failure to ensure that ordinary people on median incomes and poor people at the bottom received a bigger share in national growth: it turns out that they fell back and only the wealthy prospered. Labour made the rich richer and the poor poorer: growth for the few, not the many.

The thing is, Polly, he hasn't managed to do much good for anybody, everybody (apart from the odd banker) is worse off, not just the poor and the rich, but especially everyone in-between. This is the problem that Gordon caused in his 10 years as Chancellor and has now exacerbated in his two, yes just two years as Prime Minister. Polly you try to excuse your old blind faith in him by saying

I was among those looking for the best in him, celebrating his undoubted concern for Africa, foreign aid and child poverty – but no one can know a leader's mettle until too late.

Unfortunately dear, you did know, you just were so up your own a***hole that you didn't bother to actually take in all the evidence. It was all there for you to see and most people could see it and had seen it for years. Gordon Brown was a car-crash waiting for the first tricky corner. Please now go and read back all your columns and see how many times you have been wrong. Then take a flight out to your Tuscan prole villa and retire and leave journalism to those who actually know what they are talking about.

Gordon Brown must go. Deadline: June 5 | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian:

Charlie Brooker on the car crash that is Gordon

Charlie Brooker writing in the Guardian seems to have worked out what a car-crash Gordon really is His final lines suggest a way Gordon might get out of this situation

... Failing that, simply bursting into tears on live TV might be a good move. Pay a visit to This Morning for an ostensibly upbeat chat about how this whole government thing's been working out for you, then suddenly go quiet and well up. Wait till Phillip Schofield puts a hand on your shoulder before letting rip - but when you let rip, really LET RIP. Wail. Howl. Punch the cushions. Quake with sobs. Say you're sorry for all the mistakes and beg for a chance to put it all right. Make stuff up if necessary.

Pretend you've been a heroin addict or something like that. Weep 16 litres right there on the sofa if you have to.

Or tell a joke! A bad one! Anything! Do any-thing! Please - just do something to clear the air. Because the public still has a few pity cells left. Many will forgive you. I'm not sure everyone believes the current mess is entirely your fault. It's just the tragic-comic misery and embarrassment of it all. It's too much for our embattled nation to bear. It's awful. Truly awful.

Sorry Charlie that won't work. It's past time for Gordon he is now the zombie waiting to put out of his misery.

Charlie Brooker on the car crash that is Gordon Brown's premiership Comment is free The Guardian

Wreathed in Shame - James Gray

Five minutes after writing a post about the death of a Gurkha Soldier in Afghanistan, I read the story of The Rt Hon James Gray MP who tried to reclaim £60 to pay for wreaths to honour the fallen. This man is a complete and utter a***hole and should not belong in the Conservative Party and certainly should not be a Conservative MP. As Conservative home reports this man ashames us. The NOTW has this to say

"Top Tory MP James Gray is exposed as a greedy skinflint after claiming for Remembrance Day WREATHS on expenses. Astonishingly when this perk was finally stopped he had the nerve to COMPLAIN to the Leader of the House. Embarassingly for the former Shadow Defence Minister, we uncovered his SELFISH whining yesterday just as SELFLESS hero soldier Major Phil Packer-who lost the use of both legs in a Basra rocket attack- completed the London Marathon on crutches after a gruelling 14 days to benefit Help for Heroes.

In a shocking twist on the scandal surrounding MPs' outrageous expenses claims, onetime Tory whip Gray moaned he was £60 down on the deal after buying three poppy tributes to Britain's fallen heroes to place at war memorials in his North Wiltshire constituency. He demanded taxpayers foot the bill and was put out when he got turned down, claiming he'd always got away with it in the past.

Unabashed, the MP said: "It's necessary for me to attend three ceremonies and I have therefore to buy three wreaths at £20 each, so I am out of pocket to the tune of £60.""

More here.

What can you say. Making money from expenses is bad enough but this sort of behaviour is just truly disgusting. This man has form and should be got rid of as soon as possible. As I said earlier MP's should live by a simple rule Not for Self But for Country

James Gray shames the Conservative Party - thetorydiary

Betrayal of Gurkha hero's family

If this story is true it is just stunning and reveals that Gordon Brown's promise to Joanna Lumley were just his typical Weasel Words. Yesterday I blogged about the death of four soldiers and the fact that one was a Gurkha nowaAccording to the Sunday Mirror

The widow of a hero Gurkha killed in Afghanistan was told she has no right to stay in Britain – just 24 hours after he was blasted to death by a Taliban suicide bomber.

Still stunned by news that Kumar Pun had given his life for Britain on Thursday, his wife Parbati was told on Friday she and his children could be ordered out of the UK next year.

And even though Kumar, 31, of Dover, loyally served his Queen and Country for 13 years, his wife may not even qualify for an Army widow’s pension.

The revelations come amid huge public outrage led by actress Joanna Lumley at the Government’s refusal to give all Gurkhas an automatic right to live here when they retire.

Kumar’s uncle Jak Phagami said yesterday Parbati, 28, cannot even grieve properly as she fears she and their two daughters will have to move 4,000 miles to Nepal, where she and Kumar were born.

Furious Jak, 43, himself a former Gurkha, said: “She is so upset about hearing of her husband’s death but now she is worried they won’t let her stay here.”

Speaking at Kumar and Parbati’s home in Kent, he added: “She was told by an Army person that when her visa runs out she may have to go back to Nepal and reapply for a British visa so she can come back. But her home is here now, the children are here and she must stay here. Parbati is in a terrible condition.

"She is totally distraught. She hasn’t eaten for two days or left her bedroom. She is slipping in and out of consciousness and we are really worried for her health.”

This story just beggars belief, how can we treat people like this, how can we treat people who are prepared to give their life's for our country with such disregard. We must right this terrible wrong.

Betrayal of Gurkha hero's family - widow told day after he dies she and family must leave Britain - mirror.co.uk

MacRobert's Reply - Not for Self But for Country

As a resident of Tarland and the son of a former RAF officer it is good to see that the name of Macrobert has not been forgotten.

The story of the deaths of all of Lady MacRobert's sons is very sad but the way she went on to help both her country and the RAF is truly inspirational. Even now 60 years after her death her fortune is helping many organisations to help many people and help run many national institutions. Over 800,000 pounds was spent in the 2008 financial year, including over 20,000 pounds to local groups in Tarland.

It would be only right that her name lives on by naming a new Typhoon after her and the family Motto of "Not for Self But for Country". A motto that would well be remembered by some of those who purport to leading our country in these dark times.


Call to salute the height of courage - Scotsman.com News:

Gordon Brown Ripped to pieces and buried

Loved this story in the Telgraph

One of Europe's best-informed hostesses, Lady Powell – the wife of Lord Powell, a member of Margaret Thatcher's inner sanctum when she was prime minister – has ominous news for Gordon Brown.

Carla Powell has just had to bury a rabbit that she had named after the beleaguered Prime Minister. She tells me that all her animals have names associated with political and military leaders: thus she also has an alsatian named after Tony Blair because she felt he was "good looking, tough when he needed to be but essentially sweet-natured"; a doughty goose named Margaret Thatcher and two black sheep which she has called Barack Obama and Colin Powell – for obvious, if not entirely politically correct, reasons. She feels the demise of Gordon the rabbit augurs ill for Brown. He was a very timid creature who was always running away – the Prime Minister's decision not to call a general election last year decided her upon the name.

He was ripped to pieces, so she says, by one of her dachshunds. She does not name the culprit, but Mandrake fancies it could well have been called David Cameron.

Lady Powell says Rest in Peace, Gordon Brown - Telegraph

Four UK Afghan deaths in one day

Four soldiers including a Gurkha were killed today in Afghanistan. The full horror of the stories is not apparent from the BBC article as in one case more than 30 Afghans were killed along with two soldiers. Let us hope that this is just a blip and their will be no more deaths, but with summer coming to the country it is likely that more Taliban will be active. My thoughts are with the families and friends of those killed serving their country.

Meanwhile back in the UK one MP has claimed expenses of £16.50 for a Memorial Wreath, the little piggies just can't stop feeding from the Trough.


BBC NEWS | UK | Four UK Afghan deaths in one day

MP's Expenses - A view from 2000 Years Ago -

Tories, Labour, Lib Dems are all at it, feeding like a pig from the public Trough. Today it is Labour tomorrow it will be the the Tories and Lib Dems turn over the weekend.

Direct from Fraser Nelson in the Spectator.

Plato had it right on MPs' expenses. This from The Republic:

"We also have to make sure the guardians do not become like sheep dogs that turn into wolves and abuse their power to harm their fellow citizens. Therefore the guardians will have no private property, they will live transparently, they will be provided for out of taxes, and they will live together communally.

First, none of them should possess any private property beyond what is wholly necessary.

Second, none of them should have a house or storeroom that isn’t open for all to enter at will.

Third, whatever sustenance moderate and courageous warrior-athletes require in order to have neither shortfall nor surplus in a given year they’ll receive by taxation on the other citizens as a salary for their guardianship.

Fourth, they’ll have common messes and live together like soldiers in a camp.

We’ll tell them that they always have gold and silver of a divine sort in their souls as a gift from the gods and so have no further need of human gold.

Indeed, we’ll tell them it’s impious for them to defile this divine possession by any admixture of such gold… Hence, for them alone … it is unlawful for them to touch or handle gold or silver… In this way they’d save both themselves and the city. But if they acquire private land, houses, and currency themselves, they’ll be household managers and farmers instead of guardians – hostile masters of the other citizens instead of their allies. They’ll spend their whole lives hating and being hated, plotting and being plotted against, more afraid of internal than external enemies, and they’ll hasten both themselves and the whole city to almost immediate ruin."

Thought for the day Coffee House

The Weasling Words of Zombie Brown - Gurkha's

I see that in less than 24 hours the Weasel Words of Zombie Brown on how he would sort out the issue of the Gurkha's rights to live in Britain have already been broken As the Spectator put it

Joanna Lumley was late for her 4pm press conference - she apologised and explained why. 10 Downing Street had just called her and said they "had just heard" that four of the five Gurkhas have had their test cases rejected. She repeated this, with incredulity. "They had just heard. They had just heard. There seems, if I may say so minister, a gap in communications."

That's one way of putting it. Another way of putting it is that British government is in utter meltdown, and there be even more stapler-sized holes in the walls of No10 this afternoon. Brown gave assurances on the matter, on the very day the Home Office rejects it - this is what passes for government. It is pure panto. And it would be funny - if these clowns weren't also in charge of the economy.

What more need I say really, This is a government of the Incompetent, lead by a complete Incompetent and our only hope is that some of the less Incompetent's come to their senses and get rid of the Prime Minister. We may be in for a long and excruciating wait, or maybe not as rumours are rife, from a knowledgeable source, of developments overnight on the expenses front and a number of ministers may be involved.

Trusting the Weasel Words of the Prime Minister

Joanna Lumley went to visit Gordon Brown yesterday on the vexed issue of Gurkha's being able to settle in the UK after serving in the UK Armed Forces.

After her meeting Joanna said

She trusts Gordon Brown to do the "right thing" for the Gurkhas after the meeting to discuss the issue.

Ms Lumley said Mr Brown had taken the matter "into his own hands" and would come up with a "solution" to the issue of residency rights by the end of May.

Amazing this U-Turn by Brown but it just appears to be another part of his embarrassing performance as our supposed Prime Minister. Last week he was proclaiming it would cost 1.4 billion pounds that we didn't have and then proceeded to lose a vote on the issue.

Me, I wouldn't trust Gordon Brown to change his socks. He will weasel word his way out of any commitment to the Gurkhas and Joanna.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lumley 'trusts' Brown on Gurkhas

Zombie Brown - Time for Labour to Act

Today during PMQ's we witnessed yet again the embarrassment that is the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He is tottering through the final stages of what, we can only hope, is a short period before he becomes the ex Prime Minister. Watch the video's above to see how he is now held in complete contempt both by his opponents and his own party.

Unless this man goes very soon the UK will be in desperate trouble for decades. We are already in the most serious recession since the 1930's and Gordon is not up to the job of guiding us through this period. Unfortunately Gordon appears to be about the only person in the UK who actually believes he is up to the job. Gordon Brown is now nothing more than a Zombie waiting for a merciful release.

Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg seem to have arrived at the conclusion, probably from the ill-tempered meeting about expenses with Gordon Brown two weeks ago, that Gordon is now beyond any help and that only by working together can they hope to relieve Gordon of his position.

This has been seen on a number of occasions in the past two weeks when Cameron and Clegg have put on a double act to try and demonstrate to the Labour Party what a state this country is in with Gordon at the helm. Working together they have shown the inept and bungling embarrassment that our Prime Minister has become. Hopefully soon Labour will also get the message.

But the biggest problem we face is actually ditching our current Prime Minister. This is virtually impossible without the help of the Labour Party and it's MP's. Unfortunately as Clegg said in PMQ's today the Labour Party is good at speaking behind peoples backs but will not confront the issues head-on. It also has a dearth of talent, most of it's major players having been undermined or smeared by its own Leader in his vain push for glory.

So getting Labour MP's to get Brown out will only happen if they can get past the fact that a new Leader will almost certainly mean a General Election and the loss of many of their jobs. This is the price they will have to pay for supporting Brown to his coronation as Prime Minister rather than having a proper election. Even two years ago it was obvious to many that Brown was totally unsuited to the Prime Ministers job. Now it appears that even his predecessor, Tony Blair, has realised the game is up and is looking to help get rid of him, if only he would stand up and say this outright rather than skulking about behind the scenes.

So what will be the path forward for the UK in this most troubling of times. Zombie Brown leading us on into the Wilderness and Desolation of a Bankrupt and Decaying Britain like that of the 1970's pre-Thatcher or hopefully a brighter future under the Conservatives and David Cameron where we can regain our pride, fiscal stability and our ability to be a player amongst the major nations in the world. Now it is up to the Labour MP's and Party to work together to get rid of the emabarassement that is our Prime Minister. Remove the brain and the Zombie will die.

The Labour leadership plot is brewing | Coffee House

Gordon Brown has destroyed my Retirement

So here is a way out of the mammoth debt spiral that Gordon has now lumbered us with after 10 years of his being in charge at the Exchequer and 2 years of being a Prime Minister. What we'll do is make everyone work longer and get more out of them.

A report from the NIESR makes scary reading about we will need to do to recover from the debts this Government has landed us with.

The report says

The NIESR predicted that the economy was likely to shrink by 4.3 per cent this year, much more sharply than the 3.5 per cent fall predicted by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, in the Budget last month. Neither can any forecaster rule out the possibility that Britain faces a funding crisis in the coming years, when investors might refuse to buy government debt. Mr Barrell said any plans to raise the retirement age would have to wait until 2013, when rising unemployment should have passed, after which the Government could gradually increase the age to 70.

For each extra year worked, the budget deficit would be reduced by 1 per cent of gross domestic product, NIESR calculated.

The institute also said the Bank of England's attempt to stimulate the economy by spending billions of pounds of newly created money on government debt was misguided and would fail.

Martin Weale, the NIESR's director, said the focus of the policy, known as quantitative easing, should have been on buying private sector debt to help companies that were finding it difficult to gain access to finance.

"The policy of quantitative easing is completely misapplied," he said.

"It is likely to be much like the VAT reduction. It has had some impact but one won't be able to see any clear effect, and it therefore runs the risk of becoming a policy failure. The Bank should have been intervening in the private sector debt market."

George Osborne,, the shadow chancellor, said the report

"graphically illustrates the shocking scale of Gordon Brown's debt crisis"

He added: "The Prime Minister didn't fix the roof when the sun was shining and now we will all be paying the price for his mistakes for a generation.

"Gordon Brown thinks he can fool the British people by pushing all the difficult decisions until after the election and covering up the mess in the nation's finances with optimistic growth forecasts.

"Instead we need real spending restraint now and action to get to grips with our national debt once the recovery is under way."

So we either work for longer, of course you'll need a job to do this and with 3 million likely to be unemployed in 2010 this may be a bit tricky, or we pay huge amounts of extra tax after Labour have been thrown out of power.

This will be yet another generation wasted to pay for the profligacy of wasted years of Labour's corrupt governance.

What a wonderful Legacy for Blair and Brown to reflect on in their retirement, let us only hope that Gordon retires before he is 70!


Britons face working until 70 to help bring public debt under control

UK as good as Belgium Shock

Good to see we have been ranked as high in the world as Belgium. Makes you feel so warm that we are basically average. More analysis of the results in the Telegraph

The 2008 Legatum Prosperity Index

Landing in the Sh1t

The Daily Mail reports on possibly the sh*ttiest landings of all time. There are no reports of whether the pilot cr*pped his pants as well!

With his plane stalling at 150 feet, and no time to return to the runway, the pilot of a Cessna 182 was probably in need of the toilet.

Luckily, he found a whole pile of them, and the crash landing on top of piles of portable loos probably saved his life.

The Cessna 182 crashed on Friday afternoon in Washington state after taking off from Thun Field, an airfield owned by Pierce County southeast of Tacoma.

The plane was about 150 feet (45 meters) in the air when the engine quit.

Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said the pilot tried to turn around to land but didn't quite make it.

The plane hit a fence, flipped over and landed upside down on top of the portable toilets standing in a storage yard.

The pilot, whose identity has not been released, was able to walk away apparently unharmed.

Pilot's miracle escape as plane crash lands ... on a pile of Portaloos | Mail Online

The Politician with No Ambition!

According to Pravda's Today Programme Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harperson has no ambition. Or at least all she wants is to be a deputy. On the Today programme she apparently saidlied that

"I don't want to be prime minister and I don't want to be leader of the party."

So here we have a politician who has no ambition or desire to move up to the Top Job. Excuse my derision at the thought that she does not want to move onto being Prime Minister. Perhaps she believes on the 30th Anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's rule that no other woman can do the job.

If you want to see a proper politician becoming Prime Minister then watch BBC Parliament today as Maggie in 1979 becomes Prime Minister. Or have a look here.



BBC NEWS | Politics | Harman: 'I don't want to be PM'