Category Military Matters
CORONAVIRUS | OPEN LETTER TO GENERAL SIR NICK CARTER
This is an open letter to General Sir Nicholas Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff and a fellow alumni of mine. I have sent this letter in hard copy to General Carter at his office in the Ministry of Defence London, and copied it to the Prime Minister and also to my Member of Parliament. […]
CORONAVIRUS CONTINGENCY PLANNING | WORST-CASE SCENARIO
This is another mini-series of three posts looking at contingency planning for the Covid-19 pandemic should the health, socio-economic and geopolitical situations deteriorate. This first post describes what could be a Covid-19 worst-case scenario. The second post will look at the positive side of the pandemic and how our quality of life could conceivably be […]
POLITICAL CLASS BETRAYS BRITISH ARMED FORCES (AGAIN)
The Betrayal As a measure of the extent to which the world has been turned on its head since I was a young man, the title of this post probably sums it up. Barely a day goes by at the moment when I don’t despair at the gulf in my country between those who govern […]
MANCHESTER SLAUGHTER – TIME FOR A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE
The Attitude Problem When I was being trained as a young officer in the British armed forces, it was explained to me and my proteges that there were three elements to the process of training people; in our case, training people to take part in the conduct of warfare but, in fact, training people to do […]
REMEMBRANCE DAY
As one who served in Her Majesty’s armed forces for 20 years, today’s the day I and many others, with or without direct military experience, take some time to remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country since the First World War. Some of my buddies in a requisitioned trawler in the South […]
WHAT IF?
I started this blog with my children in mind, as a means of conveying information to them in a way which I hoped they might consider and assimilate. My assumption was that one’s children are not too keen on listening to Dad’s pronouncements about life, the universe and everything around the kitchen table. The fact is that […]
ON REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY – LET’S REVIEW AIRPORT SECURITY
According to the BBC, ‘airport security will have to be reviewed in areas where Islamic State militants are active if the air crash in Egypt is found to have been caused by a bomb …’, said the UK Foreign Secretary. Erm, now hang on a minute; the UK is home to a huge number of […]
MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER
My Fellow British Citizens Here’s the griff. A British citizen has been beheaded somewhere in the Middle East by a bunch of Islamic Fundamentalist nutjobs. Indeed, a fellow Brit has beheaded him as far we can tell. It makes you think the world is going mad, doesn’t it? But then again look at it this […]
TIME TO DECLARE WAR ON THE ISLAMIC STATE?
All this stuff with the Islamic State crew is certainly making The Powers That Be (TPTB) hot under the collar, isn’t it? The slaughter of James Foley was barbaric. Generally speaking war is barbaric, even when it’s fought within “rules”, so to speak. However, I’m going to need some convincing that we – the UK, […]
THE SHREDDING OF THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES
Sign of the times as my Regiment lays up the Standards of 5 of its squadrons (3 having been disbanded), one of which – 48 Squadron RAF Regiment – I commanded from 1992 – 1994 … there are days when I wonder about British government spending priorities as I watch our political class divert £400 […]
Moraymint Chatter 