PM "Budget Brown"

[Shaft109]

Just a little pet theory I have as to some of the forces problems, would appreciate some constructive discussion.

Basically I would never think that PM Brown et al are deliberately undermining the Military but due to their lack of direct experience (eg previous service or family serving) they have over time become complacent about the freedom we have today - and as such almost take it for granted? This applies to most MP's I would guess.

Maybe prospective PM's should spend a year working directly within say the forces, NHS, schools etc so they can have first hand experience of the consequences of their actions. I also found out that the Chief of Staff's and senior politicians in the Pentagon overlook the Arlington National Cemetery for just such a reason.

Or Maybe he's just a plank?

[A2QFI]

CCTV all over the country, can't smoke indoors, DNA in a database even if not found guilty, speed cameras all over the place. can't put up a Christmas card in my office in case it offends some non-Christian, can't read out names of war dead at the Cenotaph, taxed to the hilt and money raised wasted on Domes and Olympics while the infrastucture crumbles and there's more. Doesn't look, sound or feel like true freedom to me!

[airborne_artist]

can't smoke indoors

Thread drift, but all the public car parks in Wallingford (handy for the secret heli base) now have no smoking signs in them. WTF :ugh:

[Chugalug2]

Shaft, IMHO I don't think filling up the military messes with swarms (or whatever their collective is) of fact-finding Walt PMs would be any more useful to them or their hosts than them sitting at the back of classrooms or getting in the way of harassed NHS nurses. Plenty of their constituents have not done this, or had necessarily any direct experience of these institutions (other than their own education or waiting on an NHS list). Nonetheless they instinctively know that the nation can only prosper if its people are safe, well and properly educated. Politicians live in their own world of agendas, spin and targets. That is particularly true of the present bunch, whose sole career is politics +/- law. The real world is kept safely at bay as they attempt to re-engineer it and us to comply with their own mantras. Unless some of the guys and girls who have served decide to enter this slippery den and reintroduce concepts such as service and duty instead of cliche and sound bite, things can only get worse I fear.

[SilsoeSid]

Wouldn't it be nice if during the next 6-12 months, during Gordos trips to various places around the country, he takes a little time out to visit the families of those lost on active service during the Blair years.
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/OperationsFactsheets/OperationsInIraqBritishFatalities.htm
After all, with only 156 families to visit and the chance that he will be 'in the area', how much would it mean to the families to have their voice heard by the PM himself?

[Vasco Sodcat]

And perhaps he would care to include the families of the 61 Service fatalities in Afghanistan?
156 + 61 = one family visit per working day for the next working year (assuming he takes no more leave than a Regular in HM Forces :} ).
Should I hold my breath? :( :ugh: