MoD Bans Our Boys’ Page3.com

[BEagle]

I came across this little piece of MoD fun-detection yesterday:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/Internet/zxzxz.jpg

From The Sun:

Page 3 girls yesterday launched a full frontal attack on Ministry of Defence killjoys - after they banned troops from looking at our beauties online.

Our girls staged a protest at the MoD's HQ in Whitehall after bureaucrats ruled that admiring their bazookas on Page3.com was "inappropriate" for Our Boys.

Our girls staged a protest at the MoD's HQ in Whitehall after bureaucrats ruled that admiring their bazookas on Page3.com was "inappropriate" for Our Boys.

The bombshell means 10,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus 25,000 sailors and airmen, are barred from seeing the site - even on their own private laptops.

Yesterday, cars and even a van of police honked their horns in support as Ruth, Becky, Nikkala and Peta held up banners and chanted "Free Page 3".

The Sun is urging Defence Secretary John Hutton to intervene. We have been bombarded with complaints from soldiers and sailors since MoD internet servers began blocking Page3.com.

A Royal Navy chief petty officer said: "The fun police have struck again - it's maddening. Being able to relax and look at Page 3 is good for morale. It helps us do our job, not hinder us."

The MoD insisted: "Adult content has nothing to do with our core business of defence."

:rolleyes: - hasn't the Ministry of Madness got better things to do than censor recreational Internet access?

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

The MoD insisted: "Adult content has nothing to do with our core business of defence."

Neither has morale, it would seem.

I was reminded yesterday that my "mandatory" Equality and Diversity training is overdue. Oh joy, oh rupture!

[Duckandcover]

My brain always seems to interpret the word mandatory as "avoid"....

Good to know we can still employ people to carry out such important tasks.

[BEagle]

Happier times some years ago:

Jag SqInt-ess at Deci visiting the station shop notices some Lads' Mags (the politer stuff, such as Mayfair etc), so thinks that it would be morale-enhancing gesture to buy a few for the squadron.

So she gets some dosh from the squadron fund and goes back with the driver to pick up some cold drinks and the magazines. Being slightly coy, she gives the driver the money and waits at the door.

A few minutes later the driver turns to her and says in a none-too quite voice "EXCUSE ME, MA'AM, YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN ME ENOUGH MONEY!".

Poor girl went bright pink, much to the amusement of the other shoppers! But saw the funny side when she told us later.

[Mr C Hinecap]

More non-news. Thanks for raising it old fella. I think the bandwidth (limited, expensive) in theatre is best spent on keeping comms open back to the families - not staring at titties on some pish corner of a pseudo-newspaper. If our brave tommies want jazz mags on tour, take jazz mags - I admit it is old fashioned to suggest paper in this day and age. It is a Sun self publicity stunt and nothing more. If you can't go through the day without page 3 you probably shouldn't be allowed out in public without a shock collar on.

[Runaway Gun]

Beagle, Did she autograph them? ;)

[BEagle]

Runaway Gun, ;) no, but there was a very interesting photo of her in the 'classified' 56 sqn photo album for a while...:E

Mr C Hinecap, what a happy little soldier you must be.

Sorry if the support from The Sun, which I grant you is hardly The Times, for Help for Heroes has bypassed your little trench, but to me it does a good job of communicating its support for the Armed Forces to the gen pub. So banning one of its more well-known 'assets' is a mean and unnecessary piece of fun-detection by faceless 'MoD spokespersons'.

[midnight retired]

So our brave boys are denied some amusement in theatre whilst the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been caught out recently claiming the cost of downloading two porn movies on MPs" expenses !! Speaks volumes.

[ProM]

Mr Hinecap, stopping them downloading pg 3 is hardly going to save on bandwidth. In fact if they stop to admire a particularly good pair it may even save bandwidth because they won't be downloading anything else.

It would take more bandwidth to download a recording of Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet from Radio 3. Will we bar that?

[Wader2]

and here is one they missed :}

PressDisplay.com - Newspapers From Around the World (http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx)

[barnstormer1968]

a long while back (cold war days) I used to really enjoy the little magazine type things which would be circulated during NATO exercises. These contained such things as differing rank structures of other nations, a message from some general or other and a page three photo (courtesy of the sun). I must admit that the photo always seemed so much more entertaining than the generals message:ok:

Secondly, having lived with a page three model for several years, I can also report that she had an interest in classic art, as well as being degree educated, so was just as likely to read the times as the sun. (just added for anyone wishing to ban the sun on elitist grounds, and also having forgotten its contribution to help for heroes)

[nunquamparatus]

Surely the massed ranks of the civil service (for only they would think of banning something as harmless as a picture of a pair of knockers) must be used to the view? Most of the main building, from memory, seemed to be full of useless t*ts anyway................

I would rather see a ban on useless, glossy (and probably expensive) periodicals pushed out from random parts of the MoD, service or otherwise. Then, maybe, we might have money for trivial stuff like, fuel, exercises and travelclaims. Just a thought.

Having a quiet word with myself now.....................:ugh:

[Wader2]

Remember the Flight Safety posters - Don't assume, check - the tennis player.

There was also Civil Servant who wanted to break in to modelling. The IFS guys had no problem squeezing her into a flying suit even it the zip would not work properly.:}

The posters worked and were certainly in great demand.

[Doors Off]

Mr C Hinecap,
you and your church may not wish to look at them - that is your choice. The fact that it is acceptable to still publish bare tits in a national newspaper where there is no age barrier to purchasing said newspaper, means that society has a choice. Don't take away our soldiers choice!
Personally I do not need to view them online however, if it is good enough for you back in blighty to have the choice, it is good enough for our soldiers, sailors and airmen.
Rant over.

Doors Off. :zzz:

[Laarbruch72]

I'm in agreement with Mr C Hinecap here... the level of the indignation on this thread is quite comical!

I'm afraid most here are giving away their lack of recent operational experience.... anybody deploying to Afghanistan or Iraq in the last few years have been taking gigs upon gigs of the grottiest filth you can imagine with them, loaded onto portable hard drives... they hardy need a coy peep at a pair of paps on page 3! Everybody I last served overseas with had at least a hundred hours of "morale", usually double that by the time they left.

Harumphs about "our boys", "bazookas" and especially "morale" are laughably out of date, and oh so 1943. But do carry on, at least I'm spotting the irony! :D

[BEagle]

Well, at least the Page3 girls have been out to lend their support - whether Chincap and Laarbruch72 like it or not:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/2009_05_13_114940_army_3_445x600.jpg


Photo from The Sun - but not marked as copyright.

[Laarbruch72]

I'm not saying I don't like it Beags. Good on them. It's still extremely old fashioned to think that everyone likes a peek at a pair of boobs in their 30 minute, very public internet session! Most have their own laptops for any titilation and the 30 min public internet sessions are used to email home. Still, you wouldn't know that. :ok:

[Mr C Hinecap]

Doors off - I don't think it is acceptable to publish women with their norks out in a daily newspaper. We've supposedly come to see women as equals in society - and in the Armed Forces. Objectifying them in a 'newspaper' is just a last bastion of the macho bolleaux some of the Cold War Warriors on here can't give up.
I'm possibly more red-blooded than many, but I prefer to get my kicks away from a newspaper. If one desires, there is the rest of the internet for filth. I am one of the soldiers, sailors and airmen - don't for one minute think I'm a god-bothering civvy who believes in high necklines and low hemlines. I do know that not viewing page 3 does not for one minute impact morale or operational effectiveness. Many of the ground troops are nowhere close to the internet out there and have their ways of viewing the female form as they desire.

The Sun is self-serving and publishes whatever sells at the time. They will always print bad press about us as well as H4H - punters buying The Sun is the object - they are a business not a charity.

[Mr. Rotorvator]

Mr Hinecrap,

Have a word with yourself.

[Wader2]

Doors off - I don't think it is acceptable to publish women with their norks out in a daily newspaper.
. . .
The Sun is self-serving and publishes whatever sells at the time.

With a circulation of over 3m and a readership of possibly double or triple that, I think you are in a minority. Officers' Messes also take the Sun although it is often taken from the anti-room before lunch.

Now I understand that this is a good moment to stand for parliament. Anyone iwth strongly held views might like to consider standing on a moralistic and public service stand especially servicemen who might cite their well-deserved reputation for honesty and integrity.

[Jimlad1]

At the risk of sounding rather dull, any decision about what access is granted on the system would almost certainly be taken by military personnel in theatre, and not CS back home - they wouldnt sit in the chain of command for this sort of thing.

[Mr C Hinecap]

With a circulation of over 3m and a readership of possibly double or triple that, I think you are in a minority.

There are 60 million adults in the UK. Of them. approx 5.2 million would fail to pass GCSE English (2003 figures, probably higher now).
Up to 12 million people watched the last series of X Factor.

I don't care. I really don't care how many people buy something that someone else works hard at to make them want to buy. It doesn't make it right - it sells. The lowest common denominator is not the best thing in the world - it is the most common. It is still trivia and the only reason we have this story is The Sun self-publicising. I've not seen E-Bay up in arms that I can't access that during the working day.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

barnstormer1968.


having lived with a page three model for several years


Remind us, is Bristol your location or just your hobby?

[Wader2]

At the risk of sounding rather dull, any decision about what access is granted on the system would almost certainly be taken by military personnel in theatre, and not CS back home - they wouldnt sit in the chain of command for this sort of thing.

Jimlad, I think you are wrong. I can access The Sun online but DFTS blocks page 3 and only page 3.

[glad rag]

Mr Hinecap "click".

[L J R]

The issue (as far as the Stan is concerned) is that the internet that we PAY for ourselves on our own laptops are censored. What MoD does on its own service is its call, but to filter content to paying customers is a foul.

[Laarbruch72]

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7294/thisisanoutrage.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thisisanoutrage.jpg)

There are far more worthy causes that demand the firing up of the outrage bus. It's a quaint notion that the good old tom / crab / jolly tar still likes to ogle a pinup while he's fighting for Queen and Country gawd bless 'im... but the reality is that if he's into that kind of thing, his laptop is already full of top quality filth. Access to page 3 (or the lack of) will not be high on the list of issues he'll be worrying about. As Mr Hinecap says, it's self publicity by the Sun. The same Sun that rips into a serviceman every time he has say, an extramarital affair or a punch up in the street... yup, because that sells papers too.

As an aside, while we like to big up America's treatment of her servicemen and women, it's worth noting that the free internet that is provided for their forces in the welfare cabins also blocks access to anything remotely risque.

[barnstormer1968]

I don't think my view is actually old fashioned, in fact it is quite the opposite. This is perhaps another way of how I see this issue.

I can picture a British service person (see the modern phrase there...almost bursting into warfighter!) stuck out in some hot place (very hot) and having to live off boil in the bag rations, spending loads of time away from friends and family, for not a particularly good wage. Now, even if he or she does not want to look at page three, is it really going to help his/her morale by removing these images (bearing in mind I am often told troops are there to uphold FREEDOM), and thus leave him with officially sanctioned images that the taliban would be happy to view (i.e. covered and modest).
So, picture this service person again, and wonder who's side they may think the MOD are on. It is a bit like going without alcohol, Christmas decorations etc. In some ways it means nothing, but it never helped me to believe I HAD to do something, so as not to offend the other side, or something that would please them (whether that was the reason why or not).

[Pontius Navigator]

There are far more worthy causes that demand the firing up of the outrage bus.

Indeed there and that is what is so sad.

It is a bit like going without alcohol, Christmas decorations etc. In some ways it means nothing, but it never helped me to believe I HAD to do something, so as not to offend the other side, or something that would please them

There may be one great big cause that affects morale and retention. However many little irritations can also add up into a major morale buster. It can needlessly create a division between us and them just like a bath plug or a porn video can come between Elected and Elector.

[Laarbruch72]

Barnstormer1968:

"I can picture a British service person"

You can picture him, but I am him. We're really not bothered by page 3... I can appreciate you fighting for us on PPRuNe for our page three rights, but honestly, we'll be fine without. Thanks though.
The mention of democracy having something to do with being able to view boobs if you want to... well let's not go there. It's a separate subject entirely in that part of the world. We're dealing with religion and tolerance there, and we're in Afghan to promote freedom, not to give them tits in a paper whether they like it or not.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Sorry, a village idiot has escaped and I have closed the thread for a while.

The men with the white coats are on the case! :rolleyes: