10 Downing Street - Military Deaths Petition

[Al R]

Yowza. We are having a bitch fest aren't we?

I've said more than enough about who I was referring to, and also, my thoughts about the lady in question and her resolve. I certainly don't feel the need to justify it any more to a couple more nancy boys, who don't have even the originality to come up with something fresh.

Biggus.. yes, I did suggest you get angry. Let me tell you what I was doing today. I was chatting with an 83/84 (he couldn’t remember) year old ex- rear gunner inbetween Grantham and Lincoln, in fact I spent most of the day with him. Pride of place on his mantlepiece was a picture of him being introduced to Prince Charles in 1969 when he was a Warrant Officer. He was reminding me that once upon a time, RAF officers stood up for their men when it was needed and they wouldn’t HAVE to rely on the likes of petitions and demonstrations and the likes of me having to help him (his home help has been withdrawn) do something as noddy as move furniture, lay a new section of laminate floor, hoover his car and mow his little piece of England. I say that, not to come across as a holier than thou Dudley do right (because I’m not.. I’m an offensive and arrogant tool), but because there are thousands of living ex military servicemen and families in need up and down the country, old servicemen who are living, who are infirm, butwho aren't meeja friendly, who aren't well connected, who aren't urbane or affluent, who don't move in the right circles, who don't have a political mandate, who aren't personable and who are living with the hell, every day, of the consequences of their military service.. from long before this damned war. Who is there to stand up for them?

And I do object to their politicisation of this issue, and I shrug my shoulders at the marginalisation that it has been attracting by yet another faction who want these day (rightly so), their right to know what happened. Why do you think you have this petition facility? I'll tell you why. Because its going to increase the amount of single issue causes to flex their muscles and (boy!).. have their say. And what’s wrong about that I hear you ask. Be under no illusions.. even if the MoD did co operate fully (and lets remind ourselves of the need of the Spams to play ball with them too), the difference in having their day wouldn't be shattering.. coroners nowadays are deluged with lots of single issue grievances.. families such as this lady's, families of elederly folk dying in nursing homes, families of folk dying of hospital induced infection, families of those young men who commit suicide (did you know that more males kill themselves than die in car accidents? The commonest cause of death among those males aged 16 to 35 in the UK, in 2005 with 1,600 deaths incidentally). There is a plethora of demands made on coroners, and the sad part is, that there are just 2 coroners departments who take the brunt, where the remains of our fallen men and women are alighted once they come home. Truth of it is, another petition with a few hundred names is going to do nothing. Think back to the motorists one which got almost 2 million responses and a subsequent cold shoulder.

So, as I have explained on a number of occasions, I was referring to the politicisation of the issue by MFaTW, and, as was accepted by another poster, the word 'you' referred to them in the general sense, and not to her in a personal one. I think I have explained this clearly enough already, as I have my sympathy admiration and feelings towards the lady's resolve too. With regards to the issue of the familiy representation by the coroner, I'd refer you to g'ment guidelines. Where does it say that a coroner exists to represent the deceased person's family? The Coroners Act 1988 is being updated yet again anyway, and even so, it still says sod all about standing up for the family of a dead person.

http://www.dca.gov.uk/corbur/coron05.htm

A coroner's duties are:

· to investigate the circumstances of the deaths of all persons whose bodies are lying within his or her jurisdiction where he or she has reason to believe that the death was violent, unnatural or of unknown cause
· to decide whether a post mortem examination is necessary for the purpose of his or her investigation and, if so, to give directions to an appropriate medical practitioner
· to hold an inquest, with or without a jury, where he or she is satisfied that he or she is required to do so in accordance with section 8 of the 1988 Act
· to notify the Registrar of Deaths of the findings of the inquest, or, if no inquest is held, of the fact that the death reported to him or her does not need to be subject to an inquest
· to pay the relevant fees and allowances to witnesses and jurors, and to submit accounts to the relevant council
· to make annual returns to the Secretary of State in connection with the inquests held and deaths he or she has enquired into
· to appoint a deputy coroner, and, if required, an assistant deputy coroner.


Finally, I'd just like to say that your and that other idiot's inability to grasp the real issue(s) here will ensure that it stays a single issue/minority issue. Get angry, get cross.. address the issues which count too. It might mean you'll get off your sanctimonious arse and actually get something done rather than snipe in such a gratuitious, shallow, vaccous and dull manner.