A while back in Harrods I had a nice chat with a doorman who was wearing three of the same ribbons on his jacket that I had on my No. 1 tunic. All quite affable as I recall.

I'm getting my hamper from Farepak this year, and really looking forward to it!

You have answered all my questions for me!
Who started the war then if not us and America?
What reason do you think we went to war for ? weapons of mass destruction :confused: hmmm let me think about that one?
Iraq's involvement in 9/11:confused: hmm!
Terror camps in Afghanistan, yes but why were they set up and why were they targetting us?
Heroin production is up, so that can't be what we are doing there?
Removal of a dictator? plenty of them still knocking around the world (none oil rich countries) some of them in past emperial and commonwealth countries that deserve better from us.

You are kidding yourself if you think we have even the remotest say in America's foreign policy ( they didn't even tell us they were striking in Iraq after 9/11 till it happened )
Yes we stand shoulder to shoulder and now we are paying the terror price shoulder to shoulder.
I for one would applaud a Government that made it's own foreign policy decisions and stuck by them regardless of what America did, sometimes we need to be more selfish and say no, do you think we would be involved on this scale if America wasn't involved? Where was America when we were getting bombed to **** by the IRA every weekend?

Whilst I don't agree with everything else you've said (I've shortened the full text of the quote) the last point you made has been something I've often pondered over. Granted, 9/11 was unquestionably a massive attack, but it always seemed strange that after one attack, the US government starts calling on NATO Articles (17?) for other NATO countries to come to it's defence, yet we had decades of getting bombed and shot at with little or no help other than the political brokering from Clinton. No doubt more learned members of Pprune will point out several faults in my point, but it can't surely fall down to the fact that the UK government never asked for help, so we didn't get it?

Does anyone else find it rather spooky that, considering the title of this thread, there are suddenly adverts for Harrods all over people's posts? (See last page).

Yes, I do/did. (See this thread, #28)

SMT, me and the missus went to buy a surround system and TV, bloody pricey, missus gets out the Harrods account card...refused...upstairs to the 5th floor, got past the jobsworth who hadn't a clue, eventually got the manager, very surly and couldn't care less, explained the card was refused, yes its cancelled, she said, why?? because you haven't used it for 2 years. OK but why didn't you send a reminder like other proper stores do.......and so on and so forth. Mrs.Fan in full flow is a sight to see. Intransigent, impolite, hacked off (and I had to pay!!) very severe letter to that vertically challenged owner and will never set foot in the place again. That simple

I would venture to say it was worse than that, though I could well be wrong. My understanding is that the IRA were to a large part funded by contributions taken openly in the pubs and clubs of American cities.

Of course...one mans terrorist is anothers freedom fighter:hmm:

...but Harrods is just overpriced vulgar tatt no matter who you are. :}

It's just a souk in Knightsbridge these days......:\

Should add the Walkabout chain to the boycott list. In today's paper two Royals in uniform who had been to mate's funeral (an Iraq kia) were refused service in the Liverpool branch of the pub chain....

France has had its share of Islamic terrorism. Al-Qaeda lists it as one of the 'Crusader nations' and therefore a legitimate target. I seem to recall a bombing campaign on the Metro in the eighties, repeated attacks on French nationals and interests in Algeria throughout the nineties and the hijacking of an Air France Airbus from Algeria to Marseille in December '94 (successfully resolved by GSIGN) was apparently intended to culminate in the aircraft being flown into the Eiffel Tower or blown up over Paris.
Germany has also had its own terror shock recently and with bayonets and helis in Afg it probably won't be its last.
The fundamental differences seem to be that France was reacting to what was almost a single-polar threat, which hadn't evolved as Al-Qaeda has, still less enjoyed AQ's PR savvy, and more importantly that there has always been a more Machiavellian aspect to the Quai d'Orsay's foreign policy than to whatever emanates from the White House. Foggy Bottom is actually quite good at that kind of thing when it's allowed to be (as are we), but the policy hardnuts in the White House seem to be missing the 'receive' option. America's foreign policy professionals - the ones who aren't parachuted in because of their links to the incoming administration - were no more eager to get dragged into Iraq and Afghanistan than we were and are extremely sensitive to the clumsy propagandising which their (and our) masters engage in. Like the French, too, they're not the bleating pacifists the media would like everyone to think; they just prefer the knife to the cavalry charge wherever possible.
Not convinced how much we'd gain, or for how long, by distancing ourselves from America, unless it was a post-Madrid kind of backstep. AQ will still be out there looking for the next flimsy excuse to blow up a transport network full of civilians and behead foreign engineers and will have to be broken, preferably out of sight. If we can separate them from the Talibs it'll be a start.
And where were the Americans when PIRA were murdering their way around Europe ? Well, most of the informed ones were mortified that those subhumans were sometimes publicly lauded in the Land of the Free, but like any other country the majority had little inclination or time for the debate and paid little attention when some of their politicos (Pataki in New York ?) rejigged the state school history syllabus to make the potato famine read as an act of genocide. Ironic perhaps that one of the best add-ons we could use to win the war on terror would be to ramp up some of PIRA's tactics : long term infiltration and observation; targeted assassination (preferably the anonymous must-be-one-faction-hitting-another kind) and pitch-perfect propaganda. Not simple, not quick, not bloodless, but the alternatives are even more of what we're doing now or total surrender.

Mick was one of my guys and was a victim of a deliberate and exhaustivley planned attack, as was his daughter. At the time the IRA monitored comings and goings from the base and although opportunistic these particular murders were planned. Only the actual target was random. The same applies to the Rocks in Roermonde. Many servicemen drank in the town and all the IRA had to do was wait. Again a planned operation. I hardly think that Harrods are in any more danger if uniforms are present or not. We are the ONLY country in the world that bans its servicemen amd women from wearing their countries uniform.

We don't...

From AP1358 Chapter 1

Harrods is not somewhere one would choose to shop. I'm just glad it wasn't Waitrose.

R A F


Retail At Fortnum's

Came back to london from Oxford the other night to see three lads sat on the train in desert cams. I got up to get a tinnie from the buffet cart and bought an extra three. On getting back to my seat I asked them if they were 'coming or going'? (yes i knew the answer really, as they had clearly just come from Brize!), they said they had just got back from Iraq for a two week R+R, i said thanks for what you are doing for us, we are all really grateful and offered the 3 cans. Everyone around clapped, the boys looked as pleased as punch, and all for a thanks and a beer. I could never have done it if they were not in Uniform. Bring it on, lets have more of it. Our guys are proud to serve, we should be proud to allow them to wear the uniform that they are willing to wear when they die for their Queen and Country.

Top drills Tigs2.

I'm glad the other occupants of the carriage joined in and supported your offer of thanks.

Enjoy your R & R guys. Stay safe on the 2d half of your tour.:ok:

Seen many times but still with a ring of truth today.


I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!


:ok:Tigs...I'll bet those beers tasted sweeter than most.

I think the beers did taste sweet. But what was interesting was that the great british public only needed the slightest nudge to know that they didn't have to be so 'stiff'. Three people came up to the table after the 'clap' to shake hands with the lads and say thank you. The Military should be driving the 'pride in our troops' hard and allowing as many public displays of uniform as possible.