My son serves in a Regiment which counts several Fijians amongst its ranks. I know that Fijians have served for many years in this country's armed forces with great distinction, some with the "hooligans" from the West Country! I believe many have settled in the UK after demob. How do they differ from the Gurkhas, immigration wise? I ask the question purely out of curiosity as I have as much respect for them as I do for the Gurkhas having worked with both, during my time in the mob.
Is it a Commonwealth thing?

As my granddaughter would say "REEEEEESULT!" At last honour shows its face in British politics. :ok:

Spymovs

Thankyou for the spiteful little dig - but it was the Moderator not I who changed the title of the thread; although the new title was my suggestion; also, my computer shows "Gurkha" correctly spelt in the title.

PS There is no "Royal Flight" any more - I was on 32 Sqn for 14 years.

How about you?

PPS I take it that you were referring to "The Queens Flight" .

It's not settled yet.

The vote is not binding. According to the telegraph Ministers promised to consider the vote and set out new rules before the summer recess.

Perhaps Pontius, but after this bloody nose do you think Brown has enough bottle for another fight? If he came back and lost again it would probably be seen as a sufficiently damning verdict that his part would start open politicking to remove him. It would be dangerously close to being enough to call for a vote of no confidence IMHO

Sorry for joining in the Military forum as I'm civvy...

Driving to the shops yesterday we came up behind a fairly scruffy van. On the back was an A4 sheet which looked like the driver had whizzed off on his PC printer. It read:

My country

Scum in

Gurkhas out

My wife and I thought that most adequately summed up the state of our country today...

My brother has done several Telic and Herrick tours as a Royal Marine officer. He has nothing but admiration for the Gurkhas,saying their bravery is second to none. He has fourght with these guys. Yesterday was embarrasing not just for Gordon Brown , but for this country. We allow people to stay here who preach hatred, conspire to injur or kill civilians, and live off our state. We allow people like this to stay. Yet this government happily asks these loyal people to fight and die for this country , then tells them to poke off. It is a disgrace beyond words. So yesterday a victory for common sense. This government makes me retch! Their contempt for our armed forces makes me sick to the stomach.

An excellent result in what must be considered to be an ongoing campaign.

It is obvious that even some nuLabor MPs are disgusted with Grumpy Gordon, Smith and Woolarse. A few more smacks on the snout for this apology for a government and a vote of no confidence won't be far off. Then we can hopefully be rid of them once and for all.

Somewhere I still have the khukri made by a Ghurka from an old Chevrolet lorry spring for my late father during the war; I mentioned this to one of the superb ghurka chaps down at RAF Mount Pleasant and he beamed with pride!

Good to see my MP, the PM-in-waiting, with Joanna Lumley yesterday!

scottpe

Fiji was part of the British Empire gaining independence on 10 October 1970. As a member of the Commonwealth their citizens are allowed to join British Forces.

Nepal was never part of the British Empire (despite attempts to make it so) and the Gurkha's were originally part of the British Forces in India. With Indian Independence an agreement was reached between the King of Nepal, the British Government and the new Indian Government for some 4 Battalions of Gurkha's to be transferred to the British Army and the remainder transferred to the Indian Army.

To enable both British and Indian Armies to recruit on an equal basis the pay rates were to be identical in both Armies - the Gurkha's in the British Army receiving considerably less than their British counterparts.

The opposition day motion is non binding to the govt its a shot across the bows, the humiliation to Gordon is superb unfortunatley this could lead to a revenge strike against the Gurkhas espically with the defence re-balancing exercse just getting of the ground.

Tha shame of the government with regard to loyal Gurkhas is in huge contrast to the joke I heard on the telly last night:
Swine flu / fever, another win for the Muslims of the world! Especially in the UK.
Politically incorrect I am sure but in my opinion true none the less, (If I were still be allowed an opinion), except it was broadcast on a western TV network in Oz!

Fijians/Gurkhas?
 

Cazatou, many thanks for your informative reply. I had a feeling it had something to do with belonging to the Commonwealth. Incidentally I spent a short period of time on 32 Sqn, by default, after the demise of 46 at Thorney!

The Denigration has started
 

BBC Ceefax are reporting:-

"No 10 has denied it snubbed requests from Joanna Lumley for a meeting with the PM over the right of Gurkhas to settle in the UK. Ms Lumley said she wrote 3 letters to Mr Brown over the case but none were acknowledged.

No 10 said all letters were acknowledged and Ms Lumley was offered a meeting with the Home Secretary."

I know which one I believe - how about you?

PS Does the Home Secretary not have a problem with the issue of "multiple claims" and Blue Movies?

Today, 6th of May, Joanna Lumley, the delightful actress who has made this cause her own, has been to a meeting with "Mc Stupid Cyclops"
AKA the Prime Minister.
She was very upbeat about the meeting and Mc Broon has "promised" to table new proposals BY THE END OF THE MONTH. :ok:

The British Army sends (or used to send) regular recruiting missions to Fiji.

After an excellent landing you can use the airplane again!

Gurkha Question
 

I find it hard to stomach that while this business with the Gurkhas is going on we have clowns campaigning for an amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the country. For God's sake get them out and replace them with people who have proved their worth.
In fact why not make it a requirement for immigrants (and MPs) to serve in the forces for a period prior to admittance to the UK. This would give opertunity to weed out the undesirables.

mtoroshanga

Why should we dilute the effectiveness of our Professional Armed Forces in order to help potential immigrants bypass normal immigration procedures and gain entry to the UK?

I watched the select comittee proceedings on Tuesday and where I wasnt swearing was cringing when some searching questions were replied to with party line replies offered by Woolarse and the MoD! It was obvious hed been up all night practising his speech in the bathroom mirror, and on the face of his comments, nothing will change and we will be back to 'Dont confuse me with facts, my minds made up' staus quo.

So, despite a valiant campaign, and the government losing the vote in the house, nothing will change. This is truly disgraceful, and as Joanna Lumley pointed out there is nowhere left for them to go. Personally, and regardless of protocol, I'd try the palace, nothing to lose now!

As to parliamentary respect and esteem for the armed forces, an ex colleague said as we were watching live PMQs and one of McBroons 'mourning the loss of ...' statements - 'Thank you for your support, I shall wear it always!'
(I believe stolen from the Goon Show, but I felt it appropriate)
:ugh:
BG

So much for the will of Parliament!!
 

Back to the top.

BBC text service is reporting that 4 out of 5 test cases for Gurkha residency have been rejected in what campaigners said was a "shocking and devastating development".

What, I wonder, is Mr Brown going to do about it?

Sweet Fanny Adams... He has no interest in anything that is not on his agenda regardless if every voting man and woman in the UK put their "X" in the box right in front of him... He'd still procrastinate in the hope that Jade Goody will come back to life or some other equally important news will divert attention from the issue. :rolleyes: