Days of the Jackals

Gordon Brown in the firing line

Just watched the clip.

As far as I could ascertain, every question posed was met with an evasion, a damned evasion or a pointless statistic, skipping from meaningless totals to equally sly percentages, and from specific instances to broad timeframes depending on which might seem less awful. The clown even tried to cite an opposition concession on the facts of one incident to try and apply to the totality of the overall conflict provision.

I don't know if our troops are being led by donkeys, but at the very top the decisions on where they get sent, why and with what, seems to be in the hands of bean-counting, box-ticking jackals.

A bit like the rest of the country's interests. I was going to say that at least our lives are not at stake, but even then in some areas one has to wonder what such self-serving ineptitude will inflict.

I hope they enjoy their hol... sabbatical.

Leading questions

I am trying to fathom the mindset infecting many in the media firmament.

I have just come back from my Mum's cottage, where she has BBC News 24 on (unfortunately for her, and my, sanity pretty much 24/7), and there was a reporterette interviewing a senior Government Minister.

It follows the news of the latest tragic loss of life of British service personnel in Afghanistan.

Thing is, the logic behind and hence thrust of the questioning seemed to be along the lines of 'now a woman has been killed, isn't it time we pulled out?'.

Ignoring all the greater geopolitical issues and failings or otherwise of policy and leadership, as articulated that has frankly got to be the most facile thing I have ever heard, and if if endorsed by her superiors in editorial and above a truly worrying insight into the state of mind that exists within or national broadcaster.

I'm also not too sure that it serves the interest of our armed forces on the ground too well either (mind you, as I understand it that has not been a high priority in previous conflicts either).

Addendum

Rarely, I get newsflash emails. But only when something world-shattering happens. This just in:

A female soldier is one of four UK troops killed in a blast in Afghanistan, the BBC understands - the first woman soldier to die there.
For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Tragic. But I don't recall getting many as a consequence of previous volunteer professional soldiers giving up their lives.