by Alan on February 11, 2013
in Politics
When you compare the reaction to the reports of Horse meat in many “prepared meals” to the reaction to reports of poor care in NHS Hospitals it is clear that some people have lost their true sense of perspective.
There are now 14 hospitals subject to investigation of high death rates, but the public reaction is muted. That makes little sense when we look at the hysteria surrounding the reports of what is perfectly healthy meat masquerading as something else.
Fraud should not be a cause for public concern on this scale, and far too many people appear to have forgotten that. Let’s get some perspective.
Several years – actually probably around 2 decades ago – I was getteing ready for a new job in the Army. It was at a time when all our political and military focus had been on the threat of war in Europe as a result of a Soviet invasion.
This focus was almost total, as was the stability that it generated. But my new job was to take me away from Europe as I turned to look after what was officially called “The Rest of the World”. That is: the non-NATO threatened parts of the world.
And in preparation for that work I remember being told by one old sage “never to trust countries with straight line borders”. The reasoning was simple: they are the results of colonialist interventions that could not be bothered to understand the local cultural and tribal landscapes before drawing up national boundaries. [click to continue…]
More cuts to the Defence manpower budget will be announced today, reducing the Army in particular by a further 5,000 men and women. This is without doubt a dangerous and ridiculous move.
As a member of the UN Security Council and a major player on the global military scene, we have always punched above our weight and without doubt have a remarkably high level of respect amongst forces globally. But unlike in some other countries, the military in Britain exists to support our National and Foreign policies and should only be shaped by the demands of those policies. [click to continue…]
