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Yet today the business of governing Wales came to a halt as a small bunch of strikers (terrorists) objected to a policy that the UK Government has labelled “fair” to both staff and taxpayers. It came to a halt because members of the Welsh Assembly Government found it better to support the (terrorist voters) strikers, rather than support the measures being implemented by the Government in London. And it’s not even a policy created by an opposition for all of them.

A Government that gives in to protest is both naive and is clearly failing to represent the views of the people they are supposed to represent.

Everyone I have spoken to in the last few days rate the strikers as beyond contempt. That their Picket lines (which are referred to as “somewhere to tie your horses” by Wikipedia) “must not be crossed” is a quaint old concept. Who the hell says it remains so?

The time has come for our vote chasing politicians in Wales to stand up and take clear positions on what is right, not what is folklore and not that which justssupports their re-election. It is time to be real and recognise that pickets serve little or no purpose, that it’s not just horses that get tied up there but Donkeys.

So few links were made, or understood, about the need to relate defence and military action to political objectives and diplomacy.

I’ve banged on about this for ages: War is Diplomacy by violent means.

It only buys time for Politicians to seek a negotiated settlement. It was therefore refreshing to see Elfyn Llwyd articulate the need to open diplomatic efforts of a non military kind. Even more refreshing was the quiet support from the military men in the audience.

Diplomacy is the only way to enduring solutions. Politicians need to understand this and understand this soon.

If I caught it correctly, and I was driving so may have made a mistake, he said that there was no relationship between the PM’s visit the day before and Brown’s appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry. He suggested that these visits were planned a long time in advance and suggestions about political gamesmanship were abject nonsense.

Directly after making that point he did admit that his own trip had of course been re-arranged a few times, and you’ve just got to wonder he was pulling the strings on that one. Why did it need the Prime Monster to visit Afghanistan to announce new vehicles for the Army, surely that is the role of the Defence Secretary, isn’t it?

Just like buses, you wait for ages for a Minister to turn up in Afghanistan and all of a sudden two come along in quick succession. And like some buses they are Bendy Buses: bending to fend off the growing sense of revulsion at the ongoing lack of support to the Military in prosecuting hugely unpopular wars.

But today I really wonder: can it get even more depressing? The Sunday Times report of the YouGov Poll that suggests that Gordon Brown may win the next election just has to be the most depressing piece of news I’ve read for a long, long time.

How can we be moving to a position whereby we re-elect a Government that has so clearly failed to deliver on so many policies, has failed to truly support our military from the outset of operations, has wasted billion on pounds on ridiculous initiatives as well as on banks and has lost of the confidence of just about everyone I talk to.

I’ve not spoken to anyone in recent months who is prepared to believe any of the statements that emanate from the mouth of Brown. So what is it that is causing the poll to suggest that he might stay in Downing Street? Are we blind, stupid or is there fear of the alternative?

Surely “the devil you know” argument is not a basis for political decision making.

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It’s also pretty amazing to note that all but one local authority Chief Exec is paid over £100,000 per annum. That’s before they get add ons such as £10k for being a returning officer (how demanding can that be?) so it’s a nice little package all in all.

But is it justified, or perhaps more fundamentally, do we need quite so many of them anyway?

22 Ch Execs/Finance Directors/Social Service Directors/HR Wizards and so on surely has to be overkill for a nation of 3 million or so people.

Add to that the inefficiency of our police/fire/ambulance/health services and we really have a need for some fundamental reorganisation and rationalisation.

Sadly I see little appetite to really address these issues, but any party that admitted there was a real need for change and was prepared to address it would certainly get my vote.

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History has a habit of repeating itself and I can’t help but remember how it was in 1982 when the last Argentine threat to the Falkland Islands materialised.

We faced a Defence Review, or certainly serious discussions about the role of the Royal Navy in particular, and we had a Prime Minister who was definitely  ”under pressure” in terms of relationship with the country.

There can be little doubt that the 1982 invasion of the Falklands by Argentina helped transform the popularity of Margaret Thatcher and it also saved efforts to cut the Navy. Please let us not see a repeat of either again this year.

That was a key message during my early training in the Army: so why oh why have we heard all this week about the impending massive assault by Allied troops in Afghanistan? Surely the Taleban read the Telegraph and watch News 24 and might just have got an inkling we were on our way.

The world of war fighting has changed. Gen McCrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan has recognised that to win in Afghanistan it is probably better not to fight as that endangers innocent by-standers. Instead we are seeing a war that is being fought to win the ground and then through having enough local troops to stay on that ground, win the hearts and minds of the population.

The warnings of the build up to the attacks were, in my opinion, an attempt to avoid any fighting, they were designed to encourage the Taleban, or some of them anyway, to withdraw. This avoided civilian casualties as the territory was won, but it will also have given two critical additional benefits.

First: the Taleban were forced to move. This is disruptive and whilst in itself not critical will have lead to the second benefit which was opportunity for ambush of withdrawing enemy. It would be very surprising if there were no attacks on withdrawing fighters as they sought refuge elsewhere. Don’t however expect to hear much about these operations as they would have been conducted by elements of the military who don’t want to be in the papers.

In this new era of war fighting, it is clear that the old rules don’t apply It is to McCrystal’s credit that he sees the value of peaceful operations in order to generate peace in the long term. The locals are more likely to talk to you if you’ve not been shooting at them.

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In those days, players were amateurs, they played for love of the game and also with respect for the opposition. Captains were not laden with press conferences to worry about, but they did undertake one very important and noble duty.

If and when an opposition player was injured, the captain would trot over to him to express concern, and in most instances would wish him well. On those rare occasions when someone had to leave the field, he would be applauded off by both sides as well as the crowd.

Yesterday at the Millennium Stadium Thom Evans received a very nasty injury that forced him to leave the field and be taken to hospital for neck surgery. Whilst he was being attended to, the Welsh team appeared to take no interest in his plight, and the Welsh captain did not make an effort to check on him. Shame on them all.

Being “professional” does not excuse anyone from showing respect to injured individuals and I hope that we see some shift back to old values again soon.

The programme contains private revelations: so private in fact that they have been on every news programme for the last 36 hours.

It shows a significant lack of judgement for ITV to make such a shameless plug for a failing Prime Minister and it is an appalling error of judgement for Brown to open up on some issues as he does, with so little time before the election.

ITV, Morgan and Brown: a hapless trio.