Friday, February 20, 2015
GETTYFormer PM Winston Churchill in 1939
Difficult as it is to remember now, the early years of the war were so full of failure that the very position of the great man was in doubt.
What I admire about him most was his ability to face an unpalatable truth no matter how unpopular and now, today, in this year which marks the fiftieth anniversary of his death, we need that ability in our current leaders and it is woefully lacking.
Churchill insisted to a warweary nation that appeasement would not work and we were going to have to fight Hitler. It was but 20 years since the last World War had ended and just about every family in Britain had lost someone.
Today we are also war-weary from engagements in the Middle East but it is a simple fact that islamic State will not stop its campaign of invasion, beheadings and crucifixions until we fight it into oblivion.
This is our war big time. What the Jihadists want is a fundamentalist Muslim world. Already Britons have been beheaded, terror plots in this country have been foiled and the politicians close their eyes.
The government which bombed Libya, which threatened us not at all, and had to be prevented from bombing Syria, which also threatened us not at all, somehow cannot face the reality of engaging Islamic State, which threatens the whole West. Not, that is, beyond a few airstrikes and a derisory presence to help with training local forces.
All NATO plus Japan, which is now considering jettisoning the pacifist stance it has taken since the second world war, plus Syria, iraq, Egypt, Jordan and any other threatened state should unite against this ugly threat.
So what if Assad is not cameron’s cup of tea? church- ill allied with Stalin to defeat hitler and that russian was hardly the pleasant, cosy type.
If Churchill were here now he would tell us the truth. We have to fight. With the immi- nence of a general election no leading politician is going to risk saying it.
The nation had enough with Iraq and Afghanistan, is very fond of its tranquil way of life and wants no more body bags and maimings. It will not thank anyone for the truth let alone vote for him so heads will disappear into sand.
YET eventually we will have to take our heads out so perhaps we could at least start building up rather than running down our forces and equipment? Plenty of tax is spent on bureaucratic nonsense and political correctness.
It would be better to spend it on securing our future, unless of course we want our grandchildren to grow up in burkas.
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BNPSA former soldier who fought in Iraq War is selling his gallantry medal
James Harkess, who earned medals for conspicuous gallantry in Iraq, is selling them because after 22 years in the army he is too ill to work. What a sad comment that we keep scroungers in clover but veterans have to sell their medals to survive.
I do sincerely hope that someone very rich buys them and then gives them back to him with thanks from all of us.
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The General Election is imminent and the choice will be simple: put those who caused the crash back in the driving seat or the ones who pulled Britain out of the ditch. And Cameron will give us a referendum on Europe, Ed will not.
Indeed the lines are already being clearly drawn with Cameron honestly telling us that while spending per child will be protected in our schools it cannot be inflation-proofed. Red Ed just promises more spending on everything.
So what then is Nigel Farage’s role? He can congratulate himself on having forced a major party to promise a referendum and therefore try to ensure it wins.
And he can try equally hard on immigration. Meanwhile I dearly wish he would take up the cause of freedom of conscience for Christians. But he has not a chance of forming a government in May, which is why there is no third choice.
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GETTY The Queen arrives at King's Cross railway station in London 15 October 1969 with her four dogs
The Queen’s corgis are iconic but apparently her Maj has decreed there shall be no new ones as she is afraid of tripping over them. it is a wise decision as age is no respecter of persons and elderly monarchs are as much in danger of falling and breaking bones as are their elderly subjects.
I wish long life to the surviving two so that the Queen has the comfort of her favourite dogs throughout what i hope are the many and happy years left to her.
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Katie Price, who is worth tens of millions, relies on the taxpayer to transport her disabled son to and from school each day.
That she is legally entitled to this benefit is clear beyond any doubt but moral entitlement is quite another issue.
What the Price case demonstrates is how far we have ceased to regard individuals as primarily responsible for themselves.
The state has limited resources and every time a rich person calls upon it there is less money for those who couldn’t cope even if they starved themselves for a month.
The care of our children and elderly parents is our own duty with the state there to help where necessary, not the other way round.
Katie Price should pay for the taxis herself and rejoice in the freeing up of resources for use by others.
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This sunday I can be seen on iTV’s Get Your Act Together training budgies. It was certainly one of the more peculiar challenges i have taken on since retirement but a very enjoyable one. At first I was not keen.
Not only had I hoped to be offered ventriloquism or magic but, of course, I hate keeping anything in a cage and have never possessed a rabbit or hamster for exactly that reason. Budgies, I remonstrated, were born to fly.
To my surprise the budgies spent very little time confined to a small cage. They had a travelling aviary and during breaks were not put away at all. They were caged only between the wings and the stage or the van and the training room. i began to feel
more at ease with the project. Then i discovered i was dealing with, well er... bird brains. it was hardly like training a dog. Yet i fell in love with the little creatures and missed them every evening when training was over for the day.
The hilarious results will be there for all to see. Somehow i don’t see it as a future career.
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A MAN who lies in bed all day and drinks 12 cans of lager is reported to be paid sickness benefit. Quite apart from the insult to workers what on earth good does that do him?
He should not get a penny from the state so that he has to get up and earn a living, which would give him a chance of becoming healthy.
Then we all gain. What is so difficult about that?
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Kara Scott
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