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Dear NollyPrott, couldn't add my support to your #38 of 12th, had trouble signing in so today has sprung up to thwart me. I'm very pleased to hear your father has stood up to the experts and is still enjoying life! I accompanied a friend to the DRs last week who had been told there was nothing they could do for his old age, but I found out about testosterone therapy and now they are proceeding with the tests and hopefully he will be far healthier when he gets the treatment, yours S.

Well according to Sky News, Karzai wants a public trial of the US soldier who killed 16 civillians.

The situation in Afghanistan is not as it might have been, if the 'Coalition of the Willing' had not taken their eyes off the Afghan ball by turning their attentions to Iraq for a few years.

One consequence of this has been to cause the development of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to be years behind schedule and now given that the withdrawal timetable is 2014, the clock is ticking on whether the ANA will be coherent enough to cope with the Taliban by that date.

In my view, this country is no more and no less safer right now because of the current situation in Afghanistan.

Politicians such as Blair and Cameron have deliberately blurred the distinction between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda for the purpose of domestic consumption, attempting, as always, to shape the views of the public.

This must be pretty desperate death throws from the warmists ideology !

Post 4 revisted :

Politicians such as Blair and Cameron have deliberately blurred the distinction between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and the geography of Afghanistan and Pakistan, for the purpose of domestic consumption, attempting, as always, to shape the views of the public to fit the political decisions that they have taken; in a kind of back-to-front democracy.

"That is not a great thing to have died for" - Jeremy with Hutton et al

"When was the last Al-Qaeda person killed in Afghanistan?"
"Over a year ago." - Jeremy.

Complete waste of lives :(

Susan Watts practicing the art of being a Piers Corbyn " denier " yet again !

:p Wedgwood messed up their workers pensions, so their assets are being sold off.....who's fault is that?

#76uk

Perhaps NATO don't report " enemy dead " in Afghanistan because that's what they did in Vietnam to put a positive propaganda spin on that war the US were forced to eventually retreat ( due to public opinion ) from in relative humiliation ?

Perhaps in response to the recent debacle in Afghanistan - which now jeopardises the security of every soldier in the theatre - Obama should underline the seriousness with which the US views the massacre by firing peanut brain General Odierno who ended up by accident in charge of the US Army and whose judgement is frankly questionable despite the paeans of praise lavished on him by his claque of neo-con supporters led by fake 'Baroness' Emma Sky of Britain whose efforts in implementing the 'COIN' strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq now clearly lie in ruins ...

How on earth does someone like this become head of the US Army?

:p Pottery which isn't selling is more important than the new NHS bill. Nuff said.

Further to post 11: how come the Head of US army didn't spot the phoney baroness? (see comments on website of Pulitzer Prize Winner Tom Ricks):

" OTHER RANKS 1:14 AM ET June 2, 2011 Source of Ms. Sky's peerage?
Tom, this came up the last time you called her Lady Sky. Did she receive a peerage or marry a peer? The only public honours we could come up with listed her as Miss Emma Sky, not a peer. And it's not high enough for her to be Dame Emma, either. So how did she become Baroness Sky?

TOM RICKS 3:09 PM ET June 2, 2011 I checked
A baroness can be called either baroness or lady.
Best,
Tom

OTHER RANKS 8:06 PM ET June 3, 2011 Tom, yes that's correct but
Tom, yes that's correct but how did she become a baroness, a rank of peerage? There's the two ways I mentioned above (marriage or awarded a peerage in her own right) or inherited one. She's listed in the 2008 Birthday Honours as Miss Emma Morgan Sky, so she wasn't a peer then or married. The official British Monarchy Flickr photostream has her investiture picture listed as Miss Emma Sky, uploaded in December 2010. It's unlikely for such a protocol sensitive bunch not to call her Emma Baroness Sky, Baroness Sky, or Lady Sky if she warrants it. The list of life peerages awarded since 1997 doesn't list her either. Was she awarded one "in pectore"?

HIPPOPOTAMAX 9:00 PM ET June 3, 2011 I'd like to second the question
There is no Sky on the official Roll of the Peerage.

Further to post 14 on curious blindspots in the US Army vetting system: why is Tom Ricks describing US General Odierno's British sidekick as a 'Baroness' when Foreign Affairs describes her as 'The Princess of The Marshes"? Can we get some clarity here please? If anyone can just walk on to a plane at Brize Norton and become Governor of Kirkuk after working for The British Council (see Emma Sky's evidence to The Iraq Enquiry chaired by Lord Chilcott recently declassified) is it a surprise that deficiencies in vetting procedures seem to have arisen on Odierno's watch - with this week potentially disastrous consequences for the future of this mission?

afghanistan

if the isi support the taliban and the taliban support AQ then what deduction can we make about who the enemy is? Would the taliban still be an effective force without Pakistan?

Water

why is watering the vegetables to be banned but filling up your swimming pool not? which is more socially useful? Most reservoirs are blocked by the planning system. As for linking it to c02 that is just more of the same madness. No voice against co2 based theory again on bbc?tut tut. no very 'balanced' reporting is it?

Middle class hobbies

Middle class is potty about 'collections' and demand public money to fund their fetish.

JP's Empire

when will the torture end?

@ Jaunty#19 - There is nothing wrong with Jeremy's "Empire" and it certainly is not torture! Most of the ignoramuses haven't got a clue about the history of Britain (too much dumbing down in schools), so this is one way people can learn about what really happened.
:p the pottery thing was just boring. Sorry.

20 haha. sorry 76 to cause you pain:) empire was a missed opportunity imo. could have been something of quality. schools are not places of education but places of attendance ie a child minding service. people will learn more about empire at gresham college or youtube than bbc.

#20 Looks as though there is a lot wrong with empire Mistress, sorry!

Not only the facts but a very lightweight, fluffy, pretty, musical programme altogether!

22 bbc not really about knowledge or even entertainment. apart from social propaganda 'public service' [like co2] these days its just a platform for 'talent' to sell books and dvds from?

History is always open to interpretation. The whole point of learning history in school is not merely to get the opportunity to be told a bed time story. It is about learning the art of debating and forming our own views of historical events using critical thinking. If the chief foreign correspondent at one of the most prestigious newspapers in Britain doesn't get this concept, I don't know what he is doing in his role interpreting current events (and presumably feeding his opinions to the rest of the country) for a living, let alone scolding Paxo for disagreeing with him about Gordon. As a Chinese, I have to say there are materials taught in your history textbooks that I don't agree with, yet you don't see me bi**hing about it on blogs week in and week out.

"Not only the facts but a very lightweight, fluffy, pretty, musical programme altogether!"

Hmm鈥�. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I believe the program that won the viewer's rating this week is called Embarrassing Bodies - so much for the heavyweight appeal to the waistcoat. 锛峗锛峛

bbc can do no wrong for me anyone that can put on George Harrisons excellent documentary gets my vote every time...bravo beeb...