Backbone of the Empire

Telegraph Letters, today:

Sir - There is a headstone in the churchyard in Moshi, on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, with the following inscription: "Here lies Col. Gilman. He led a commonsense and therefore happy life. He refused to be bamboozled by female relations or the spiritual and secular rulers of this world, into which he was born without his consent." Thomas Jorgensen, Cambridge

I doubt he was the life and soul of the party, but the Colonel has my respect.

Wounded Soldiers v Nimbyism

You may be aware of the disgraceful behavior of some of the residents near the Army Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court. SSAFA is attempting to provide a house for the visiting families of soldiers who are are being treated, and have run into substantial opposition from residents who are objecting on various selfish and spurious grounds.

Headley Court is the ONLY rehabilitation centre we have - why isn't there one in the North, to make it easier for families from Scotland and the North of England to visit badly injured relatives? - and it has been around for 60 years. Most residents stay months, some of them several years.

The letters of complaint have been sadly predictable: 'additional noise'; 'huge amount of additional traffic'. The families 'would not be welcome', they said, and their arrival could 'destroy the character' of the area.

What a bunch of abject wankers!

Tomorrow is D-Day on the planning appeal. More voices of support for SSAFA are needed, so please take a second to sign the petition to the Prime Minister , which is running in the tens of thousands. There is a campaign website as well.

Please do the necessary, chaps, and pass it on.

For the Love of Dog

Might as well start this blog as I mean to go on, so here is a picture of a brave and noble individual. Let's call him the Idle Dog. I have occasionally been less than kind about other people's dogs; toy dogs, in particular, get short shrift in this household. Cats likewise, but I understand that some people, otherwise quite sane and reliable, go completely to pieces when cats are involved and seem to think that they have some use, when I know that they (cats) view homo sapiens with contempt and defecate in kitchens.

You may say that this post is barely worthy of comment, and you'd be right. I just wanted to see if I could master the method of posting something on my own blog. If you want to say that labradors are a bit thick - well, I already know that.