Thought someone might like to pick up on this little "Tit Bit" in the Mail on Sunday today.......
"Tetchy Tony Blair refused to speak to ITV Reporter Angus Walker on his tour of Australia and the Far East after Walker speculated on air about about the P.M's Future.....During a trip to a War Memorial in Canberra.....wait for it...... " WHEN YOU RESPECT THE WAR DEAD, WE'LL SPEAK TO YOU..... DOWNING STTREET SPIN DOCTOOR, TOM KELLY TOLD WALKER.......Hows That For Hyprocricy.........
Terry Revell....Naval G.S.M. Plus Borneo and Malaya Clasp.....

revellt wrote:

Thought someone might like to pick up on this little "Tit Bit" in the Mail on Sunday today.......
"Tetchy Tony Blair refused to speak to ITV Reporter Angus Walker on his tour of Australia and the Far East after Walker speculated on air about about the P.M's Future.....During a trip to a War Memorial in Canberra.....wait for it...... " WHEN YOU RESPECT THE WAR DEAD, WE'LL SPEAK TO YOU..... DOWNING STTREET SPIN DOCTOOR, TOM KELLY TOLD WALKER.......Hows That For Hyprocricy.........
Terry Revell....Naval G.S.M. Plus Borneo and Malaya Clasp.....

Thanks, revellt, for spotting that and sharing another of HMG’s less honourable moments with us.

I was struck dumb by their spin and two-facedness …

… temporarily!

Where’s me quill ….!


_________________
BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia

Found it (my quill, I mean ...) !

We often discuss the techie issues surrounding the PJM, but I think there is another aspect that the HD Committee and the Government (especially the MoD) would do well to take on board. Medals not only reward, they encourage. To deny a medal well earned serves only to discourage.

“Everybody hates a human hog. When one of your men has accomplished an especially creditable piece of work see that he gets the proper reward. Turn heaven and earth upside down to get it for him. Don’t try to take it away from him and hog it for yourself. You may do this and get away with it, but you have lost the respect and loyalty of your men. Sooner or later your brother officer will hear of it and shun you like a leper. In war there is glory enough for all. Give the man under you his due. The man who always takes and never gives is not a leader. He is a parasite”

Many of us will recognise the source for the extract. It is from one of the most highly respected adresses, on the soldier's analysis of how to be a leader, given by Major C A Bach to student officers in 1917. It is as true today as it was then.

It tells us why the HD Committee and certain members of HMG have never successfully led men, and could never successfully do so.

For what they have done, and until they have the humility to rectify the error, I consign them to the spin-bin marked "Parasites".


_________________
BarryF, who fought for the Right to Wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia

Attached is the response that I got today from Tony Blair's office. I had written to him because his earlier letter to me, from a flunky, said that they had passed my letter on to the MoD as it was their business. I pointed out the error of their ways and so they have sent this one to the Cabinet Office. Big deal and whoopee! So that's another letter that disappears into the ether. Still, at least I have helped to educate the drones at 10 Downing Street in the ways in which their system is supposed to work.



R SMITH





10 DOWNING SThEET
LONDON SW1A 2AA
From the Direct Communications Unit 2 May 2006




Mr Gerald Law
6 Knole Close
Crabbet Park
Worth
Crawley
West Sussex
RH1O 7GA



Dear Mr Law

The Prime Minister has asked me to thank you for your recent letter.


Mr Blair receives many thousands of letters each week. He would like to reply to all letters
personally, however, as I am sure you will appreciate his many other duties makes this
impossible.

Mr Blair appreciates the time that people take to write to him, but he must delegate to his
staff and Government Departments the responsibility for dealing with many of them. It was
for this reason that your previous letter was forwarded to the Department concerned.

I have forwarded your latest letter to the Cabinet Office so that they, too, are aware of your
continued concerns and can send you any further comments they may have direct.



Yours sincerely
[/u][/b]


_________________
Gerald Law (ex RAF Borneo Veteran)

Go pin your medals on be proud, they're yours to wear,

Roll your shoulders back a bit and let the youngsters stare,

They are yours by right of war. By service to the Crown,

They are symbols that you did not let the side down,

Wear them proudly on your chest and let all who will deride,

They are yours by right of war SO CARRY THEM WITH PRIDE.

Last night on TV News, the PM said that the Parliamentary Labour Party has to remember that it the electorate who are their bosses. I couldn't let that chance pass me by so here goes another snail mail.


Subject: Our Bosses
Dear Prime Minister

I listened with interest to your broadcast on television last night in which you stressed that your Parliamentary colleagues must remember that the electorate are their bosses. I could not agree more. The whole fundamental basis of any true democracy lies in the fact that those who are elected are elected to serve.

But there are some 35 000 of those bosses whose wishes and rights are being ignored by a system that is far from democratic. I refer to the British Malaya and Borneo veterans who were recently awarded the Pingat Jasa Malaysia by a grateful Malaysian King and government. HMG recommended that the medal could be accepted by the veterans but they would not be permitted to wear it. This is clearly a travesty of common sense. It also makes a lie of the stated principle that the people are the bosses. In all of my employments over a period approaching half a century, if 35 000 of my bosses had given me instructions, I would ignore them at my peril.

In August we celebrate the 49th Anniversary of Merdeka (Malaysian Independence) and the 40th Anniversary of the end of Confrontation, which effectively saw the end of the conflict that had run for 18 years. This is an ideal time to honour those veterans and there would be no better way of showing that honour than by rescinding the decision to forbid the wearing of this medal. It was recently announced that next year there will be events to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict. How do you think the Malaya/Borneo veterans feel when they see that one conflict is feted whilst they are not only ignored but also are deprived of one last bit of recognition as they advance into their twilight years.


_________________
Gerald Law (ex RAF Borneo Veteran)

Well said Gerry, and needed to be said again!


_________________
--------------------------------------------------------------
HD Committee: Amateurs in a Professional World
---------------------------------------------------------------