We do not live in an enjoyable society today. Many would want to echo MacMillan's famous 1950s phrase during his premiership - 'Britain has never had it so good!' Austerity post war Britain was coming to terms with a new social fabric, we were just coming out of post war food rationing and people were buying tellies and a family in every street was beginning to vie for a telephone line as one up on the neighbours.
That is all a long time ago. Double or even treble the lifetime of today's new generation.
It saddens me to see so much in decline by way of standards. In the last year alone I have seen a lowering of standards at such speed that even 2 years ago I would have said was not possible. I deal with elderly clients by and large and it is this that worries me - it is they who seem to be losing the standards.
Shaking hands is now, in just a few months, all but gone even at first meeting in the formerly hallowed precincts of solicitors' offices and other professional institutions.
Now there is an aggression, the like of which I have not seen in 56 years, from people right across the social spectrum.
When I started this 'blog' - I confess I dislike that word immensely - I called it "a very British revolution" after the manner of an important news report a year ago. But I would not have expected to see this revolution turn so ugly so quickly.
People today are spiteful, vengeful and utterly self-seeking. All seem to be enthused, bouyed up or goaded on by that marvellous institution "Thursday Evening Question Time" but for all the wrong reasons. It is no longer a respectable forum of principled debate and argument, censure and calling to account. We saw that certainly last year when it truly came of age over the MPs Expenses Scandal and I am convinced was instrumental in bringing about the timely removal of the then Speaker of the House of Commons.
But today, I watch with dismay the general public tear into respected politicians, leaders and the like with all the diplomatic tact of the playground bully.
And this is reflected everywhere I go. Belligerent, argumentative and thoroughly repugnant behaviour by people who should know better and who should be setting an example.
How strange that we live in a society now where the use of one's surname and the title Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms or Madam or Sir is all but eschewed; or that the use of the term 'sir' is seen as a sign of weakness.
To all who know me I would say this. Do not take my politeness to be weakness.
I never thought I would write this, I who have proudly held the Queen's Commission, the ancient office of Constable and have been a School Governor and now a commissioner for oaths but I am going to say it anyway. I am thoroughly ashamed to be British.
Never in all my long years have I seen on the one hand such good reporting by the media of certain matters, but conversely on the other hand, a general lowering of standards and indeed display of double standards by all aspects of the media generally.
Whether it be the morning Radio 4 Today Programme or the Weekly Radio 4 5pm Today programme, I find at times the cross examination and interrogation regularly employed by the broadcasters, especially on 5pm disgraceful. There is a a smugness about these broadcasters and they are doing this nation, this people, and these islands a grave disservice.
I have always believed that as a people we respond well when our backs are against the wall. It is a national characteristic.
Our young people, or at least a section of them, display incredible courage in fighting a deadly war of insurrection, violence and murder in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places too; I view with alarm the ambivalence of many other young people to just what sacrifices are being made by their peers on their behalf and I find it repugnant to be berated by 18 year old know alls who start talking about our crimes against humanity in the far gone days of empire. They do not know what they are talking about and they have been very badly mistaught by a whole generation or more of teachers who have had their own private agendas.
This decline in standards and lack of respect is seen most starkly in our hospitals throughout the country by the various NHS Primary Care Trusts.
I regularly visit hospitals in my work and I too often come across scruffbags who in fact turn out to be the nursing staffs of acute medic wards. Slovenly, uncaring, contemptuous even of elderly people, especially those who they know are in their last days in this earthly realm. And when the patient breathes his or her last, in some cases it is greeted with shoulder shrug, a couldnt care less attitude and a refusal even to attend to basic nursing duties because apparently such duties are beneath them.
I cannot understand how a hospital can function when it leaves meals stacked up for a patient who is totally unable to feed himself; whose staff show no interest when berated by his daughter and make it clear that it's her job to feed him, not theirs.
All of this is very worrying for in the absence of standards we have the very real danger of people like the BNP gaining a foothold - a factor that should fill all of us with dread.
No. I loved this country and I think I still do. I love this people and these islands. I have many very genuine friends. But I am thoroughly ashamed to be British and I have no doubts that notwithstanding the ability of our armed forces in conflict and war, we the people here at home, would never be able to stand alone again and fight and win a war as we did sixty five years ago. We no longer have the ability and a large swathe of the population has no inclination to even take an interest.
And that starts in the corridors of power, in Whitehall where more than anywhere else apart from our university campuses, we have the policy of dumming everything down.
The wall still stands but the cement in the bricks has gone. Just as we saw a lady's garden drop into the sea last week a week after she had bought an idealic cottage for a song, so too we now watch this island metophorically slip beneath the waves.
I do know many young people though who do give me that glimmer of hope. To all of you I would urge you to seize back the standards, heighten your self-respect and those of the institutions that mean so much to all of you and to many of my own generation. Demonstrate leadership, be positive and insist on the highest standards in everything each of you undertakes, but in all those who either work around you, with you or for you.
Prove to me and to many like me that we are an island people, free and determined, with high principles and a vigour to make our way in this world. The future is in your hands now for, plainly put, my own generation has lost the plot and probably thrown the baby out with the bathwater in its stupid insistance on seeing everything we did as wrong, bad or even worse, as criminal behaviour.
That is my challenge to you all. When I presented that challenge to the young people on my Squadron 20 years ago they rose magnificently to the occasion and we attained heights that even today fill me with pride.
Now I throw that challenge to all of you right across this country in all four nations. Do your best and prove me wrong.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
Liverpool and Blackpool
Friday 26 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
The Greater British Public
It never ceases to amaze me how, in democracies, people decide to exercise their democratic freedoms at the most inopportune time and to the greater detriment of a community of people or even a nation.
It beggars belief that as we enter into the second winter of recession, that the cabin crews of British Airways should, in effect, hold the country to ransom. People do not take to kindly to this. My generation remembers only too well the crippling effect of endless strikes that marred this nation in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s until, that is, Margaret Thatcher entered Downing Street. For all the things that Mrs Thatcher misjudged, we can safely say to Baroness Thatcher today that overall she was the right person, the right leader for that time, for that hour.
I hope that the British Public will let its feelings be known to cabin crews, that whilst we may well sympathise with them, to act in the rather selfish way as we see today, means that we will, if we are not careful, watch the decline of BA as valuable flights and customers are lost to rival airlines.
I do not take kindly to trade union opportunism, the bully boy tactics of the old TUC rearing its ugly head again, and a small group of people causing misery to an entire island.
On the radio this morning, one respondent put it thus: 'cabin crews should remember that they have jobs and be thankful for that; many more are still unemployed and would give anything to swap places.' [sic]
Yes. That hits the nail on the head. For I am mindful of that curious dictum that always pervades. People threaten to walk out, to hold a pistol to one's head unless demands are met, and so on. My own view as a manager over the years has been - 'okay, go on. Walk out. There will be at least half a dozen people waiting to fill your place.'
And do you know? Every time I've ended up with even better people.
So the cabin crews and their up market colleagues in the banking industry should remember this. When I listen to or read the pages of doom and gloom, that if banks are not permitted to pay tax free bonuses to their big earners etc then the earners will leave these shores and will never be able to replace them, then that Churchillian line comes to mind: "Do your worst, and we will do our best!"
The Music Industry is another area that worries me, namely, the loss to which countless musicians, artists, lyricists, performers all over the world are losing income because of pirate recording and illegal downloading.
I guess I feel this on two counts. One because of my friend in New Zealand, a highly accomplished artist and performer who writes incredibly moving music and has a voice that reaches to the soul, and because of my own experience over here of seeing so many authors finding that their work is admired but somehow obtained for free, leaving them out of pocket or even at a loss.
So I earnestly hope that the international community will be able to do something to overcome this problem. If you want to listen to music or read a book and you cannot afford to purchase it, be humble, and join the library near you. Don't just find another way to hack in or pinch ideas from others. Students reading this especially should be aware of how serious the matter is, for in Universities and Colleges the world over, the most grevious act is that of plagiarism. We as a people are doing just the same when we try to download for free, unless of course the owner is inviting us to do so.
It is a great shame that people pinch the ideas of others, or ride roughshod over copyright or even dare to claim that one's work is their own or that some intellectual property owned by A is in fact the property of themselves, B!
Let us remember with solemnity the war we are fighting in Afghanistan. Earlier this week the one hundredth British soldier was killed. Earlier this evening (Tuesday 15 December)two more soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber.
This is a deadly war but one that we can not walk away from.
It saddens me that President Obama saw fit to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. It is not yet deserving of a President so recently in office and yet to prove himself.
Let us move forward together and for those of us who are in employment to count our blessings; to work hard, doubly or even trebly hard to enable this great nation, ie the British People, to overcome the deficit we are in, see an end to the recession and to look confidently to the future.
On last evening's BBC Sports Personality of the Year we watched a pretty amazing programme. Ryan Giggs deserves his Award. Marvel too at just what we have achieved in all sports this year. And what a grand sight the Women's England Cricket Team made in their outfits. Quite something.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
15 December 2009
LIVERPOOL
It beggars belief that as we enter into the second winter of recession, that the cabin crews of British Airways should, in effect, hold the country to ransom. People do not take to kindly to this. My generation remembers only too well the crippling effect of endless strikes that marred this nation in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s until, that is, Margaret Thatcher entered Downing Street. For all the things that Mrs Thatcher misjudged, we can safely say to Baroness Thatcher today that overall she was the right person, the right leader for that time, for that hour.
I hope that the British Public will let its feelings be known to cabin crews, that whilst we may well sympathise with them, to act in the rather selfish way as we see today, means that we will, if we are not careful, watch the decline of BA as valuable flights and customers are lost to rival airlines.
I do not take kindly to trade union opportunism, the bully boy tactics of the old TUC rearing its ugly head again, and a small group of people causing misery to an entire island.
On the radio this morning, one respondent put it thus: 'cabin crews should remember that they have jobs and be thankful for that; many more are still unemployed and would give anything to swap places.' [sic]
Yes. That hits the nail on the head. For I am mindful of that curious dictum that always pervades. People threaten to walk out, to hold a pistol to one's head unless demands are met, and so on. My own view as a manager over the years has been - 'okay, go on. Walk out. There will be at least half a dozen people waiting to fill your place.'
And do you know? Every time I've ended up with even better people.
So the cabin crews and their up market colleagues in the banking industry should remember this. When I listen to or read the pages of doom and gloom, that if banks are not permitted to pay tax free bonuses to their big earners etc then the earners will leave these shores and will never be able to replace them, then that Churchillian line comes to mind: "Do your worst, and we will do our best!"
The Music Industry is another area that worries me, namely, the loss to which countless musicians, artists, lyricists, performers all over the world are losing income because of pirate recording and illegal downloading.
I guess I feel this on two counts. One because of my friend in New Zealand, a highly accomplished artist and performer who writes incredibly moving music and has a voice that reaches to the soul, and because of my own experience over here of seeing so many authors finding that their work is admired but somehow obtained for free, leaving them out of pocket or even at a loss.
So I earnestly hope that the international community will be able to do something to overcome this problem. If you want to listen to music or read a book and you cannot afford to purchase it, be humble, and join the library near you. Don't just find another way to hack in or pinch ideas from others. Students reading this especially should be aware of how serious the matter is, for in Universities and Colleges the world over, the most grevious act is that of plagiarism. We as a people are doing just the same when we try to download for free, unless of course the owner is inviting us to do so.
It is a great shame that people pinch the ideas of others, or ride roughshod over copyright or even dare to claim that one's work is their own or that some intellectual property owned by A is in fact the property of themselves, B!
Let us remember with solemnity the war we are fighting in Afghanistan. Earlier this week the one hundredth British soldier was killed. Earlier this evening (Tuesday 15 December)two more soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber.
This is a deadly war but one that we can not walk away from.
It saddens me that President Obama saw fit to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. It is not yet deserving of a President so recently in office and yet to prove himself.
Let us move forward together and for those of us who are in employment to count our blessings; to work hard, doubly or even trebly hard to enable this great nation, ie the British People, to overcome the deficit we are in, see an end to the recession and to look confidently to the future.
On last evening's BBC Sports Personality of the Year we watched a pretty amazing programme. Ryan Giggs deserves his Award. Marvel too at just what we have achieved in all sports this year. And what a grand sight the Women's England Cricket Team made in their outfits. Quite something.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
15 December 2009
LIVERPOOL
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Austerity Britain
The Conservative Party Conference in Manchester this week is slowly demonstrating its preparation for Government and it will be an interesting period between now and the General Election in May 2010, or sooner if the Prime Minister decided to on an earlier call to the hustings.
The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, is now beginning to prove himself to be shaking off the 'boy wonder' image and to be a politician that TUC leaders are suddenly and reluctantly awakening to the fact that they may be negotiating with him for several years to come.
And his message to all of us is bleak and direct. Austerity. Prosperity has gone, at least for the time being, and many sacrifices are required of us all.
This is set against the backdrop of an increasing number of people who look to make money by criminal activity but deluding themselves into believing that playing the system is perfectly legitimate and correct.
Kenneth T Webb
The Editor
Liverpool CityLife
The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, is now beginning to prove himself to be shaking off the 'boy wonder' image and to be a politician that TUC leaders are suddenly and reluctantly awakening to the fact that they may be negotiating with him for several years to come.
And his message to all of us is bleak and direct. Austerity. Prosperity has gone, at least for the time being, and many sacrifices are required of us all.
This is set against the backdrop of an increasing number of people who look to make money by criminal activity but deluding themselves into believing that playing the system is perfectly legitimate and correct.
Kenneth T Webb
The Editor
Liverpool CityLife
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Do Not Dishearten
When I read the newspapers I am intrigued by the fact that, if I take into account the dire warnings of all the journalists and column writers, whether in the tabloids or the main stream newspapers, then I might as well pack up my bags. Everything is doom and gloom. We are a society falling apart and patriotism is a concept that is quite wrong to advocate today.
So I decide to take a look at the BBC iPlayer recording of that great British institution - the Last Night of the Proms. And frankly, my doubts and uncertainties are removed, and I see that we do after all have the cement in the bricks.
This is not a collection of older generations trying to hang on to yesteryear. This is a people, truly international as evidenced by the mass of national flags so proudly flying,and making it abundantly clear that they are not about to see our institutions crumble or be brought under threat.
And this is an international movement. An international stirring of the public consciousness that says, 'enough and no more. We have had enough. Now we will sort these matters out and we will bring to account those who have, and those who are attempting to bring our lives into misery'.
We have all been through a terrible 'rucking' and many of us have lost everything, but we haven't lost our self-respect nor the will and the determination to fight back, to rebuild, to reconstruct and to create a better life for our families, our loved ones, and to maintain our principles of freedom and justice.
When President FD Roosevelt was first elected to the office of the President of the United States, he gave a most incredible speech that lifted America out of its black wet blanket of defeatism that had become the hallmark of President Hoover's administration as it attempted to cope with the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. Many attributed to FDR an almost messianic status. But within 100 days the President found himself opposed on almost every level as he attempted to introduce swingeing reforms.
So I am not at all surrpised to read that President Obama is now going through a similar phase. It reminds me of my own work. Initial meetings are great. Promises are made and people have their expectations bolstered. But the moment a delay comes that prevents them from receiving a legacy, or in the case of communities, a delay in introducing the promised reforms and financial packages, human nature swings the pendulum again.
That's life and we have to accept that.
We are now into a third generation that has seen discipline at home, family standards and the like, decline. So it is for parents to seize back the initiative and to make sure that children are not spoilt; that they don't receive every single item they crave. It is a problem that is endemic in the UK. It is serious too, for we have the situation now where teachers and even parents are bullied and chastised by children. But if I read the newspapers I would think it was everyone. Not so.
The vociferous minority will always appear to be the silent majority. And that's where the journalists don't always do us a good service. But then again, journalists need their salaries too; and sometimes, in their desire to be sure they have the editor's support and therefore guaranteed income, they will write stark warnings of near catastrophe.
History is one of the most important subjects in any person's development. But we are finding history dropped by age 13 and in many of our state schools, given scant regard. The findings of a report this week are embarrassing. A nation that forgets its history will be a nation that will abuse its freedom and in time turn upon sections of its community.
So to all parents, I would say, fill the gaps that the teachers are bringing about. Never before has there been such an interest in matters of history as we see today throughout the world unless you are the Taliban. The Taliban cannot read or write in large measure and are intimidated by history. Hence their book burning and refusal to allow women to learn to even read or write. But that is another issue.
Here, be proud to teach your children about your Nation, about your family history, about your forebears. I've always loved history and was recently given John, Duke of Marlborough. It is an incredible study for it takes me deeply into the 16th and 17th and 18th centuries with the result that so many unanswered questions are now being resolved.
Whether we be in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, the Americas, north and south, or the European and Asian Continents, seek out all that you can find and teach these to your children. In so doing, you'll bring a richness to the family, to the community and to your Nation.
There are many excellent history teachers but labouring under the stench of political correctness. There are also many other history teachers who still subscribe to teaching dates and places. Don't bother, if you're one of those.
Bring the subject alive. Take your children to the museums and galleries, and ensure that they understand their roots and are proud of those roots.
I leave you with this thought. If you can, try and watch both parts of the Last Night of the Proms on BBC iplayer. Listen to Handel. I tell you what, if there's any taliban supporter who thinks they've got the answers, I ask you to remember that these are the people who've said that all music is satanic, and offence to Allah.
When I asked one such supporter this week ,'What would He say?' he was mortified that I should ask that question. 'Ken, it is not right that you try to give a character and personality to Allah, his name be praised. He is above that.'
Oh for goodness sake, go and ride your bike!!
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
16 September 2009
LIVERPOOL
So I decide to take a look at the BBC iPlayer recording of that great British institution - the Last Night of the Proms. And frankly, my doubts and uncertainties are removed, and I see that we do after all have the cement in the bricks.
This is not a collection of older generations trying to hang on to yesteryear. This is a people, truly international as evidenced by the mass of national flags so proudly flying,and making it abundantly clear that they are not about to see our institutions crumble or be brought under threat.
And this is an international movement. An international stirring of the public consciousness that says, 'enough and no more. We have had enough. Now we will sort these matters out and we will bring to account those who have, and those who are attempting to bring our lives into misery'.
We have all been through a terrible 'rucking' and many of us have lost everything, but we haven't lost our self-respect nor the will and the determination to fight back, to rebuild, to reconstruct and to create a better life for our families, our loved ones, and to maintain our principles of freedom and justice.
When President FD Roosevelt was first elected to the office of the President of the United States, he gave a most incredible speech that lifted America out of its black wet blanket of defeatism that had become the hallmark of President Hoover's administration as it attempted to cope with the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. Many attributed to FDR an almost messianic status. But within 100 days the President found himself opposed on almost every level as he attempted to introduce swingeing reforms.
So I am not at all surrpised to read that President Obama is now going through a similar phase. It reminds me of my own work. Initial meetings are great. Promises are made and people have their expectations bolstered. But the moment a delay comes that prevents them from receiving a legacy, or in the case of communities, a delay in introducing the promised reforms and financial packages, human nature swings the pendulum again.
That's life and we have to accept that.
We are now into a third generation that has seen discipline at home, family standards and the like, decline. So it is for parents to seize back the initiative and to make sure that children are not spoilt; that they don't receive every single item they crave. It is a problem that is endemic in the UK. It is serious too, for we have the situation now where teachers and even parents are bullied and chastised by children. But if I read the newspapers I would think it was everyone. Not so.
The vociferous minority will always appear to be the silent majority. And that's where the journalists don't always do us a good service. But then again, journalists need their salaries too; and sometimes, in their desire to be sure they have the editor's support and therefore guaranteed income, they will write stark warnings of near catastrophe.
History is one of the most important subjects in any person's development. But we are finding history dropped by age 13 and in many of our state schools, given scant regard. The findings of a report this week are embarrassing. A nation that forgets its history will be a nation that will abuse its freedom and in time turn upon sections of its community.
So to all parents, I would say, fill the gaps that the teachers are bringing about. Never before has there been such an interest in matters of history as we see today throughout the world unless you are the Taliban. The Taliban cannot read or write in large measure and are intimidated by history. Hence their book burning and refusal to allow women to learn to even read or write. But that is another issue.
Here, be proud to teach your children about your Nation, about your family history, about your forebears. I've always loved history and was recently given John, Duke of Marlborough. It is an incredible study for it takes me deeply into the 16th and 17th and 18th centuries with the result that so many unanswered questions are now being resolved.
Whether we be in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, the Americas, north and south, or the European and Asian Continents, seek out all that you can find and teach these to your children. In so doing, you'll bring a richness to the family, to the community and to your Nation.
There are many excellent history teachers but labouring under the stench of political correctness. There are also many other history teachers who still subscribe to teaching dates and places. Don't bother, if you're one of those.
Bring the subject alive. Take your children to the museums and galleries, and ensure that they understand their roots and are proud of those roots.
I leave you with this thought. If you can, try and watch both parts of the Last Night of the Proms on BBC iplayer. Listen to Handel. I tell you what, if there's any taliban supporter who thinks they've got the answers, I ask you to remember that these are the people who've said that all music is satanic, and offence to Allah.
When I asked one such supporter this week ,'What would He say?' he was mortified that I should ask that question. 'Ken, it is not right that you try to give a character and personality to Allah, his name be praised. He is above that.'
Oh for goodness sake, go and ride your bike!!
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
16 September 2009
LIVERPOOL
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Negotiate with the Taliban. Are We Mad?!
Last month the Foreign Secretary, so the media reported, suggested that the way forward was to negotiate with the more moderate elements of the Taliban. At the time I found that hard to swallow, especially given the rise in fatalities of those killed in action.
The deaths continue and today's newspapers report a growing desire by the people of Britain to withdraw from Afghanistan, or as the tabloids prefer to report so as to pull on the heart strings and thereby harness popular opinion, "bring our troops home".
I fully understand the desire to do so, and part of me wants to shout from the highest rooftops that we must do this immediately.
But we cannot and should not.
Consider the following extract from Asne Seierstrad's excellent work, 'The Bookseller of Kabul':
I also wore the burka to discover for myself what it is like to be an Afghan woman; what it feels like to squash into the chock-a-block back rows reserved for women, when the rest of the bus is half empty, what it feels like to squeeze into the boot of a taxi because a man is occupying the back seat, what it feels like to be stared at as a tall and attractive burka and receive your first burka-compliment from a man in the street.
How in time I started to hate it. How it pinches the head and causes headaches, how difficult it is to see anything through the grille. How enclosed it is, how little air gets in, how quickly you start to perspire, how all the time you have to be aware of where you are walking because you cannot see your feet, what a lot of dirt it picks up, how dirty it is, how much in the way. How liberated you feel when you get home and take it off.
And consider further:
Any books portraying living things, be they human or animal, were torn from the shelves and tossed on the fire. Yellow pages, innocent postcards, and dried-out covers from old reference books were sacrificed to the flames. Amidst the children round the bonfire stood the foot soldiers of the religious police, carrying whips, long sticks and Khalashnikovs. These men considered anyone who loved pictures or books, sculptures or music, dance, film or free thought enemies of society...The Taliban regarded debate as heresy and doubt as sin. Anything other than Koran-swotting was unnecessary, even dangerous. When the Taliban came to power in Kabul in the autumn of 1996 the ministries were emptied of professionals and replaced by mullahs. From the central bank to the universities - the mullahs controlled everything. Their goal was to re-create a society like the one the Prophet Muhammad had lived in on the Arab peninsula in the seventh century. Even when the Taliban negotiated with foreign oil companies, ignorant mullahs sat around the negotiating table, lacking any technical expertise...They shunned scientific debate, whether conducted in the West or in the Muslim world. Their manifesto was above all a few pathetic arguments about how people should dress or cover themselves, how men should respect the hour of prayer, and women be separated from the rest of society. They were not conversant with the history of Islam or of Afghanistan, and had no interest in either.
In this first decade of the 21st Century, it is frightening to find that religion still brings untold misery to millions of people; death and destruction.
I am proud, immensely proud, of my many Muslim friends, my friends from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India respectively. We have great debates and some of the more strident advocates of strict religious codes seem to overlook the fact that such debate is forbidden in some Islamic regimes, whereas here in the UK, we have a freedom of speech that, as I have said many times before, is an unachievable dream for millions.
We should not take this for granted though.
I am angry and distressed that our troops are losing their lives; but we cannot withdraw. Neither can we negotiate with these benighted people. We have to, and will, defeat them as surely as day follows night.
We at home MUST do all we can to back our troops, and the BBC reports this week are at last concentrating on prime time television in alerting and educating the public.
Seventy years ago we were forced to declare war on an equally evil regime and the price was the loss of 56 million lives over the following six years. But we had to stand and fight and refuse to surrender. Just because the front line is thousands of miles away does not mean that it is less important, vital or crucial to this Nation's survival. The world is a small place. And we must do all we can to safeguard our liberty and thereby give hope to those who can only dream of such liberty.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
LIVERPOOL
12 September 2009
The deaths continue and today's newspapers report a growing desire by the people of Britain to withdraw from Afghanistan, or as the tabloids prefer to report so as to pull on the heart strings and thereby harness popular opinion, "bring our troops home".
I fully understand the desire to do so, and part of me wants to shout from the highest rooftops that we must do this immediately.
But we cannot and should not.
Consider the following extract from Asne Seierstrad's excellent work, 'The Bookseller of Kabul':
I also wore the burka to discover for myself what it is like to be an Afghan woman; what it feels like to squash into the chock-a-block back rows reserved for women, when the rest of the bus is half empty, what it feels like to squeeze into the boot of a taxi because a man is occupying the back seat, what it feels like to be stared at as a tall and attractive burka and receive your first burka-compliment from a man in the street.
How in time I started to hate it. How it pinches the head and causes headaches, how difficult it is to see anything through the grille. How enclosed it is, how little air gets in, how quickly you start to perspire, how all the time you have to be aware of where you are walking because you cannot see your feet, what a lot of dirt it picks up, how dirty it is, how much in the way. How liberated you feel when you get home and take it off.
And consider further:
Any books portraying living things, be they human or animal, were torn from the shelves and tossed on the fire. Yellow pages, innocent postcards, and dried-out covers from old reference books were sacrificed to the flames. Amidst the children round the bonfire stood the foot soldiers of the religious police, carrying whips, long sticks and Khalashnikovs. These men considered anyone who loved pictures or books, sculptures or music, dance, film or free thought enemies of society...The Taliban regarded debate as heresy and doubt as sin. Anything other than Koran-swotting was unnecessary, even dangerous. When the Taliban came to power in Kabul in the autumn of 1996 the ministries were emptied of professionals and replaced by mullahs. From the central bank to the universities - the mullahs controlled everything. Their goal was to re-create a society like the one the Prophet Muhammad had lived in on the Arab peninsula in the seventh century. Even when the Taliban negotiated with foreign oil companies, ignorant mullahs sat around the negotiating table, lacking any technical expertise...They shunned scientific debate, whether conducted in the West or in the Muslim world. Their manifesto was above all a few pathetic arguments about how people should dress or cover themselves, how men should respect the hour of prayer, and women be separated from the rest of society. They were not conversant with the history of Islam or of Afghanistan, and had no interest in either.
In this first decade of the 21st Century, it is frightening to find that religion still brings untold misery to millions of people; death and destruction.
I am proud, immensely proud, of my many Muslim friends, my friends from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India respectively. We have great debates and some of the more strident advocates of strict religious codes seem to overlook the fact that such debate is forbidden in some Islamic regimes, whereas here in the UK, we have a freedom of speech that, as I have said many times before, is an unachievable dream for millions.
We should not take this for granted though.
I am angry and distressed that our troops are losing their lives; but we cannot withdraw. Neither can we negotiate with these benighted people. We have to, and will, defeat them as surely as day follows night.
We at home MUST do all we can to back our troops, and the BBC reports this week are at last concentrating on prime time television in alerting and educating the public.
Seventy years ago we were forced to declare war on an equally evil regime and the price was the loss of 56 million lives over the following six years. But we had to stand and fight and refuse to surrender. Just because the front line is thousands of miles away does not mean that it is less important, vital or crucial to this Nation's survival. The world is a small place. And we must do all we can to safeguard our liberty and thereby give hope to those who can only dream of such liberty.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
LIVERPOOL
12 September 2009
Monday, 17 August 2009
On To a War Footing
A chilling subject title but one that has been stated this weekend by General Lord Guthrie, former Chief of the Defence Staff who has "criticised the Government for not putting the country onto a war footing."
It is indeed a worrying factor when viewing the underlying reasons for that statement. In short, and as we have seen this weekend with yet another four soldiers killed in action, that we are most certainly at war.
For those who seek to draw a comparison with the former Northern Ireland Troubles - stop there. There is no comparison. In the Province we dealt with sectarian violence. In Afghanistan we are dealing with all out war.
Any of our troops will be only too well aware that they are engaged in a war. It is only the people back at home that seem to be unaware.
Nevertheless, there is a stirring amongst sections of the population.
On the one hand, we yearn to bring our troops back, but on the other hand, to do so would be extreme folly.
We have to defeat the Teleban. There is no negotiation with such people.
For those who seek to find a reason to negotiate, I would say this. Go ahead and negotiate all you like. But do not expect me to back a regime and religion that sees its Parliament pass a law this week permitting men to starve their wives should their wives refuse to allow them to have sex with them.
We are of course dealing with different cultures, different approaches to life and different moral standards, and none of us can claim the moral high ground, especially with this evening's BBC Radio 4 news reports of our own direct involvement in acts of rendition, the new buzz word for what my generation calls physical and mental torture.
Regardless of the circumstances, there is no justification for rendition.
I am very concerned but at least the matter is being publicly debated.
That of course is one of the great advantages of the democratic freedom that we, in the UK, take for granted.
Let us therefore persist in our determination to overcome tyranny and to quietly go about reforming Parliament but without any more witch hunts.
Kenneth T Webb
The Editor
Liverpool CityLife
18.8.2009
It is indeed a worrying factor when viewing the underlying reasons for that statement. In short, and as we have seen this weekend with yet another four soldiers killed in action, that we are most certainly at war.
For those who seek to draw a comparison with the former Northern Ireland Troubles - stop there. There is no comparison. In the Province we dealt with sectarian violence. In Afghanistan we are dealing with all out war.
Any of our troops will be only too well aware that they are engaged in a war. It is only the people back at home that seem to be unaware.
Nevertheless, there is a stirring amongst sections of the population.
On the one hand, we yearn to bring our troops back, but on the other hand, to do so would be extreme folly.
We have to defeat the Teleban. There is no negotiation with such people.
For those who seek to find a reason to negotiate, I would say this. Go ahead and negotiate all you like. But do not expect me to back a regime and religion that sees its Parliament pass a law this week permitting men to starve their wives should their wives refuse to allow them to have sex with them.
We are of course dealing with different cultures, different approaches to life and different moral standards, and none of us can claim the moral high ground, especially with this evening's BBC Radio 4 news reports of our own direct involvement in acts of rendition, the new buzz word for what my generation calls physical and mental torture.
Regardless of the circumstances, there is no justification for rendition.
I am very concerned but at least the matter is being publicly debated.
That of course is one of the great advantages of the democratic freedom that we, in the UK, take for granted.
Let us therefore persist in our determination to overcome tyranny and to quietly go about reforming Parliament but without any more witch hunts.
Kenneth T Webb
The Editor
Liverpool CityLife
18.8.2009
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Where has Diplomacy, Tact and Respect Gone?
This weekend we have seen the Duchess of York vilified during a BBC radio Interview and to such an extent that Her Grace has, quite understandably, served notice that she will not venture to work again with British Television.
That is appalling. Entering one of the most notorious estates in Manchester was always going to bring criticism from some, but it saddens me that the general public reach for the text message or that dreaded send button to the BBC and despatch unkind words written in the heat of the moment, or use the phone in to speak a load of self-righteous bumpf that is clearly giving them an ego trip. I do not like people like that. They are false.
I for one am proud of the work that the Duchess of York undertakes, and I am ashamed of my peers.
There is far too much familiarity in society. We certainly do not want to return to the old days; but we do need respectability, diplomacy and tact. These were once taught ordinarily in our schools and through our parents. They are the cement in the bricks.
Sadly these barely exist in some sections of the population.
I was in Preston this week and found it summed up in a young overweight over-indulgant constable with his hands in his pockets chewing gum and leaning up against the wall by the Debenhams entrance. That says it all. A scruff bag and it made me feel ashamed to be a member of the National Association of Retired Police Officers.
In today's leading articles are we over-reacting to the revelation that the leader of the Conservative Party has been taking advantage of flights from prominent business people?
Are we slipping into a McCarthyite style witch-hunt?
I sincerely hope not. For we are losing sight of what we are about and we have got troops out in Afghanistan sacrificing everything for us.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
That is appalling. Entering one of the most notorious estates in Manchester was always going to bring criticism from some, but it saddens me that the general public reach for the text message or that dreaded send button to the BBC and despatch unkind words written in the heat of the moment, or use the phone in to speak a load of self-righteous bumpf that is clearly giving them an ego trip. I do not like people like that. They are false.
I for one am proud of the work that the Duchess of York undertakes, and I am ashamed of my peers.
There is far too much familiarity in society. We certainly do not want to return to the old days; but we do need respectability, diplomacy and tact. These were once taught ordinarily in our schools and through our parents. They are the cement in the bricks.
Sadly these barely exist in some sections of the population.
I was in Preston this week and found it summed up in a young overweight over-indulgant constable with his hands in his pockets chewing gum and leaning up against the wall by the Debenhams entrance. That says it all. A scruff bag and it made me feel ashamed to be a member of the National Association of Retired Police Officers.
In today's leading articles are we over-reacting to the revelation that the leader of the Conservative Party has been taking advantage of flights from prominent business people?
Are we slipping into a McCarthyite style witch-hunt?
I sincerely hope not. For we are losing sight of what we are about and we have got troops out in Afghanistan sacrificing everything for us.
Kenneth T Webb
Editor
Liverpool CityLife
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