Afghanistan
I have just returned from a visit to Helmand province in Afghanistan. There were about 15 members of both Lords and Commons and it was a very interesting and useful visit. The schedule was a demanding...
View ArticleText of a Letter to the times – August 2009
Throughout the holidays the British media, perhaps for lack of other emotive news, have been focusing on British military casualties in Afghanistan in an almost morbid way. In previous major wars such...
View ArticleBlogging Peer goes AWOL
Those with military experience will know that AWOL = absent without leave! I did have some leave but I can’t claim that I did my duty as well as some other Peers who blogged from holiday and home and...
View ArticleWar memorials – ways of remembering
There was a debate on defence issues on Friday inevitably dominated by Afghanistan but it went wider than that. I referred to the importance for our troops of ensuring that we did not try and score...
View ArticleFinancial Assistance and Afghanistan
In a previous blog I banged on about Afghanistan – but noted that, as before, this is not a topic of great interest to the world of bloggers. It seems that what really turns you on are finer points of...
View ArticleDevelopment and NGO’s
The sad news of the death of Dr Woo and her colleagues comes at the same time as the news that a UK policeman has been shot and killed in Afghanistan. In many ways this goes to the heart of the problem...
View ArticleLinda Norgrove
I don’t think I will be the only person who would like to express admiration for Linda Norgrove and her parents John and Lorna. Linda Norgrove’s untimely death in Afghanistan needs no elaboration but...
View ArticlePoppies and their meaning
November 11th, Armistice Day was always a special day when I was a child because it is my Mother’s birthday. She was 5 when the Great War ended; one of her earliest memories is of her Mother’s joy at...
View ArticleWomen in Afghanistan
There is a very serious and thoughtful article here which anyone interested in womens rights and Afghanistan should read....
View ArticleResettlement of Afghan Interpreters
I asked HMG whether they will accelerate the conclusion of requests for resettlement by Afghan interpreters and other personnel employed by the UK, either by offering refugee states in the UK, or by...
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