Crimea – the Facts
It’s pretty obvious that not many people understand the facts of this Crimean crisis. Our ‘expert’ foreign correspondents are either being bulldozed into writing nonsense by their sensation-seeking editors, or are as naïve and...
Hugh McManners Blog
Can Obama really be so ignorant?
Obama’s silly talk of intervention in Crimea, and Kerry’s blatherings in Kiev are so ignorant that one wonders if there’s some hidden and terribly clever agenda that will emerge later. Sadly I...
A Wateringhole in the Storm
I’ve been posting SITREPs for a bar restaurant The Watering Hole on the beach at Perranporth, as terrible storms and high tides assail the West Country; while at the same time my son Will...
The MoD Really Must Start Caring for its People – NOW
The MoD have always been unwilling to acknowledge that military service can have adverse effects on people. Their preferred message follows those pumped out by military recruitment campaigns: “Be the Best”, “thousands of jobs...
How Do We Win the Afghan War?
Deciding when you’ve won a battle is hard enough. Once upon a time, this was decided by Heralds from both sides, who argued it out then the combatants’ leaders agreed to the decision. If...
Neuroscience, Memory and Art
Neuroscience frightens me. Thinking about the processes within the 3.5lb lumps of tofu that allow us to think about ourselves is to question the reality of our flickering self-awareness. It makes me feel vertiginous,...
How to deal with Stalkers, Muggers & Road Ragers
Being followed isn’t nice no matter who you are – and can be the beginning of a crime in which you are the victim. You have to trust your instincts in deciding if this...
“Marine A”: are we too flakey with liberal confusion to support our own people?
So, in Sergeant Alexander Blackman’s ill-fated, video’d patrol, what was going on? Sadly all we know about now, after much investigation and even more nonsense in the media and blogosphere, are the defensive posturings...
Sergeant A – headcams and the Snuff Movie defence
One worst-case possibility in the “Sergeant A” Afghanistan murder trial, is that the patrol were trying to make a snuff movie. The puerile taped dialogue sounds that way. But that’s looking at it from...
Security Forces’ “Crimes” in Northern Ireland
What are now regarded as crimes in Northern Ireland, used to be, not very long ago, considered acts of heroism, resistance to tyranny and patriotism. Songs were written about them, Guinness and Bushmills drunk,...
