Words fail me . . .

I've had this from two seperate old soldiers so far, it seems to be getting around.

It looks like the Government don't want the British public demoralised by the sight of coffins coming out of Brize.

Read from the link and sign the petition lads.

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/774

brum

Heard about that last week Brum..There was a lame excuse that any repatriations would interfere with market day at some towns...Petition signed

Petition signed ..

Len (Ciphers)

petition signed
reg

Signed Brum
Jerry

No disrespect meant to anyone but surely petitions should go directly to the Government on the official petition site? I am assuming that you can still directly petition since this lot got in power?

I am always wary of "private" petition sites and what they do with my information. A bit paranoid I know but kept me safe so far.

I don't really know why anyone is surprised by a Tory Government doing this. Remember post Falklands and the wounded lads having to be kept at the back of the Cathedral out of sight?

I will email my MP instead if you don't mind.

This is actually a much more effective route than on-line petitions which, like Teabag, I have some uneasy suspicions about.

Having worked for many years in the non-profit sector, and dealt with MPs and such as well as presented before a Parliamentary Committee, I agree with him....go through the official channels to lodge your dissatisfaction. Whether it changes anything, maybe maybe not, but MPs will present petitions in the House of Commons and it goes from there. It at least gets on the radar, whereas 'private petitions'....unless done in person and then given to one's MP, tend to not go anywhere but off into the ether, especially on-line ones.

Letters to the editor as well. MPs and bureaucrats absolutely pay attention to what's in the media and, if enough outrage is generated, go to 'damage control' which can often result in a reversal of the original stance.

Even organizing an email campaign can be effective....a bit hairy for the MPs staff dealing with hundreds of emails and faxes coming at them, but oh well....(shrug). Such campaigns are hard to ignore and MPs do so at their peril.

Phoning the constituency office is good too....records of such calls are usually kept and passed on to the MP.

And letters, emails, faxes to any other gov't agency involved in this are also effective. CC everything to your MP.

Above all, keep it professional and courteous. Emotional isn't a bad thing, but keep it as civil and calm as possible, yet pointed and direct. You don't want to come off as some rager, some lunatic, ranting and raving and carrying on (not that any of you would...I'm just saying!) and keep it to no more than 2 pages at most....one is better. MPs and their staff simply will not read anything that is too long.

Hope that helps.

Teabag wrote:

I don't really know why anyone is surprised by a Tory Government doing this. Remember post Falklands and the wounded lads having to be kept at the back of the Cathedral out of sight?

I will email my MP instead if you don't mind.

It's a free country mate, long may it remain so.

Quote :

It's a free country mate, long may it remain so.

If only??

brum wrote:

It's a free country mate, long may it remain so.

Which country is that then?

Signed the petition before reading the stuff from Teabag et al. Will write to my MP as well.

I signed it lads.

back from annual leave and was mortified when I read this so I too have signed the petition. a protest rally is what we need

F**k a rally,let`s have a revolution

Oh dear . . . the bugger's been at the Brasso again !

I simply do not understand the civilian mindset sometimes when it comes to 'their' military. Certainly noticed it when I was a full-fledged Army Brat -- and you should have heard Dear Old Mum go on about civvies when she was an Army Wife! -- at best, taken for granted and at worst stuff like this gets pulled.

Over here, after losing something like 173 of our guys in AF with a few of them from Calgary, we had this whole controversy about whether to lower the flag in front of City Hall to half-staff! I couldn't believe we were even having the conversation....how could one NOT lower it out of respect and honour? But our Mayor at the time was pretty steadfast in his position of not lowering it, even trouting out the old bit of red herring about 'if we do it for them, we have to do it for everybody'. Pure crap. Public opinion finally forced him to do the right thing and lower the flag.

More recently, our esteemed ( ) City Council got all tied up in a debate over whether or not to have Support Our Troops decals, a yellow ribbon thing, on City vehicles. It wouldn't even have involved any money (unlike some of their projects!) as the decals were donated. Oh no, can't be doing that....we might face a human rights complaint from a city worker who disagreed with the troops being there to begin with!!! Meh....

It has been pointed out to the morons over and over that the decals aren't pro-war, or anti-Afghanistan or what-have-you; they are all about supporting our troops. Period. Whatever one's political view may be about having, in our case, Canadian troops fighting in what some could well argue is an internal conflict within Afghanistan (not saying I see it that way... necessarily...) is one thing. I think one could be totally anti-involvement and STILL sport a Support Our Troops decal.

But that sort of petty bickering pales in comparison to hiding the return of those soldiers who died over there or, and I nearly dropped my teeth when I read it, having wounded military sit at the back of the cathedral, out of the way of viewing and the TV cameras, at a service following the Falklands!!! It speaks to the professionalism and integrity of those wounded men that they didn't growl "Sod it!" and create a major scene. Can't say if it was me in that situation that I'd have not done so! Guess that's why I was never in the Army LOL Never did do well with doing as I was told.....

I sincerely hope your newspapers over there...the muckrakers as well as the tonier ones....are going after this full-hog! They damn well should!!!

Gordon. wrote:

F**k a rally,let`s have a revolution

"come the day " who will be first up against the wall

Isn't the Calgary Mayor a suspected 'gay' muslim ? so good luck with him.
atb
pinky
ps.no offense guys........just an observation !!

That`s a very interesting observation Pinky. No virgins for him when he passes over

Gordon. wrote:

That`s a very interesting observation Pinky. No virgins for him when he passes over

Might get gay virgins?

Sing if you're glad to be gay, sing if you're happy that way!

The current Mayor of Calgary is Muslim, yes....at the time of his recent election he was still living at home with Mom and Dad. Bit of a geek.

Whether or not he's also gay....hmmmmm....I happen to think so, but there's been no speculation in local media....but there are clues. His campaign was termed The Purple Revolution and his campaign colours were purple. Odd. But he's also under-40, very in tune with social media such as Facebook and Twitter and such so he definitely resonated with younger voters.

How devout a Muslim he is, I have no idea! I suspect Mom and Dad are observant but I am not sure Naheed Nenshi is. His family is Ismaili Muslim....so not "mainstream" Muslim. Tanzanian by origin (Pakistani, originally, I think).

In an interview with the Toronto Star he had this to say about any rumours regarding his orientation:

“When you’re 38 years old and single and this darn good looking, people do ask that question to themselves. No one has the guts to ask me directly,” Nenshi said after the Star asked him whether he was gay and whether it matters. “I would love to have this appear in print. For the record, the answer is no if people care and no it doesn’t matter. This election has proven these sort of things don’t matter. People want to know my ideas.”

He has a sense of humour....he's not ugly, but he is a pudgy little brown guy and not what I would call "this darn good looking"!!

Note he said "no if people care and no it doesn't matter..." he didn't say definitively if he was or wasn't....a bit evasive on that!

And, yes, he has agreed to be Grand Marshal for the 2010 Pride Parade, but that's really neither here nor there. Lots of 'gay-supportive' public figures have been asked and many have agreed to attend, be involved and even serve as Grand Marshal....it has no bearing on what his orientation may be.

Gordon. wrote:

F**k a rally,let`s have a revolution

LOOKS LIKE THE BLOODY REVOLUTION HAS STARTED D

Speaking of revolutions....what the hell is going on in Tottingham???

Didn't get much info on the original shooting etc. but there's a fair amount of coverage re the riots and burning....reminds me of Watts and the mayhem of American inner cities back in the 60s! The Race Riots.

Quote :

Gordon. wrote:
F**k a rally,let`s have a revolution


LOOKS LIKE THE BLOODY REVOLUTION HAS STARTED D

The revolution has started, what is going on there you blokes? The natives are restless in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol.

The coppers got caught by suprise.

Call out the Special Air Service and the Army Catering Corps, to give the 'boys in blue' a hand in
eradicating this mob violence, for that is what it is.

Be like the Yanks, they shoot looters.