Fitaloon at MicroShaft

Cpl Richard Green and Riflemen Jonathon Allott and Liam Maughan, all of 3 Rifles, died within days of each other. Cpl Stephen Thompson, of 1 Rifles, and L/Cpl Thomas Keogh, of 4 Rifles, both lost their lives on Sunday.

The Bodies of Five fallen soldiers arrived back in the UK today. The BBC has this:

The bodies of five serviceman killed in Afghanistan last week have been flown back to Britain.

They landed at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire where a private service will be held, before a cortege drives them through the nearby town of Wootton Bassett.

Cpl Richard Green and Riflemen Jonathon Allott and Liam Maughan, all of 3 Rifles, died within days of each other.

Cpl Stephen Thompson, of 1 Rifles, and L/Cpl Thomas Keogh, of 4 Rifles, both lost their lives on Sunday.

Hundreds of people are expected to line the streets of Wootton Bassett in tribute.

‘True warrior’

Reading-born Cpl Green, 23, was killed by small arms fire near Sangin in Helmand province on Tuesday.

His commanding officer, Lt Col Nick Kitson, said he was “cut down by a gunman hiding in the shadows” as he stood firm and proud.

He leaves behind his father Chris, mother Eileen, and brother and sister, Daniel and Charlotte.

Rifleman Allott, 19, of Bournemouth, in Dorset, was killed by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) on Friday, also near Sangin.

He had been helping to install a new patrol base, and leaves behind his parents, two sisters and two brothers.

Lt Col Kitson said he was an “inspirational young man” and a “true warrior”.

Rifleman Maughan, 18, who was born in Doncaster, died from gunshot wounds in the same area on Saturday as he watched over his platoon as they spoke with local people.

He leaves behind his parents, girlfriend, and a newborn son he never saw.

His family said: “This cruel and premature departure from us leaves dreams unfulfilled, potentials unrealised and a massive irreparable hole in the lives of everyone who knew him.”

Cpl Thompson, 31, from Bovey Tracey, Devon, who was killed by an IED south of Sangin, leaves behind his mother and father, Carol and Peter, brother, Philip, sisters, Claire and Helen, and his young son, Ewan.

Cpl Ben Hall, of 2 Platoon, said of his colleague: “He was always coming out with one-liners that had us in clip laughing. It was a privilege and an honour to have served and fought side by side with you, mate.”

L/Cpl Keogh, 24, from Paddington, in London, was killed by small arms engagement in Patrol Base Bariolai in Sangin.

His parents, Lawrence and Marion, said they loved and admired their eldest son who loved Army life and lived life to the full.

May they Rest in Peace.

BBC News – Five fallen soldiers back in UK.

Combat Stress appeal: shocking TV advert aims to help raise £30million for traumatised veterans – Telegraph.

Gordon Brown’s statement that the Defence Budget has gone up every year is Fiction. That is the fact. Cathy Newman also describes Brown’s use of  “near cash” terms as “Fiscally Illiterate“.

So during PMQ’s Gordon Brown has uttered yet more Brownies and yet again he will get away with them unless both Cameron and Clegg hammer him again and again at PMQ’s about this.

It is time to get the gloves off and call a Liar a Liar, none of the pissing about, some direct straightforward words that any Tommy, Dick and Harry will understand, no more disingenuous, no more being  economical with the actualité, no more revelation of a totally fissured and dysfunctional government, no more Brownies, call them what they are in reality LIES.

Only then will the public begin to understand what this man has done to Britain, He has turned this one geat nation into Broken Britain, and he wants, by any means, to have Five more years to destroy it totally. He tried to tell us this morning that he wouldn’t let us down, sadly this is yet another of his reworked phrases, he told us this back in 2007 at his first Labour Conference as Prime Minister, and even more sadly he has not just let us down, he has totally bankrupted this Country, to try and say he won’t let us down down  is beyond belief.

This is no time for a Broken and Discredited Prime Minister and his Broken and Discredited Government.

Let’s just look at a it more of what Cathy Newman tell us about Gordon’s Lies:

The analysis
In real terms – i.e. taking account of inflation – Gordon Brown is wrong. Figures given to us by the Ministry of Defence (see table below) show the defence budget fell year-on-year in real terms on four occasions since 1997 when Labour came to power – in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2007.

Worse, the defence budget also fell below 1997 levels (again in real terms) on four occasions – 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

“Near cash”
The MoD says Gordon Brown wasn’t talking about real terms growth, but was instead referring to “near cash” rises in the defence budget. “Near cash” is the simplest form of the military budget, the most basic cash figure – without inflation or depreciation taken into account.

According to the Institute For Fiscal Studies, inflation has to be factored in to make spending comparisons meaningful. So Brown was at the very least playing fast and loose with the figures by ignoring inflation.

Wrong again?
However, Gordon Brown also stated today in the Commons that the “expenditure of the Ministry of Defence has been rising in real terms under this government”. Taking him absolutely literally, “this government” was elected in 2005. But here he is also wrong. As we’ve seen just now, spending fell in real terms in 2007.

FactCheck likes a belt and braces approach, so we called several experts – including Mark Stoker, a military economist at the International Institute For Strategic Studies.

He pointed out NATO also provide accounts on defence budgets, and he reckons these numbers are more accurate.

Still falling
Looking at the NATO figures, the defence budget fell from £34.4bn in 2007 to £32.8bn in 2008.

“If you look at Nato’s figures Gordon Brown’s statement is incorrect,” says Stoker. “Either way, both sets of data indicate that the budget has not risen every year.”

Cathy Newman’s verdict
Defence spending has gone up in “near cash” terms, but it’s fiscally illiterate to use this measure, and the former chancellor knows it. The government is on firmer ground when it points out that the departmental budget is 10 per cent higher this year than in 1997, but FactCheck has established that Gordon Brown’s central claim that the defence budget has gone up every year is fiction.

This is Cathy Newman checking the facts, what she doesn’t mention that these are using figures compared against standard inflation, Sadly Defence Industry Inflation is much higher (5-10%) than normal inflation.

Vote for Change.

via The FactCheck Blog – Brown gets defensive about budgets.

Do listen to this

“Imagine a Tory donor who’d bought a company, run its pension fund into the ground, bought the assets back for pennies in the pound, who became a privy counsellor even though he wasn’t qualified while personally funding the leader’s leadership bid – they (sic) would be a massive story and yet somehow the BBC runs day after day on Lord Ashcroft, who as far as I can see has done nothing wrong, and gives Labour an easy ride. It takes me back to the tales we had of the champagne bottles in 1997 and I’m afraid the BBC remains biased and fails to ask the proper questions of those who are currently in power.”

Source HERE (scroll in 12 mins)

Iain Dale’s Diary: Quote of the Day: Graham Stuart MP on Lord Paul.

BBC Newsnight had this last night on Sangin and how it is a Lethal Cocktail.

Sangin in Afghanistan is the most dangerous place in the world for UK troops, with six UK servicemen being killed there since the beginning of this month. Newsnight’s Mark Urban travelled to Sangin to report on what is happening on the ground and why it is proving so lethal for UK troops.

Among British soldiers in Afghanistan, Sangin has the grimmest reputation. Half of all UK forces casualties occur in this one area of operations, with about one tenth of Britain’s forces in Afghanistan deployed in it.

When the 2nd Battalion of the Rifles finished its tour in Sangin in the late summer of 2009, soldiers spoke about their six-month stint as an epic of hard fighting.

It had certainly been a difficult time, with 22 soldiers killed and dozens seriously wounded.

And while the attention has been on central Helmand and Operation Moshtarak, the losses incurred by the 3 Rifles Battlegroup, the battalion that took over in Sangin last October, have climbed to 27 killed, with around one month of their tour still to serve.

Eight Afghan National Army soldiers have also lost their lives there during the same five month period.

Follow the rest on the link below.

BBC News – Newsnight – Cocktail of ingredients making Sangin so lethal.