How is it possible, after all the investment in money and lives creating a modern democracy on broadly western Christian principles, supported by large and very well trained and equipped defence and police forces, for the entire structure of state to collapse in days, allowing control of the whole country to fall to the Taliban? […]
The failure to understand the illusory nature of the so called government and supporting institutions in Afghanistan is now snowballing into a crisis engulfing both the governments of the US and the UK. You cannot build a secure state with corrupt police, armed forces, government at the very top and down through public administration at […]
As I write this, the breaking news is the Taliban are entering Kabul from all sides under orders not to provoke violence. No resistance is being offered by the security forces. From the day that the West, led by the US but including NATO, sent ground troops into Afghanistan, the mission was doomed to fail. […]
The problem with the economics of the Tory party is that they are based on house price inflation, without which they seem to flounder about what to do. Rishi Sunak showed promise earlier in the pandemic with his lavish support packages to keep the basics going and promised that the government would invest its way […]
Freedom is an obvious word and we all know what it means. Or do we? Certainly it does not mean freedom to harm others by action or negligence. Freedom is not impaired by being required not to drink and drive, not to smoke in public places, nor to hazard other people’s lives by some deliberate […]
Obviously its detractors will say definitely NO. But its supporters, ever more nervous at currents trends in both the political leadership and the surging pandemic, are becoming themselves uncertain. And it is not just about the reckless Freedom Day fiasco. It is about economic recovery, how it will be financed and how that will impact […]
Not directly in the overt sense, but in its general commentary it has nodded through attitudes and views which previous governments would have called out. The government depends on far right votes which would have gone to Farage and his continuously reconstituting political factions, best known as UKIP. These votes were critical for Brexit. They […]
There was something inevitable about Sunday. Everyone confident of an England win. A goal in less than two minutes. The stuff of victory surely? But enter the challenge of penalties. Then tears. Yet that is not the end of the story. It is a chapter on the road of national recovery in England’s place international […]
Originally published in 2014 under my own name, this re-edited and updated version is a page turner with no dull moments or word padding. A cast of colourful and engaging characters bring history to life in a volatile present. Murder and intrigue on an international scale.
Early on, after the intervention to disable the Al Qaeda terrorist base, I pointed out that no country had ever successfully occupied, governed or conquered this spectacular region known in Empire days as the North West Frontier. Even the Russians had left. So if we went in it would end in failure. The Taliban, formerly […]