herfiehandbag

Avast behind me hearties! Whilst entertained by the discussion of matelot etymology, are we agreed that the aim of the operation is to recover a variety of high tech bangsticks from this LGB ( large grey boat) before Fu Man Chu and his gang get their paws on them? Speaking as a simple soldier...

The definition of "war crimes" has become politicised, and has become infinitely elastic. Basically in this context it means anything and everything which Israel does to defend itself.

What a pathetic state to have ended up in, when the Prime Minister no less is reduced to "urging" the heads of the Police Force to do one of their most fundamental roles, protecting the countries democratic institutions and processes!

On the one hand that was quite witty, on the other hand it may show they you are expecting some entertaining salacious testimony; both hands are remarkably small by the way!

It cannot be. 'Tis an entirely benign and harmless substance. All the people who use it say so...

Pipoppinyo, Wongsuwan, or the heffalumps?

Good. When they finally start paying mine ( only three months late - was due December last year) I shall think about changing to that.

Can you have your UK state pension paid into a Wise account?

"Pooh bahs", the very word I have long been searching for so long to describe these characters. Thank you!

Just about any gun down to 155 mm calibre is capable of firing a nuclear shell. The American M109 system, which was then (1980s) and is now (in a heavily modified form) the Wests standard field artillery pieces was nuclear capable. We (USA and UK) also had the M107 175mm long range gun and the M110 8 inch (240mm) howitzer - a venerable weapon but you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of its shells! These two, plus the Lance battlefield missile system were the core of the battlefield nuclear arsenal. As for BAOR, 5 minutes was perhaps a touch over the top. Certainly it's survival in all out battle with the Warsaw Pact could probably be reckoned in days rather than weeks. We had 4 Armoured Divisions. 1 2 and 3 Divs forming the main line of defence, 4 Div forming a screen force, which would then withdraw through the main FEBA divisions to regroup as a counterattack force. We never really thought about that, there wouldn't have been enough of it left. Then of course we had the TA, whose battalions were supposed to move around the armoured battlefield on foot with rifle and pack. Not really an act of war! The nuclear option would have been called for when we (NATO) had been pushed back to, probably, the Rhine, if not at one of the earlier critical lines. One of the big problems is that a defensive battle has the greatest chance of succeeding when fought in depth. The West Germans, not surprisingly, wanted it fought as far forward as possible. We used to joke that if you looked at their map stores they had nothing west of a line Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel, but everything you needed to take yourself to Warsaw and beyond!

They went into Syria. The actual intelligence thinking that led to suspecting Saddam's regime had Chemical and Biological Weapons was not at all far fetched. I don't want to comment on the political shenanigans which seized on that view and ran with it. We know that he had used them (nerve agents and mustard gas) against the Kurds and other dissident groups. They are not particularly difficult to manufacture - if your industrial base is capable of making fly spray then it is capable of making nerve agent - that is what fly spray is, in a very mild form. We used to use it to test our detectors. Likewise Biological agents. The problem comes with delivery - his air force was comprehensively buggered, and he had no way of getting it to the target. Once the US Patriot system had got the measure of his old Scuds then the only remaining option for dumping it on his enemies was gone. He got rid of what he had rather than be caught with it.

Or me - I rather like her! "Will you still love me tomorrow"! I am sure she was thinking of me, in the video she looked straight at me; I shall now go and lie down in a darkened room!

Well, the young chap is a Tik Tokker so... No matter, another stunning own goal for Amazing Thailand. What a surprise to find the local authority and the police in the mix!

Singapore won out over Thailand in the competition to host Taylor Swift's tour because the infrastructure is better and the culture less patriarchal, and less corrupt. No queues of influential people, who it appears are (unlikely) long term Swifties expecting to be photographed with her, better performance venue, cleaner environment ( actually important - the "Swiftie" phenomenon is squeaky clean) no impromptu Police "clampdowns" raising cash from young fans. All the way down the list to taxis with meters which work! If you want to put the country where it is influencing with "soft power" then clean up your act both physically and metaphorically, and lose the grim faced goons in uniforms and big hats, straight out of "central casting"!

Tactical nuclear weapons ( small nukes) were always the NATO option in the Cold War scenario when their conventional forces had been overwhelmed. We always wondered on which river/canal line or feature they would have been used on, Weser, Paderborn gap, almost certainly the Rhine; if the Russians had come ( "When Ivan comes over the IGB..") Russian policy is exactly the same. Perhaps they are likely to go nuclear earlier.

Yes, they have broken the Presidency, they have broken the House of Representatives and now they will have the opportunity to wreck the Senate.

When the (then) new rifle was brought into service in the army back in the 90s, it was known to the troops as the " civil servant"; it didn't work and couldn't be fired!

I'm invariably in bed by 10.00pm, unless on one of my rare nights of minor debauchery. My sleep is usually interrupted during the night by my 4 dogs coming in to check on me. I have tried locking them out of the room but the cacophony of whining, crying and scratching is unending. Awake by 6, at 7 my black and white hairy alarm clock bullies me into getting up. I compensate by now taking a nap in the afternoon. It is a pattern which seems to work for me. I don't take any vitamins or supplements, I have heard that ginseng helps as you age - any suggestions?

Frankly it has the "perhaps less intelligent community" (including myself) somewhat on edge. If he becomes President I suspect that it will result in a United States of America which simply will not be trusted by much of the word. For some of the later part of my long (if inglorious) military career I worked closely, at times very closely, with US forces. What was noticeable if you thought about it then, and in retrospect is much clearer, is that whilst they pushed for complete access to the "chain of command" within their allies, they were reluctant to open themselves in the same way to their allies. With Trump in charge I suspect that will become much more evident.

The rough sea hatches are only effective if they are maintained, and used. Maintenance and seamanship. Both fundamentals which may have effected the swamping.

Must save you an awful lot of time! 😉

It seems rather pointless. I drink from a glass; if people are drinking from a bottle ( which personally I dislike) then more often than not it is covered by one of those polystyrene foam sleeve things. Still, I suppose it will give more opportunities for people to march around telling others what they should or should not be doing!

I doubt that " getting out" was an option once she had arrived in her foolishly imagined "Shangri La"! Nor, I suspect was unrestricted or unsupervised access to Email. We could argue for ever about the court decisions, but she has not had the opportunity to appear before the courts. There was no judicial involvement or process to strip her citizenship, rather a snap decision by the Home Secretary.

Civies now.

My daughter was born in July 2005