If a "tiny amount of cannabis" is found in the home of a serving soldier we all know the consequences will be pretty severe. Does the same apply to Defence Secretaries? Or will we be treated to the usual New Labour spin and double standards? Silly question really...
UPDATE: 11.53am Apparently the Police are taking no action and say that the cannabis resin could have been there for years and was in the "guest area" of the house. Can anyone in the military tell me what action would be taken against a Squaddie who found himself in the same situation?
UPDATE: 12.35pm Book Value makes a very interesting point on PoliticalBetting.com. He says: "But hang on. A “standard sweep” is surely a regular procedure. So why would you conclude that if the drugs weren’t found on the previous sweep, they were “there before Mr Reid moved in”?"
3 comments:
"When I"
A phrase much loved by all ex soldiers, so here we go
When I was in the Army , possesion of any drug meant instant dismissal, in fact some soldiers used to use that to their advantage if they decided they wanted to leave before their time was up, leave some cannabis in a locker, quick anonymous tip off to the regimental police and hey presto civvy street!
Now all it leads to is a caution
There is much talk of squadies here and rightly so since they are the poor sods who make up the numbers when there's shot and shell raining down. But there is another service principle that needs to be followed: what's good for the troops goes doubly so for the officers.
In return for the nicer messes, better pay etc. officers are expected to show more courage, fortitude and discipline than the men they command. Failure to do so brings rapid punishment.
Surely if that principle holds for serving officers it should also hold for the political leader of the armed services. Or are politicians such self serving, duplicitous bastards that they think they can wriggle out of obligations like that and still maintain the respect of the men whose destinies they control?
Where, oh fucking where, are the opposition? Labour keeps shooting itself in the foot (whether by accident or design, I neither know nor care). And the press are finally doing their job and publicising the fuckups. All we need now is a coordinated attack by Tory and LibDem troops.
I'll bet the grunts are tooled up and eager to go, but I suspect the officer corps is sitting in a dugout pontificating about how beastly punch and judy politics is and how gentlemen wouldn't stoop so low.
Well, DC, I've got news for you. You're not a gentleman, you're a sodding politician and leader of her Majesty's Opposition. We, the punters, pay you to get out there and engage in some serious, ass kicking punch and judy politics. Go and earn your bloody wages.
RM
Seems like the quality of the security sweeps is on a par with the quality of record keeping at the Home Office. How VERY convenient.
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