I think I ought to reproduce almost verbatim my monologue in the pub yesterday. I say almost, because it could probably do without all the "f*!&>ng"s.
I am sick and tired of all this rubbish about a special relationship with the US. What exactly do we owe them? Over the last sixty years, they've screwed us and screwed us and screwed us, never supported us, and we have to go and fight their bloody wars - for what...
In the Second World War they made a packet out of Lend Lease - fair enough, we were desperate, and the price goes up to desperate people, but they stipulated that if Britain be occupied by the Axis powers the entire Royal Navy had to surrender ...to the USA; while we were fighting, they took our export markets, again, a reasonable result of the free market; they only entered the war when Pearl Harbour was attacked.
We passed them our nuclear secrets in the spirit of co-operation, they used our secrets to progress their research and didn't share the knowledge back; our troops fought alongside them in Korea, all that did was to give Attlee a route to talk to Truman, but no veto over nuclear weaponry, and no veto over an invasion of China; in Suez (which I believe was a very wrong policy by the British Government, but it was British and French policy), they refused to support us; in the Falklands, not only did they not help us, but, John Nott, Thatcher's Defence Secretary, believes that Al Haig leaked our military secrets to the Argentinians, causing death and injury to many British troops; in 1984 they invaded a country, Grenada, of which the Queen is Head of State, without informing the Foreign Office (Thatcher was incandescent); and in Gulf War 1, their amphetamine (speed)-fuelled pilots killed too many British troops.
Remind me, why should we be fighting George Bush's war?
Apropos of this conversation, I asked an acquaintance of mine how he would react if he were called up - he said he was too old, I said I went to his fortieth so I knew he was under forty five, he said he would go. I was shocked; then I remembered that he had previously been not only a Conservative Party member but actually working in Central office, until he realised that their electoral hopes were desperate, at which point he switched parties.
Some people won't let principles get in the way of their careers; perhaps because they don't have any principles.
Oh God, I can feel my blood pressure rising. And that is not like me.
