Committee attacks ministry over hostage crisis

This weekend saw the release of a report by Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) over the handling of the hostage crisis in which 15 sailors and marines were captured and subsequently released by the Iranians.

There has already been an enquiry about the whole incident, one result of which was to absolve anyone from blame, particularly as to who gave our service people permission to sell their stories to the media. The FAC found that situation totally unsatisfactory and want the "guilty" named. I couldn't agree more with them. It is totally and utterly wrong for individuals who are so ready to accept praise when things go right not to accept personal responsibility for crass decisions. What bugs me is that Defence Secretary Des Browne on the one hand says that the buck stops with him regarding the hostage debacle but then has to be repeatably asked to say "sorry" in the Commons and is left in post! Similarly Margaret Beckett has cost the country literally hundreds of thousands of pounds with her appalling handling of rural payments to farmers. She then got promoted to Foreign Secretary by Tony Blair whereas she should have been sacked. But this is characteristic of this government I'm afraid.

Wasting our License Fee

I tend to watch the BBC's 6 o'clock news on a fairly regular basis. For a long time now the weekday editions have been fronted by two newscasters costing us a good deal of money. Now I'm not overly worried about that because we are in a market economy so far as TV is concerned and no doubt the Beeb would say they have to pay the going rate. But what really bugs me is the way the BBC is dispatching one or other of the two to the scene of action when a supposedly important story breaks.

The most recent one occurred last week when the repatriated sailors and marines were flown by helicopter to the Royal Marines Base at Chivenor in North Devon to meet up with their loved ones. On that particular day all we saw were the relatives embracing their homecomers, it wasn't until the following day that a news conference by some of the detainees was held. So the question is was it so vital to send national newscaster Jane Hill down from London to cover this particular story all at our expense. I think not. And bear in mind we do have regional reporters more than capable of handling such a situation. Yes the BBC which is a treasured institution in many ways really need to stop tossing our money about like there's no tomorrow.

Selling their story

Unsurprisingly the main story in the media in the past week or two has been the capture, detention and release of 15 of our service personnel by Iran. Now a massive row has erupted about those same 15 being allowed to sell their stories to the media.

Should they be permitted to make money from this incident? Emphatically not is my point of view. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the original event, whatever the extent or otherwise of the psychological pressure they were under in Iran they should not now financially profit from what happened. Yes I do understand that the incident was more political than military (it's worth remembering we are not at war with Iran) and that the aftermath is all about propaganda but when our young people join up it is all about the discipline of operating within the constraint of certain rules and Queens Regulations prohibit the selling of a story whilst in service unless there are very special circumstances.

It has been argued that permitting these personnel to tell their stories in their own words is a necessary counter to the Iranians version of events. I would say that it is very bad for the morale of other service people and what about the bereaved of those who have died in Iraq or Afghanistan? There might conceivably be a short term gain in the propaganda war, although even that is debatable, but surely this is setting an unwelcome precedent for the future.