On the prince and the battle of Grays Inn Road
by Jura Watchmaker, 28 February 2008
I may not like what he is, but I certainly like what he does. For Cornet Harry Windsor (or Wales) that is putting his “sorry arse” on the line in Afghanistan. Well done that man!
Mr Windsor was pictured on the news this evening struggling with a heavy machine gun. As someone who has fired nothing bigger than a .22 calibre carbine it’s not for me to mock the young man, at least on this subject. Away from the gun young Harry appeared fully in command while acting as a tactical air controller, describing a network of trenches and tunnels behind Taliban lines. One can only hope that the inhabitants of those dusty ditches received a nasty surprise as a result of the prince’s information.
Now contrast the on-screen behaviour of this junior army officer with that of Channel 4 news anchor Jon Snow, who this evening bravely battled with a newspaper editor and an arsey Tory MP. Snow’s petulant reporting of Windsor in Afghanistan has understandably led to a robust reaction on the part of some viewers. One respondent – an armed forces captain – accused Snow of “treason”, and the newsreader reported this himself with a distinct air of smug self-satisfaction.
Update 29/2-08
A decision has been made to withdraw young Harry Windsor from Afghanistan, and I guess that Jon Snow will be looking even more smug and self-satisfied on Channel 4 News this evening. To be honest I’m not sure if I can bear to watch it. Listening to his fellow celebrity newsreader John Humphrys on the radio this morning was quite enough bullshit for one day.
What a result. A hooray henry with some redeeming qualities signs up to do something useful with his life. And now the poor lad is to be flown back to Blighty where he will twiddle his thumbs during the day, and spend his evenings getting rat-arsed on the public purse.
Yes, the Ministry of Defence has milked this story for all the positive PR it can extract from it. But can one blame the government and army for this? Spin aside, the fact is that an inexperienced but seemingly capable young soldier did his job and battled with an enemy of humanity.
I guess the chatterati will now go back to whingeing about how the youth of Britain are a useless shower of feckless and irresponsible ingrates.
