to think that Gordon Brown was writing with good intentions to the mother of the dead soldier.......does handwriting really matter??

[SquirrelTrap]

I think it is all rather unfair.

I would prefer a scrawled personally written letter than a spell-checked standard Word document letter? I think it is all rather nasty.

FGS the mother is being very churlish.She should have taken the letter in the spirit it was meant.
I think this business of sending condolences to army families is an anachronism .Fair enough in the days of conscription protecting Britain.
This lad joined the army voluntarily knowing that killing innocent others in one of the worlds poorest countries for a cause which most Britons don't believe in , and the risk of getting wounded or killed were all part of the deal.

Agree with MorrisZapp it's the Sun stirring it up.

It's part of their campaign to do everything they can to discredit Labour. Just before the general election in the 90s they said if Neil Kinnock won the election will the last person to leave Britain turn off the lights with a piture of him inside a light bulb.

I am sorry a bereaved mother was offended, but on BBC Breakfast News this morning many people had e-mailed in support of the Prime Minister who had taken the time to write a note.

I don't think the Taleban are innocent at all; and as I said earlier, GB decides that the troops stay there, so he should write a letter. The Armed Forces do their job according to the wishes of the Govt of the day - this Govt wants the troops in Afghanistan so they are there.

Whilst the Armed Forces know they may be killed in action, you might spare a thought for the families who have lost someone they love and will be feeling raw.

recording the conversation with GB was just plain wrong

how horrid

I feel really sorry for him - he has very obviously tried really hard to get this right. I am from a forces family - my dad served in the original gulf war, the falklands, northern ireland and germany among others, my cousin is a former marine, and numbers of friends are serving members of the forces now. One month after a child dies she wants someone to blame and is behaving irrationally which is to be expected- the sun ARE taking advantage of that which is just vile and I feel immensely sorry that it has been used as propoganda.

The SUn seems to have scored a bit of an own goal with theis IMO anyway. They claim to support our boys (no mention of the women serving) and yet they seem to have no respect for Guardsman Janes at all.

Agree that this seems to be a Sun own goal - well am very much hoping so anyway

I don't vote Labour and I have an ex-military husband but I feel sorry for GB. He's lost a child himself; he wouldn't want to cause more grief to a parent in this position.

scaryteacher - just a clarification. I hope you realised that I was being ironic (hence the wink) when asking about naval spending. I meant no offence - despite being an army brat - to anyone associated with the navy in any way.

Yeah, I know Penth, but the RN's drum needs banging at times! I'm a Navy brat as well as married to it.

well of course people join up for a variety of reasons, my question is why their families don't seem to assimilate the info that they've just upped their chances of getting killed in return. re the downsides, tbh apart from the car bombs they are just what a lot of people have to put up with nowadays. it's not all wine and roses in the private sector.

bottom line is, at a very fundamental level when you sign up you knowingly increase your chances of a violent death in return for all those positives. them is the breaks when you turn out to be one of the unlucky few who die. the military has to brainwash its staff and their families into this 'one big family' thing or they wouldn't put up with it, presumably, so that doesn't mean afaic that their views are clear-headed where mine aren't iykwim? i wouldn't trust my colleagues with my life, for example, as was quoted by an ex-military down the thread, it just wouldn't come up.

Scary teacher I didn't mean the Taliban were innocent I meant the civilians

i haven't read all the thread but I think the sun have totally exployted this poor woman who is obviously consumed by grief. I think a hand written letter from the PM was a lovley gesture.

My 18 year old step son is on the verge of joining the forces, and of course my DH, his ex wife and the wider family are very concerned. He will go, that is for sure. It is what he has always wanted and I think for him he needs to be part of something, to belong. He enjoys the active lifestyle, is looking forward to learning a trade whilst not racking up debt, travel etc, etc.

He is an intelligent, well balanced teenager who could really do whatever he wanted but ultimately this is what he wants to do. He has done lots of things with the cadets, including climbing Mount Everest, obtaining his gold DofE award and we are all very proud of him. I don't think he fully realises however the true extent of the danger and he sadly has the attitude of the very young of 'it won't happen to me.'

Whilst as his family we have tried to explain all of this to him, and to be fair he watches the news, he knows what is going on he is still insistant that this is what he wants. We are all very, very aware of the dangers.

I do have a problem with the recruitment though. DH went with him a couple of years ago to the local recruitment office as it was clear even then that this is what he wanted. They were dreadful. He was told that he didn't really need to complete his GCSE's as he was already 16 and could just join up. As I said he is an intelligent young man who gained very good GCSE's and his now on his second year of A levels. 16 is too young, much too young.

Every time we hear of another death I can feel DH tense up a little more.

Apparently in the recorded telephone conversation Mrs Janes asks Gordon Brown how he would feel if he lost one of his children.

I am in a state of complete disbelief I really am.

Different circumstances they may be but the Browns did lose a child.

That's not how I read it. I thought she asked how he would feel if he had a child in the Forces who died.

I'm curius to know if she approached The Sun or if the approached her first. Did they/ do they contact a lot of bereaved military families to see if they want to sell tell their stories

YANBU.

I think that it was really nice of Gordon to write to the woman in person. An disn't he partially sighted? He might not have bothered at all.

She is being very unfair. I guess that's the grief talking.

It's all a bit wierd really.

every one, i'd have thought, saltire.
for your dh, sc.

She is being very unfair, I know she has lost her child and I am sure there is no pain like it in the world and I am truly sorry for her loss, that said he joined the army so chances were he could get sent to a war zone and he could be killed. I know he was doing his job, but I have never joined the army as I do not want a job where people shoot at me.

I think GB can not do right for doing wrong, he offered his condolences, and she has been very ungracious, to the point of down right vile.

Not the usual show of dignity we see from war heros families

according to a news report just there, she now wants to draw a line under it and accept his apology. presumably coulson has seen that this was a bit of a misfire.

herbietea I stand corrected, I've not yet had the opportunity to read the transcript myself yet I was merely cribbing from another forum - hence the word apparently