The American decision to remove their fleet of bombers from Fairford, Gloucestershire, is starting to come into focus. The most expensive bomber is the B2 at a reported cost to build and develop of $2 billion although cheaper versions are in development. The runway at Fairford is said to be one of the longest in Europe but then, of course, it is surrounded by roads and villages unlike the American air force bases themselves that are often located in desert areas which are therefore so much easier to defend. After the recent suspicious activity that took place in the middle of the night, the Americans appear to have realised that these American assets are under some threat and a £1,000 drone, launched from just outside the perimeter fence, could take out or incapacitate a $2 billion aircraft. As Donald Trump is intending to wind down his war against Iran and therefore not utilise Fairford as a forward base, the calculation of the potential benefits has altered particularly as Iran may be using ‘sleeper’ agents in the UK to attack American bases. We know that several American bases in the proximity to Iran ave been successfully attacked and damaged but the Americans are not communicating this fact to their general public. Images showing widespread damage to multiple US sites in the Middle East from Iranian strikes have been obtained by the BBC’s US partner CBS. The photos, provided by active military personnel, show a severed radar jet, flattened trailers and severely damaged buildings. The undated photos were taken at US bases and sites in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. One member of the military, who was not named by CBS, said: ‘This is major damage to our bases that has not been communicated to the American public. We are standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.’ The White House referred the BBC to US Central Command. Centcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The photos, which have not been independently verified by the BBC, were published the day after a report from the Pentagon’s watchdog confirmed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in the Middle East have been damaged and destroyed by Iran. One of the photos showed a destroyed Boeing E-3 Sentry at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia that has been ripped in half, its tail section crumpled into a tangled mess of metal. I am always reminded in these circumstances of the wise words of the veteran Labour politician, Denis Healey (although this may be a mis-attribution) that ‘In war, the first casualty is truth’ The evening before when browsing through YouTube on the latest news of the bodged execution in Tennessee, I came across a UK made video on the history and failure of multiple methods in the United States. The conclusion of the film was that there are flaws in each major method of execution which hit public sensibilities ranging from the electric chair (which fried people so that flames sometimes shot out of their heads) to the gas chamber (in which people died in agony often taking 20 minutes to die and ‘out of favour’ since the revelations of the Holocaust). Hanging, if properly executed and the guillotine, seem to be the most effective methods but every method, including lethal injections which appear to be more clinical and can one hardly use the word ‘humane’ seem to have flaws. In the sad case of Christa Pike, she may be so brain-damaged that execution cannot be allowed under the US constitution so she may be condemned to live out whatever days remain to her in a vegetative state. For some reason, both the Times and the Sunday Times have taken the editorial decision not to carry any reports on this bodged execution and one wonders why as it may sway public opinion in the UK definitively in the direction of abolition as public pinion is still said to be in the region of 50%-55% despite the fact that the death penalty has been abolished since 1969.
In the late morning, I went down into town to attend my Pilates class together with three other regulars. This is just a small class but we have been attending for years now and the time of the day is rather arkward for many being in the middle of the day. We have our little traditions one of which is to have five minutes of relaxation at the end of the session if it happens to be anybody’s birthday during the preceding week. This was the case this week but I generally manage to fall asleep within the allotted time span but eventually our instructor’s voice permeates my doze and I waken up but generally when everyone is getting up. After I returned home, I cooked myself a quick lunch which was a prawn omelette which I wanted to keep quite small as in the early evening I am due to go out and participate in the latest of our U3A Curry Club meals. The afternoon was a fine one and although was feeling tired after the Pilates, I made myself get out and give the back lawn a cut which, as it happened, was quite desperately needed. There is an England football match on this evening which would have normally taken my attention but I think it is important for me to sustain my social contacts whilst I can. Some quite extraordinary local news has emerged recently. The town of Bromsgrove has been ‘plagued’ (and I use the word advisedly) by a massive road improvement scheme whereby the A38 road which rune down one side of the town is being ‘improved’ so that two carriage ways are being extended into three. Given the other roads that the A38 has to cross, this improvement has been subject to masses of delays and the inconvenience to which the town’s inhabitants have been subject is hard to exaggerate. When the improvements are completed by next spring, some two and a half years behind schedule, the highways authorities are arguing that the residents of Bromsgrove will benefit because a journey from the north of Bromsgrove to the south on the improved road will now save an estimated two and a quarter minutes (during rush hour) This road scheme will only transfer a bottle-neck from one place to anther about 300-400 yards distant. Our local Tory MP is incandescent about these delays (and rightly so) and recently the leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, was visiting the area and was briefed on the entire debacle. There is now going to be a Parliamentary debate in about two weeks time which I think is going to be broadcast on the Parliamentary channel so this may well be an occasion when it is worth having one’s eyes glued to the TV because I have never heard of another local mishap being discussed in a full Parliamentary debate before. No doubt there will be a lot of opportunity to score political points particularly at the expense of the bankrupt (and Reform led) Worcestershire County Council but the blight upon the lives of the people of Bromsgrove as a result of this scheme has been extreme.