I'm having one of those days when everybody wants me for something or other. Boring meeting after boring meeting - if I hear one more person use the word "leverage" I'll strangle them.
Still, at least I don't have to put up with the press and media musing publicly where I should be and if I really ought to be doing what I'm doing. Prince Harry is not quite so fortunate. Just about every media outlet, every pundit, commentator and hack has been questioning whether the he should go to Iraq or not.
The Prince is not a child. He's a fully grown adult who has made a rational and conscious decision to serve in Her Majesty's Armed Forces - it just so happens that "Her Majesty" also happens to be his granny. If his regiment is sent to Iraq then why shouldn't he go? That's what he signed up for, what he's paid for and what the troops he commands expect. He wants to go, too. Good for him. Royalty have a long tradition of serving with distinction in our armed forces. Once upon a time it was expected. Could you imagine Henry V today ....
"Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit to his full height. On, on, you noblest English. I'll be at home with a cup of tea and my feet up if you need me for anything."
Some elements of the media have been suggesting that he should not go as his presence there will increase the likelihood of attacks and endanger our troops. I find that a bit rich as, if the press had just shut up about it and never mentioned it in the first place, few people would actually know he was going to Iraq.
And if a reason for withdrawing someone from Iraq is that their presence there increases the likelihood of attacks, then I guess we can expect a recall of every reporter, camera crew and anchorman very shortly.
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