OF 'ARRY AND YER H'S

So Prince Harry is not going on a tour of duty to Iraq. This decision by the powers-that-be in the military has caused a lot of controversy here in England, much of it coming from families of those serving there. Harry would be a lovely target for the insurgents. Imagine the scoop for them if he was captured. Not only that, his presence will endanger the troops; BUT, he is a serving officer in the army, a Royal tradition, and as such should either go to Iraq or resign his commission- simple as that.
The anger of many people is understandable. One guy in the USA says Harry is a member of the Royal family and deserves a certain amount of respect. Not sure if that sort of forelock touching crap washes today. The Royals, Bush, Kennedys – whoever – are no different to the rest of us. They were all born, sit on the toilet every day and will die.
On the face of it I can understand peoples’ anger – it’s OK for their sons and daughters to die but not Royals. Nobody should be dying in such a pointless, asinine war. And what are Iraq’s Muslim brothers in neighbouring countries doing to help? Bugger all. Do you see any of their troops there? Of course not! They have their summits and bullshit for a few hours – they’re good at that. They love talking as long as they don’t actually have to do anything – the Irish joke translates so well here – how many Arabs to change a light bulb? Ten – one to put the light bulb in and nine to talk about it.
It’s a bloody insult to all the other brave troops fighting a war they can never win – an insult to relatives who wait for the bodies of their loved ones to come back. Bush and Blair had the foresight of ants when they started this cock-up, (sorry ants).
No, Harry should not go because he will place his troops in even greater danger than they are now. He should also resign and the Royal Family stop this dumb tradition of sons “doing their bit” in the armed forces – jolly good thing you know, what?


Ah yes tradition! Wonderful thing - maintain the old class system and all that. Anyone for a spot of hunting or golf, (pronounced gof. Such people have a ”hise” in the “cintry” with “grinds”, and go “orf” to exotic places for their hols. As per the pronunciation patterns practised by Mrs. Thatcher and most of the Conservative party until a few years ago).
I never did understand why certain people used such strange pronunciation. It was originally part of the class system, and as such denoted an educated intelligent individual belonging to what was called the “upper classes”. Eton and Harrow “public” schools stressed its use, as did certain universities such as Cambridge – Mrs. Thatcher being a typical example, her having come from Grantham in Lincolnshire where nobody talks about going “orf” somewhere – no one had a “hise”. Listen to old BBC TV productions and you will hear it. The “Sloane Rangers” used it in the 1980’s, and you can still hear it today. It’s not good English - It’s an affected, artificial English that belongs in the trash can. Regional accents were considered a sign of a lack of intelligence. Thank God for regional accents – they enrich our language.
This does not mean to say that bad English is acceptable. Reminds me of a joke from a now-defunct magazine called Punch. A taxi driver tell an obviously “upper class” woman driver to “sound yer ‘orn”. She replies “sound your h’s”.

See ya