Entry for February 12, 2007

I see there has been a shock report about members of the Royal Scots allegedly snorting drugs.
How surprising. A group of men recruited from lower socio-economic backgrounds, uprooted from their homes, and living with the knowledge they're likely to be sent off to fight in some far-flung part of the world experiment with drugs. What a scoop you have there Mr Newspaperman.
It really perplexes me that this sort of thing is seen as newsworthy. Of course some squaddies dabble in drugs. I don't want to upset you, but some of them drink too much and sometimes wind up the jail because they get into fights. I know it's shocking, but it's the truth. Young men instilled with a fighting spirit, awash with testosterone and faced with the knowledge that they are being sent off to do our dirty work, sometimes do things which are against the law.
Now, if they'd found some footage of the recruits passing round the knitting patterns or comparing recipes for Victoria Sponges, I would have found that more worthy of a few column inches -
"Are you filming this Dave? Yeah - good - right - what you have to do is make sure there's equal quantities of flour and sugar. Just make sure you use good quality self-raising flour otherwise you could have a disaster on your hands. I remember once during Gulf War I I knocked up a batch of cheese scones while the Sarge was sleeping. Wolfed them down we did. Top brass was none the wiser. Right - that's it - just make sure this doesn't wind up on You Tube."