Extracts from Parliamentary proceedings - July 13
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Extract from Lords debate on the Korean Peninsula Lord Desai
(Lab):...The problem is that, in one sense, the world gave up any
worry about nuclear proliferation 20 or 30 years ago. We have many
more nuclear nations now than was the case when the Cuban missile
crisis confrontation took place. I think it was partly the Cuban
missile confrontation that removed the fear of nuclear weapons. We
thought, “We can handle this; we can handle Armageddon and we do
not have to...Request free trial
Extract from Lords debate
on the Korean Peninsula
Lord Desai (Lab):...The
problem is that, in one sense, the world gave up any worry about
nuclear proliferation 20 or 30 years ago. We have many more
nuclear nations now than was the case when the Cuban missile
crisis confrontation took place. I think it was partly the Cuban
missile confrontation that removed the fear of nuclear weapons.
We thought, “We can handle this; we can handle Armageddon and we
do not have to worry about it”. I was a young graduate student in
America at that time, watching it on television, and I thought,
“Either this is the end of the world or it is not; I have no
choice in the matter”. Luckily, it was not, but since then we
have nuclear arms in India and Pakistan and God knows where else,
so I think it will not be possible to denuclearise North Korea.
Nobody—neither China nor the USA—has either the military or the
diplomatic strength to denuclearise Kim Jong-un... Extracts from Commons debate on Passchendaele The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (John Glen):...The battle was infamous not only for the terrible conditions but for the sheer scale of the losses. In the region of 250,000 allied soldiers and around the same number of German soldiers, a total of some 500,000 men from both sides, were wounded, killed or missing. Those are quite frankly unbelievable numbers. Fought between 31 July and 10 November 1917, the battle saw the British Army attempt to break out of the notorious Ypres Salient and put intolerable pressure on the German defences. Troops from across Britain and Ireland took part, along with significant numbers from today’s Commonwealth, particularly from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Allied air forces played an important role, providing vital reconnaissance for the ground forces and fighting deadly dogfights with their German counterparts in the skies above the trenches. The battle was conceived, in part, as a means of influencing the struggle against German submarines, and the Royal Naval Division served on Passchendaele’s battlefield alongside other soldiers. Many others contributed during the battle and in the fighting around Ypres during the conflict, including servicemen from India and the West Indies, labourers from China and, of course, the nurses and medical staff who worked behind the lines to treat the wounded......Three commemorative events will be held in Belgium on 30 and 31 July 2017 at iconic locations where soldiers fought, survived, died and are commemorated. On Sunday 30 July, we will begin with the traditional last post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. It is one of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s most iconic memorials. It was built to honour all of those who fought around Ypres during the first world war and also bears the names of more than 54,000 individuals who died while serving with the forces of Britain, Australia, Canada, India and South Africa but for whom there is no known grave. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, it is a remarkable monument, and a fitting place to start our proceedings. The last post ceremony has been held there at 20:00 hours every evening since the unveiling of the memorial in 1927—with the exception of the second world war, when the ceremony was held at Brookwood military cemetery near Woking. It is organised by the Last Post Association and its buglers have performed the ceremony since its origin... Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)....In September 1940, George married Helena Theresa Buck, whose father had also fought at Passchendaele. Alfred George Buck was born on 15 November 1885 in Meerut, Bengal, India. His father was in the Royal Horse Artillery in India. He was educated at the Duke of York’s Royal Military School and the Royal Hibernian Military School, and enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery at Woolwich on 29 February 1904. He transferred to the Army Reserve on 29 February 1912, reverted on 29 July 1913, and was mobilised in Glasgow on 6 August 1914. Having transferred to the Royal Engineers Signals in April 1916, he was awarded the Military Medal in July 1917 for gallant conduct and devotion to duty at Armentières. We do not have the medal or the citation, but we understand that he was repairing telephone cables in no man’s land under fire. I think that the experience outlined by my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham must make clear to all of us the fear that he must have felt when he was in the middle of no man’s land, a sitting duck, repairing vital communications. He was gassed on 4 November 1917 at Passchendaele, two days before the battle ended, and was discharged on 15 March 1919. He died on 6 July 1952... Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab):...On 29 October 1914, my grandfather noted: “Terrific firing all day and night. The Indian troops came here to relieve us, they look a fine lot of men, Gurkha, Sikhs and Punjabis.”
It reminds us that, even then, alliances, coalitions and
interoperability were the way in which wars were fought. We
rarely stand alone. In that war, 90,000 Indian soldiers and 50,000 labourers served in
two infantry and cavalry divisions... |