- Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:36 pm
#84601
Following Starmer’s announcement that he is ready to send British troops to Ukraine as part of any future agreed peace settlement with Putin, there is a phrase that keeps cropping up in some of the coverage and commentary : “in harm’s way”. A phrase that no doubt will be deployed ad nauseam by the Mail, Express, and sundry other right-wing commentators critical of anything and everything that Labour does. But just think about what a load of shite it is when deployed in that critical way .
British people who sign up to serve in their country’s armed forces do so voluntarily. They sign up in the full knowledge and understanding that during their military career, they may well be required to go into battle, or be put “in harm’s way”. Which isn’t to say they are unbothered or undaunted by that prospect, rather that they are already reconciled to the possibility. As Tennyson had it “theirs was not to question why, theirs was but to do, or die.” So in the context of critical ammo to fire at Starmer’s government, “in harm’s way” is actually bollocks . But hey ho.
"The opportunity to serve our country: that is all we ask.” John Smith, May 11, 1994.