caldrail

Sounds unlikely. Israel is belligerent by nature and fed up with missile attacks. Although some people think Israel is a US puppet, I really can't see it, they're too bullish, though they do listen to the americans. If they have politcal concerns over their actions, its focused at home or the surrounding middle east, not who sits in the White House. I understand Lebanon has got itself embroiled in this affair now, probably by Hamas or sympathisers operating on their territory.

It all seems doom and gloom right now doesn't it? Gaza is being demolished, Russia is sulking over gas supply, high street stores are closing, businesses laying off workers, predictions of three million unemployed by next year. Even my blog is draped in despair these days. Well, I won't have it. So, in order to lighten the mood, for the first time in blog history I will now... *click* ... Huh?.... Who turned out the lights? Oh no, my PC is dying. All I've got left is a small blue dot on my monitor fading away to nothingness... yes, it's another electricity cut. The second in a week. Now somewhere in this house is a torch. Ok, I know I left my dinnerplate on the floor, so I don't want to step on that.... Something just fell on the carpet... Ah, my headphones. Negotiate the living room obstacles... Ouch. That was the coffee table.... At last, I've found the door. Now along the hallway, find the bedroom door and... *bump*... Found it. Somewhere in this stygian mess I call my bedroom is a torch... Aha! Got it!. Now downstairs and try the trip switches to avail. Back uopstairs and find my mobile phone... There it is... Now find a telephone number for the electricity company... I feel like James Bond, searching through paperwork in a filing cabinet by torchlight.... Number... Where's the number?.... Got it. "This number will be charged at your normal rate" Says a female computer. No kidding. And I thought phones were free. Come to think of it, why are automated reply services always female? "Please wait to speak to an operator." She said. I waited, and within ten seconds a human operator answered "Hello?" Hi. I've got a power outage. "I see sir. What registration is your car?" Pardon? Car registration? What do you need my car registration for? "You've called Fixit Rescue Service Sir." Groan. Wrong number. Sorry.... Try again Caldrail.... Heart Warming Interlude An eight year old boy with an artifical leg has just been given custom made gloves to enable him to play football as a goalkeeper. Custom made by an international supplier of sportswear no less. It's a heartwarming story but unless the lad is given some thermal undies, I suspect he'll freeze to death waiting for his mates to kick the ball his way. Back to Rushey Platt Tell you what, lets try this number before my torch goes dead.... Hooray.... Mr Electricity was very polite and concerned that I wasn't going to freeze in the next hour whilst the repairman sped to my rescue. Is he kidding? I've been freezing to death for a week now. Diplomacy of the Week President Sarkozy, the secret identity of superhero Captain France, is telling us that a deal to end Israel's gaza offensive is not far away as he persuades Syria to pressure Hamas to stop goading Israel. Obviously he's got more rockets than Hamas.

It was one of those job interviews you just know is going to be a disaster before you start. The office where it took place is literally down the road from I live, an upstairs premises with only a single door on the street to mark its presence and a source of confusion as you wander back and forth expected something more impressive. Having found the door (I always have trouble with doors - Douglas Adams fans please note) I noticed the gloomy staircase with a carpet left unwashed since the middle ages. There was no reception desk on the first floor. Instead, a dingy set of rooms off an undecorated hallway, toilets in view, and coffee-making equipment left with copious signs of use. Sigh. Well I'm here, so lets get on with it. The man sat behind the first desk in the only room showing signs of human habitation blinked as I entered. I hope thats because he was impressed. "Here," He said, handing me a great pile of paper and a pen, "Fill these in, you can sit over there." Right you are then. I hate forms. You never have the information you need to complete them and they always ask for information in a random order with boxes ridiculously small for the task. No matter how careful you are you never fill them in 'correctly'. I don't the intention is that they actually read or use this stuff, rather its some strange intelligence test. Perhaps the point is to throw the paper back at the guy and say "Sir - these forms are a travesty of incompetence and poor layout, compounded by aesthetically challenged conception, made even worse by the hideous quality of paper upon which they are printed" Ok, maybe not. Then I notice the waiver for the European 48 hours-a-week working limit. I'm not signing that! Plus the man was most insistent on seeing my passport, and he kindly told me I can come back at a later time with it. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to get into an old pick-up truck filled with silent mexicans every morning as I head out to the melon farm? Pic of the Day Not a great pic but it captures the coldness we're suffering right now. Cold Snap of the Week It appears Britain isn't the only country suffering cold temperatures. Fifty five people in India have died as temperatures plummetted. Apparently this is the worst cold snap in thirteen years. What next? Predictions of Global Freezing? Well, for the next few days anyway.

The interview? Mutual dissapointment I'm afraid. They weren't overly impressed with me and I wasn't about to sign a waiver against the 48 hours-a-week limit. They're looking for slaves. I base my case on the Universal Charter of Human Rights of 1948 which includes paragraphs to the effect that no-one should be enslaved and everyone should have access to free time. There's going to be a lot of that in the future. With so many unemployed, so many losing jobs, that remaining employers are tempted to pick and choose those who accept conditions that really do amount to exploitation. Weather is still cold yet remains quite bright.

I woke this morning earlier than I wanted - another job interview today. As usual, the bedroom is mildly cold but probably warmer than the front room! Anyhow, I threw back the duvet, shudderred in the loss of warm air, and tip toed to the curtains for a look outside. Snow! It snowed last night. Not a huge blizzard by any means, more of a thin coat of that fine wet snow that quickly clogs and becomes frighteningly icy. We don't usually get any snow in January. These days, we tend to get a light dusting around early March or April. Does this mean we're in for more? Luckily, the smiling presenter on the weather report last night (and I didn't hear him mention any risk of the white stuff) says no, at least not for the next week, as we move from cold sunny weather to the usual British claggy fog. Outside of course the traffic was moving slowly as you'd expect, sensible given the roads are ice rinks in places. Right then, down to the library to log on before I attend the interview... steady.... Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't fall over. That will come tomorrow when the ground freezes again. Investigation of the Week It seems there's been an accident or crime on the side street opposite where I live, the street blocked off by orange and white bollards. My guess? Someone reached the left turn at the end of the slope and carried straight on. Couldn't see anything, but your roving reporter for the Rushey Platt Almost Daily will be reporting as events unfold.

Who the first inhabitants of Britain were, whether natives or immigrants,is open to question; one must remember we are dealing with barbarians. But their physical characteristics vary, and the variation is suggestive. The reddish hair and large limbs of the Caledonians proclaim a Germanic origin; the swarthy faces of the Silures, the tendency of their hair to curl, and the fact that Spain lies opposite, all lead one to believe that the Spaniards crossed in ancient times and occupied that part of the country. The people nearest to the Gauls resemble them... ...History tells us that the Gauls too had their hour of military glory; but since that a life of ease has made them unwarlike; their valour perished with their freedom.The same has happened to those Britons who were conquered early; the rest are still what the Gauls once were.... Agricola - Tacitus The British, as the 1st Century Romans saw them. Of course, Tacitus was relating this description largely second-hand, and recent discoveries at Vindolanda uncovered the term Brittunculi ("Little Britons") which is perhaps amusing at first until one realises the scorn that lies behind it. These were the views of important men in the farthest province of the Empire, who saw their populace there not as Roman, but as barbarians under Roman rule. Strabo, a greek geographer of the 1st Century, wrote... The whole race, which is now called Celtic or Galatic, is madly fond of war, high spirited, and quick to battle, but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character. And so when they are stirred up the they assemble in their bands for battle, quite openly and without forethought; so that they are easily handled by those who desire to outwit them. For at any time or place, and on whatever pretext you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage... ....To the frankness and high-spiritedness of their temperament must be added the traits of childish boastfulness and love of decoration..." We therefore know about the Celts from our classical sources. The Celts however left no description of themselves. A great is made of the concept of 'Romanisation', almost as if they assimilated populations under their control and somehow brainwashed them into becoming Roman. This is not true. The Romans weren't interested in the lives of their subject peoples provided they obeyed laws and paid taxes. The Britons did not necessarily see themselves as 'Roman' at any time, rather they thought of themselves as Britons under Roman rule. The senior members of Roman communities were initially the same men who had ruled the tribal hill-forts, and later, their children or those who had risen to emulate them. That in itself does not make them Roman - it means they accepted Roman culture and lived in a manner that pleased their masters on the continent. It was conformity within the 'establishment'. No doubt some of these men adopted a haughty attitude toward their former lives or countrymen, others would have remained 'Britons in Togas'. Those we would class as rural peasants lived a life not far removed from the pre-Roman times. There was certainly enough of them. Estinates put rural poor as something like eighty percent of a total of two million inhabitants of Roman Britain at its densest population. The presence of villas made a new distribution of land use and commercial activity, yet it must be said that Roman civilisation was primarily urban and the villa system connected to it. Roman villas were distributed unevenly with the majority, perhaps not suprisingly, in the southeast. There were wide tracts of land - at least to our current knowledge - that were sparsely inhabited by the villa system. Those British settlements that had survived their initial encounters with Roman soldiers pretty much remained where they were, and although their produce had become part of the Roman economy, it was so on a peripheral nature and the lure of Roman towns must have been powerful. Indeed, Tacitus notes with some element of scorn that the British had been seduced by "porticoes, baths, and sumptuous banquests". Can we assume that Britons who indulged themselves were completely Roman, or that they had merely indulged themselves because of the luxurious nature of these things the Romans made available? Roman roads are famous and their paths can be seen in the networks of roads across Britain. These were created anew for their own purposes, to facilitate the military occupation and the administration of the province, and in doing so the Romans ignored for the most part the existing trackways that connected tribal sites. These trackways were nonetheless still in place, and whilst the ppublic weren't banned from using Roman roads, that wasn't their purpose and certainly the rural Celts had little use for them unless they needed to travel to Roman towns. Once the post-Roman collapse made itself felt, the carefully prepared Roman road did not entirely fall into disuse, since remnant populations were often found in those towns described by Germanic settlers as having been 'made by giants'. Rather than supplant the trackways of old, in the aftermath of Roman withdrawal, the roads became linked and part of the Celts own network, to become for at least a short while an extension of those cultural ties that existed since the Iron Age and in many cases much earlier. There's another interesting aspect to the retention of Celtic identity. In Roman times people were intensely superstitious. The Romans themselves did not push aside local gods for fear of divine retribution, but instead connected them with their own mythos as if the local god was an avatar of established Roman ones. Most importantly of all, the religious life of local people was retained albeit reorganised in a Roman fashion. Temples often had kiosks to sell religious paraphenalia essential to proper worship in the same way as continental practice though precious little evidence exists for this. The local gentry, themselves Celts who had become part of the Roman establishment, would support this religion by the sponsorship of temples built to honour the local god. These temples were built for local people. The value of water is essential to understanding the religious significance of local gods. Water was a barrier between the world of the living and that of the dead. A river was an obstacle, a place where approval of the god that ruled that river was essential to avoid a watery fate. This is why springs are often associated with Romano-British religious life, and interestingly enough, local gods that pre-dated Roman culture had similar leanings as we see in the sacrifice of swords into waterways. This was something the Romans could relate to. For all its earthy celebration and solitary communion with their gods, the Roman religious system nonetheless lost out in the long run to christian beliefs in the late empire. Whereas the pagan religions were romanised versions of older beliefs, Christianity was a matter of social worship and one demanding regular attendances rather than ad hoc visits and annual festivals. Given that Christianity was inherently more political, and a major landowner in its own right, their success in becoming the state religion isn't suprising. They had done so in the face of opposition from pagan gods, Mithraism, Arianism, and other sects. It was in effect a triumph of oriental religion in colonising Roman religious life. Yet the connection with the supporting state was also important, and with the withdrawal of Roman legions, and governmental authority with it, the Christian church in Britain began to suffer setbacks. Firstly, the immigrant european tribes brought their own gods with them. Secondly, since Roman culture was essentially urban, the support of communities was focused on larger settlements. After the initial prosperity of taxation free-Brtain, the economic disaster that followed reduced the importance of Christian churches and indeed, with disease becoming rife in Romano-Celtic towns and with declining infrastructure to support the previously large populations, the Christian god must have seemed to have 'failed' the Romano-Celts. Gildas, a sixth century monk, wrote a work condemning the rise of tyrants in the post-Roman Britain, and describes the 'Proud Tyrant' (thought to be Vortigern) as 'attempting to return to the old pagan ways'. That he would attempt to do so implies he knew of such things. It's easy to read too much into that. Christianity wasn't overly popular in dark age Britain. Gildas mentions the spread of Arianism and other heresies, and the arrival of Augustine on British shores marked the church's response to falling congregations. In an important twist, there were Saxon tribes who interpreted Augustines teachings in the light of their religious beliefs, much as the Celts had done with Roman religion, and this presented a Germanic heresy as they frequently worshipped on different days to the mainstream Christians in Britain of the 5th and 6th centuries. The Saxons were therefore 'a race hateful to God' as one contemporary monk described them. A connection with cultural roots for Celts even during the Pax Romana weathered the changes wrought in commerce, agriculture, industry, religion, and lifestyles. However there was an efficiency and comfort that the Romans brought to Britain and one readily accepted in a land that Tacitus described as having 'A wretched climate'. The Roman method of governing a province was not to create and enforce a new government, but to turn the existing social hierarchy to their needs. That is the extent of romanisation. People remained what they were unless they chose to adopt Roman ways and further their careers, and the predatory commercial sphere no doubt proved an important influence. Underneath this trend toward Roman behaviour and fashion, the delimitation of land was no different to the pre-Roman era. The old demarcations were in use as boundaries throughout, and in rural populations, some elements of the old tribal divisions would still be found. In fact, it has been argued that the Romans deliberately reinforced the old tribal divisions as a means of providing stable government, especially in turbulent northern England which never accepted Roman culture as readily as the southeast. In fact, the kings of Strathclyde and Manau Gododdin, both in northern Britain, retained latin titles into the 5th Century. They were in effect using Roman titles as a manifestation of Roman authority, something the Celts must have keenly felt in the wake of Roman occupation, and whilst this seems an abandonment of their own cultural roots, it must be pointed out that these noblemen were carrying on a tradition established in Roman times yet doing business in Celtic terms. Although one can argue the extent of romanisation in Britain, it was essentially a condition that existed where the Celts lived and dealt with Romans on a daily business. Since the Romans were the masters and landowners, the Celts took enough of Latin culture that enabled them to do whatever business they required, but still at heart a native Celtic society. Whereas the Romans had impinged themselves upon the existing Celtic social order and adapted it to enable a relatively smooth transition to Roman rule, the immigrant warriors of the Dark Ages weren't interested. They had arrived to find new land to farm and weren't particularly interested in who owned it when they got there. In one sense, the defence of England by the Romano-Celts, and the inspiration behind Arthurian mythos, was a desperate attempt to keep what little Roman life was left to them. In another sense, it was the re-emergence of Celtic values including that of martial prowess, and although the natives ultimately found themselves marginalised and pushed into remote areas of the British Isles, they fought for their cause valiantly. Iron Age hillforts, many abandoned during the Roman period or used at a much lower level than the protected centers of settlement they had once been, began to be re-used as the urban nature of Romano-British society atrophied from the 4th Cenury. Especially in times of uncertainty, the defensive nature of these places was a bonus and a return to settlements used by their Celtic forebears for centuries made a lot of sense to people seeing Roman towns lying derelict and barely inhabited. In fact, the arrival of Saxon tribes particularly in the campaign to conquer the area now known as Wessex proved their value - the Saxons would not assault these forts lacking the wherewithall to conduct such warfare. Where these places failed is that although the Saxons chose not to attack, they effectively blockaded them. It's no coincidence that battles between Celts and Saxons occured in the nearby area rather than at the location itself. In at least one case, that of Barbury in Wiltshire, the fort was used by its Saxon victors as a cemetary, a somewhat ironic fate. In this severing of the Celtic identity with the land, the Saxons achieved a significant victory beyond their understanding, one that reverberates down to this day in modern regional relations which must more than anything else, point to the strength of Celtic identity even after nearly two thousand years. Agricola - Tacitus An Imperial Possession, Britain in the Roman Empire - David Mattingly Decline and Fall of Roman Britain - Neil Faulkner Roman Britain - Peter Salway Roman Britain and Early England - Peter Hunter Blair

In a blaze of media exposure - and no shortage of publicity by BBC News - we finally know who is to be David Tennants replacement as Dr Who. For those who don't know its... ah.... Who? They chose an actor who despite having leading roles in the past is pretty well unknown. A non-entity? Well, personally, I'm hugely miffed the BBC didn't demand and beg me to play the role. I am after all fully qualified. I turn up, I pull rabbits out of hats, then fade into nonethingness as someone else gets promoted instead. I am the Dr Who of Warehousing. So where's my buxom assistant then? I'm waiting..... Cavalry Bugle of the Week Our much-despised prime minister, Gordon Brown, has announced he's going to create 100,000 new jobs. Brilliant. Except who's going to pay the wages? The economy is on the brink of collapse, people haven't got the money to buy anything, and he's going to wave a magic wand when he plans to increase taxes even further and foist an expensive olympics upon us. It's lunacy. The only way to support these jobs is more taxes. Boy does he love spending other peoples money. If we had any.

Your charity humbles me. Its a little ironic but weather is wonderfully sunny at the moment, not like the usual grey clag we get at this time of year.

Guitar? Yes, I had that Waynes World experience in my younger days, staring lovingly at that expensive instrument as telling everyone "Oh yes, it will be mine". Lets see... My first was an indifferent fender strat clone. Soon got bored with that. Then I got a Kramer Sharkfin. Not a great guitar but it could feedback like a stradovarius - you know what I mean. I had one of those Van Halen Kramer Baretta's once too,

So this beaver is looking for a hot date? Well, given how dull my home town is I have nothing to fear Just in case anyone misunderstood that, you're wrong. Wash your mind out with muddy river water at once

Caesar claims to have destroyed several hundred oppidae during his gaulish campaign. That worked out at something like one a week, clearly difficult to accept. I said once before that Caesar claimed victory over gaulish defences that simply surrendered rather than fight.

Way back when I was working in warehousing I often used to see people spending time in the toilets, usually sat in their cubicles smoking or reading newspapers behind closed doors, at least when they weren't pulling the toilet apart with their bare hands for something to do. It's something of a british tradition and one I used to sneer at. Problem is, things are a little chilly in England right now. We've had sub-zero temperatures for a week now and last night it tried to snow. Some people may chuckle, but the England grinds to a halt whenever it snows, we really have no idea how to cope with the stuff. It sems my neighbours decided to go elsewhere for their new year too, which means they switched off their heating. If that wasn't bad enough the radiator in my living room has decided not to work anymore.... So... Cold... The irony is that my bathroom, ordinarily the coldest and draughtiest place in the house, now happens to be the warmest. It's been a while but I've rediscovered the joys of the 'workplace university'. It Gets Worse Still New Years day began for me at something like eleven o'clock in the morning. Bleary eyed I stirred under my multiple duvets and grimaced at the thought of the chill atmosphere. Still, I must endure, so I relunctantly fell out of bed and reached for the light. It didn't work. The electricity was off. And of course, since my gas boiler is electrically fired, so was the heating..... Even.... Colder.... Naturally I phoned the electricity company and explained my plight. The lady on the other end of the phone was very polite and in the course of diagnosing my problem asked me if the neighbours had similar problems. I don't know, I've just gotten out of bed. "Oh?" She chuckled, "I wish I could stay in bed". Funny enough, I was thinking the same.

Don't worry, your secret is safe with me

Threat doesn't seem to be the major cause, after all, thats why our biochemistry has adrenalin. Duration and insensity certainly, but more to do with the rnviroment. Constant explosions and shell whistles disturb the mind more in some people than others. Disturbing enviroments are used in interrogations for that reason, such as loud white noise. As you say, there was little source of this of thing in Roman times, so its constant disorientation rather than constant danger. I suspect though that many Romans who did suffer regret (rather then stress related disorders) kept quiet, rather like soldiers do today. Again, since combat was not unusual, death never far away, and a culture of violence ever present, fewer Romans suffered regret than might be found today. For those looking into the legionary mindset, it might be worth studying the French Foreign Legion - there are similarities but beware of modern connatations.

Interestingly, the operators of gladiatorial re-eanctment schools who let people experience 'arena combat' tell us the germans are by far the most competitive of their customers, and that other nationalities tend to be much less aggressive. I suspect, much as happened two thousand years ago, the relaity of 'fighting' in these schools is going to suprise its entrants. You have been warned !

Hi there. As its the start of the new year, its the time for new year resolutions. Sadly the UN doesn't recognise my little nation state but that won't stop me. Luckily though no-one keeps resolutions for more than a few days which explains why third world dictators get away with flouting them. Most of us are required to pay lip service to these resolutions by our inlaws. Dictators have the unfair advantage that they can shoot theirs at will. So without further ado, my first lip-service to new year resolutions is to announce that its a secret. Since I live in Britain and have declared myself an independent state, I've no doubt that British Intelligence already know what my new years resolution is, which means everybody elses intelligence service know as well. So I might as well tell you all. I hereby resolve to not get bothered by that idiot who rings my doorbell at four in the morning. Who is he? Thats a secret, funnily enough. Defence Secret of the Week According to secret information recently made public, it seems that Britain in the 1970's was barely able to defend itself against the Soviet threat. Our fighter aircraft had enough ammunition and missiles for a few days conflict. Given we all had four minutes to live once war was declared, I sort of wonder whether investing in more ammo was worth it. Perhaps a free distribution of condoms to the public would have been better value? Safe sex you see.

Without war, our species would wither, sadly. War is an extension of our animal behaviour, in that rival packs compete for survival, and in fact our nearest genetic neighbour, the chimpanzee, has been observed conducted border patrols and raids into 'enemy territory' just like we do. The struggle for survival improves our agility, senses, strength, and violent potential in a darwinian natural selection, though some might argue in modern war the scale of killing has the opposite effect. Either way, we group ourselves for mutual protection and benefit, and vioklence is a primary method in nature of achieving your ends, so like it or not, we humans will carry on fighting. The view that human beings are the highest form of life is something deep in our psyche and a point the Romans displayed in the arenas for public entertainment. Of course we're not, we're simply the end result of one strand of evolution and not guaranteed a place at the top of a food chain. Is anything better to come? Who can say? But to emerge as a dominant species probably doesn't require enlightened behaviour. Anyway, thats enough philosophising. Its absolutely perishing cold in Britain right now, doom and gloom in the news, but Rushey Platt is on party alert. Have a good one everybody.

His personality, experience, and mindset are not the same as everyone elses. I remember hearing about operations in Angola. A group of mercenaries, mostly inexperienced, were posted in one place and one let off a rocket grenade mistakenly in his enthusiasm. Their leader, a guy named 'Callan' (not his real name) confronted these men and demanded to know what idiot had fired. The gentlemen decided to own up, and Callan shot him dead with a pistol there and then, telling everyone else not to disobey. Funny enough, I've been asked that question before. Not having been part of a military regime, it's impossible tio answer. I would like to think I would behave with as much decency as I could, but warfare does sometimes force decisions on people they would rather not have to make. Oh, you are so wrong. You really are. There is a strong element of honour and professional behaviour in some of the better trained armed services, but you will find that as has always happened, warfare brings out the best and worst of people, and that scurrilous behaviour is as common as it always was. However, Saturninus was merely a symptom of a general Roman condition of the time. Ammanius Marcellinus and Vegetius, both contemporaries of Adrianople, made it clear that the average Roman soldier of his day was less than well trained, and in a general state of unpreparedness for battle. Zosimus writing some time later makes a very strong reference to it too. The Roman army at Adrianople was simply not able to conduct a large scale battle with any efficiency, and indeed, one of their gemnerals, Sebestianus, had tried to persuade Valens not to pursue that course of action for that very reason. Sebestianus had, in the week leading to the event, gathered a corps of men he considered capable and force marched them ahead of the column (where they defeated the Goths at the River Maritza). That amounted to something like 5-10% of the army available to Valens, and I note that the battle actually got underway because Iberian (auxillary?) troops acted without orders. As terrible as war is, its moral integrity is a relative value, not an absolute one, and much depends on the viewpoint of the indiivdual. I agree - Saturninus wouldn't have lost sleep over his decision to run away - nor did Richomeres, who returning friom the campsite and discovering the battle underway, turned around and went home to Constantinople. Richomeres did well politically, Saturninus did not. Did he regret his decision for that reason in later life? We'll never know.

Cheers. Incidentially.... For Interesting People Who Do Know The Mille Miglia is a race that is of course one thousand miles long, not kilometres. Congratulations to everyone who got that right and knew something about classic motor racing, always a subject to fire the blood. Happy New Year Reassessed Good grief they're all at it. Gaza is turing into a bombing range, Democratic Republic of Congo is a warzone, Sudan don't know the meaning of peaceful communication, and... Well I'm sure there's plenty of other armed struggles in the world. Come on guys, stop fighting, go out and get merry. Its fun. But I suppose you'll only get violent when you get drunk....

Well this isn't really the forum to discuss modern firefights, but the fact some insurgents were shooting wildly still doesn't mean they were shooting to miss. Thats a ridiculous assertion because deliberately missing the target is pointless. They were shooting toward the assumed target area even if they were unable to shoot at a target. The reason is they don't want to get hit, so prefer to rely on volume of fire (always a bugbear with modern automatic fire) rather than standing there taking aim and thus exposing themselves to risk. Statistics in this case is misleading because it's assumed by the men shooting that not all rounds will their target - but that if they fire with enough weight then some rounds will, on average, hit something. It works. It goes on every day around the world. Of course the value of discipline and training in battle is as important in modern firefights as it was in Roman melee. So some inexperienced teenagers ran away when confronted close up? They clearly had no leadership nor background of close melee, nor I suspect, any convenient means to fight other than their trusty AK's which they generally used at a distance. Statisitcs don't tell you that, but it really is an important point. The Romans of old were trained to fight close up. Their enemies were brought up to do something similar although often relied more on bravado and longer swords. But sometime around the beginning of the fourth century the good old gladius had been dropped to be replaced by a longer spatha, a trend that had begun earlier. The reason was training had declined and people were less keen to fight so close. I know its only a matter of inches, but believeme , human beings have personal 'danger zones' and getting too close in a fight is uncomfortable, people much prefer to fight at the edge of their reach. Which incidential;ly, is what happened with those teenagers. Meeting an enemy they considered too close for 'safe' combat was too much for them. The same sort of thing happens in Roman times especially in the presence of cavalry. Roman horsemen did not close in unless they had a situational advantage, whereas the dominance of later cavalry began when horsemen started increasing their intimidation factor by riding right up to enemy troops as a matter of course. This was one of the reasons for the Gothic success at Adrianople for instance. The Romans backed off... and got confused.... and some really did manage to run away, as Saturninus did with his men. The remaining survivors couldn't run away until nightfall and really only began to fight back when they realised they would die there if they didn't break out.

I've just watched a tv program about a guy who bought a classic Maserati for

You're right. One guy achieves it by leaving his curtains open at nights. Hey, it works for him... But then again, survival isn't about hunting and killing farmyard animals. Its about using the enviroment to your own advantage.

Hand to hand combat isn't necessarily stressful. Many human beings enjoy fighting (though it doesn't suit everyone). The modern war is a different enviroment. The risk is ever present although most soldiers soon learn to dismiss that kind of thought. The noise however is another matter. Shellfire, especially after a prolonged exposure, can have very bad effects on peoples state of mind, something the Roman soldier did not have to contend with. Airmen sometimes 'lose their nerve' after constantly exposing themselves to danger. Romans were just as susceptible to PTSD as we are, but there was less to cause it back then. I can assure you that soldiers do not shoot to miss, and such a practise never occured in WWII. It may well be that much firing was essentiially random since the enemy had the incovenient habit of hiding from your fire, but even that served a purpose. It persuaded the enemy to stay hidden so your side could advance without being hit by aimed fire. In fact, the majority of firefights in WWII took place at something less than 500 metres - since the enemy were not keen on being spotted in the first place and that ambushes tend to be more effective is staged at close range. Further, because of the difficulty of sighting enemies, its also common for soldiers to shoot at areas they believe harbours enemy troops whether it does or not. Plenty of AA fire was directed at Venus for instance, troops thinking the light in the sky was an enemy aeroplane. A more willing or more capable killer? Its more to do with social conditioning, experience, and necessity. I knew a chap at work who had once been jailed for soccer violence. Although a reformed character, he was somewhat rambuctuous (I love that word) and would play aggressively at the drop of a hat. He was also very quick and calm in violent situations. None too bright though, but he didn't get many arguments. However, I will concede that since people with higher IQ's find acceptance more difficult, there is a risk they become more amenable to psychopathic behaviour.

Survival is so macho. Tell someone you've survived the wilderness and instantly your manliness score doubles. Women become breathless near you. Men become your greatest buddy and hang on your every word. At least I believe they do because the only wilderness I've survived is Swindon, and unfortunately I'm reliably informed that Swindon doesn't do much for your manliness. The good news is that I survived Christmas. Survival is one of those dark arts you see featured on tv sometimes, with Ray Mears being clever and Bear Gryls being heroic. I notice neither use any of those SAS survival manuals you see in bookstores. I therefore conclude the art of survival is doing something without an instruction manual to find out how. A bit like your first date for instance. The reason we have to treat Christmas as an exercise of survival is public expectation. We're all expected to be happy. We're all expected to hand out presents. We're all expected to party on down. I suspect most of us have, economic woes or personal inclination notwithstanding. This year I survived by doing as little of these things as possible. I've decided that survival is dull. Lets face it, how much do I not want to invite someone to a Christmas party whose topic of conversation revolves around eating creepy-crawlies? Maybe they'd be better at barbeques? At least they could set the thing alight. No Sex Please, We're Swindoners The guy who lives across the street from me has done it again. Literally. I used to think it was a woman who lived there but apparently it's the bloke and he now has a new girlfriend. Gee, must be tough finding women who like having sex in view of the whole street.... Christmas Prezzie of the Week No, it wasn't the camera. So would the owner of a dark blue Vauxhall Astra who drove past me whilst I was out taking photographs on Christmas morning please note - you were wrong. I was very happy. (sigh) Ok, you want to see a photograph... Well, here's my xmas pic of the year... Christmas Day Pic 2008 No Vauxhall Astra owners were harmed in the making of this pic