General Chat

Prince Harry is now home after his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
I watched both the BBC and Sky News interviews filmed while he was out there, talking about his duties, etc

What I can't fathom is the completely irresponsible attitude of the Press. Today's Daily Mirror headline reads I've Killed Taliban.
Besides the fact that not once in those interviews did Harry actually say those words, I am amazed that the Press could be so stupid and totally out of order to print such a thing, which surely confirms to the Taliban that, if they didn't already, they now have a very legitimate reason for seeking him out.

Words failed me last Decemeber when the Sun announced on their front page Harry Kills Taliban Commander - or words to that effect.
It is almost as if the Press is conspiring with the Taliban to 'go get him'.

What are your thoughts?

I think it's amazing that the press give out details of when he is on his next tour of duty - we hear all about it here in Australia. What a coup it would be for the Taliban to be able to boast about killing a Royal.

The Sun has a long history of irresponsible journalism.

And many of our other newspapers now are just as bad. My pet hate is Daily Mail, for reasons explored on another thread. And the regular front pages of both the Express and Mail about the weather. We rarely get 50C or -20C but it is forecast very regularly in those papers.

If men and women are in action in world troublespots, they know they might be killed and kill. That is regrettably part of the job we ask them to do. And the young Princes both seem to be good at their jobs. And we should be proud of them - the same way that we have bunting and flags down these Valleys roads every time a soldier returns from fighting abroad. :-)

I agree with you both, and also feel it puts other soldiers
who are serving along side him in more danger.

Emma

Karen....I thought he came across extremely well. He reminds me of my nephew who is out there now, so find it easy to warm to him. I think his words were along the lines of...Take a life to save a life, unfortunately that is war. The press should know better!

Exactly !! Whatever happened to press censorship in the name of security?!!
They just can't keep their mouths shut these days. :-P

EDIT: the inevitable question came....he was asked whether he had killed any Taliban, to which he replied something like "a lot of people have, we fire when we have to.....sometimes youv'e got to take a llife to save a life."
As if he's going to own up to killing a Commander, FGS!!!

Wasn't the assassination of a "Royal" the trigger to the start of WW1 ?
(Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria).

What `s that saying about "History repeating its self".... Hope not. :-(

'Tabloids' - the only true source of infallibly correct information on all subjects.

I suppose that if our enemies are as monolingual as we are, they will need translators to understand what is written in the press.

pmsl :-D :-D :-D Dermot!!

While I support the actions, courage and determination of Prince Harry to protect his fellow
service personnel, I feel that this interview was totally unnecessary.
Like any British serviceman/woman in a war zone it is an accepted part of their role,
of course Prince Harry has had to kill Taliban insurgents, however jingoistic repeats of this interview
will incite radicalised British Muslims to attempt to target Prince Harry and other members of the Royal family out of revenge disguised as Jihad.

"Careless talk costs lives"

Jaw jaw is better than war war. Jaw jaw is what politics is for. Politics is to debate these issues of conflict and find way to resolve them. Not so easy when your opponents do not recognise the democratic process or the ballot box - but still possible (as Mo Mowlam and others proved in N Ireland).

But if it has to be conflict, then that interview Prince Harry gave would be identical to what every soldier of any rank or sex would have said. And whichever side they were on. That is what we and our representatives send them to do - when other avenues have been exhausted.

Given Prince Harry's dislike and distrust of the Press, I did wonder about the hows and whys behind the interview.
Apparently a deal was done before he went: if he consented to do the interview the Press would not speculate prior to his deployment.
Poor bloke, he just can't win.

At least they've left William and Kate alone for a mo'. Wouldn't surprise me if they've had to do a deal too. :-|

Its not only the Iresponsibility of the Press,but of the People who leak these stories to them,Who Does it? and who allows them to do it? Not only his life but the lives of others who are put in Extra Danger because of their sheer Stupidity in printing these stories,Its about time it was stopped and the Press hauled over the coals for it.**M**.

Love him:) ;-)

I think that it is absolutely appalling that B/Palace had to do a 'deal' with our press in order for them to basically 'leave Prince Harry alone', as if they hadn't, clearly the Prince wouldn't have been able to go, our delightful press would have made sure of that!! Whose side are they on? as let's face it's paramount to blackmail and just shocking, no wonder he dislikes them SO much. Can't 'they' just leave the poor chap ALONE in every respect. Mind you 'they' have to get THAT story, Who knows, perhaps one day the Prince will be captured, badly wounded, OR even killed! Wow, what a coup that would be - crocodile tears of course would be shed while hands were being rubbed, what G## awful people 'they' are!!

@ Lilly I could not agree with you more.

Thanks Paula, I felt SO an angry and had to get it off my chest!!! mind you, it won't make a ha-ppoth of difference what we fee!!l

I think that Prince Harry is gorgeous :-D
As is Prince William :-D
Hazelx

So do I !!!!

Harry is a serving soldier, and just like all the rest of HM Forces, puts his life in danger whilst serving Queen and Country. Lads and lasses alike, they are brave and deserve peace and quiet when they are either on R & R or leave.

Unfortunately both Harry and William when they are off-duty have to make public appearances by reason of their birth. So their rest time is even more valuable to them than Joe Bloggs who does not have to suffer interviews, asked stupid questions and having flash cameras going off constantly.

As to the 'strip' party, he is a young man, single and was going off to war. Blame anyone, blame his minders who should have taken all phones off his guests.

If, in order to give Harry peace, Buck House had to do a deal with the media - then to my mind the media should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.