Councils shamed into welcoming troops home

[Gromit]

The Government has bowed to pressure and urged local councils to give troops a proper welcome home.

The move came after an investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed that despite an appeal from the head of the Army, none of the thousands of soldiers returning this autumn would receive welcome home parades.

The Ministry of Defence finally moved to put pressure on town halls to give returning troops a proper reception and show that their brave work is recognised.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/09/27/nparades127.xml

I am glad that the soldiers returning have survived this misadventure, but it is hardly a Victory Parade is it.

Do you think your local Council should spend money on this?

[monkeyeyes]

Tricky one, Gromit.
As a council tax payer I can probably think of a dozen things I would rather they did first; but...............I think that these young men and women ought to receive some sort of recognition for their willingness to serve in areas of conflict.
As, in the end, it will probably end in a rather humbling and shame-faced withdrawal rather than a 'Victory', perhaps thought ought to be given to a more fitting name for these marches/parades.......

I think arguments about the rightness or wrongness of the Afghan/Iraq war should be set aside when considering this.

[andrea81]

Not sure Gromit, soldiers may be based somewhere, but come from all over, so one councils victory parade will be lost by families from another place!

When my hubby came home from Iraq the last thing he would have wanted is to face a parade when he was on leave!

On the other hand it would show we (the proverbial) do care about them!

[kwicky]

As our troops are now sitting at Basra airport twiddling their thumbs can we now expect a mass exit of British troops from Iraq? I hope so! The Americans who are now bogged down in Iraq with their surge are unlikely to return home for quite a while.

Obviously if we are still following American orders, and the request for us to patrol the Iranian border suggests this, it may put a kybosh on our plans, for some of the troops at least..