Shropshire Star

Peter Rhodes on elites, enemies and a tempting trick with a computer

Two cases have come to light of police officers deliberately weighing down keys on their computers to create the false impression that they were working, when they were not. On particularly stressful days I can understand the temptation. What could possibly go wronggggggggggggggggggggggg

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Supporting image for story: Peter Rhodes on elites, enemies and a tempting trick with a computer
Prince Harry. Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP

A council in Hertfordshire has rejected plans for a military parade to mark VE Day on May 8 on the grounds that it would be for what one councillor called “the elite". But then wars tend to be fought and won by elites, by the brightest and bravest of their generations, often from opposite ends of society. I once read a comment by an officer in the early weeks of the First World War in 1914 as working class lads went into battle commanded by the upper crust of our public schools. He noted that “it's only the top ten per cent and the bottom ten per cent who are fighting". Britain's armed forces rely heavily on such people - elites, if you wish to call them that. It will be a sad day when we no longer cherish them.