Peter Rhodes on NHS letters, Labour in Downing Street and how Israel was caught off-guard years ago
In the row over thousands of NHS letters not being posted (computer says no), it's worth asking how important some of those letters are. This week I received an NHS note advising me to get flu and covid jabs. The letter is dated October 4. I had both jabs on September 12.
In December 1987 I was in Israel on a routine press trip which suddenly turned into something darker. A few nights before our arrival, two Palestinian guerillas had flown into northern Israel on hang gliders. One of them surprised an Israeli army unit and killed six soldiers before he was shot dead. The so called “Night of the Gliders” triggered the first Intifada. Israel, then as this week, was in a state of shock and grief and was deeply embarrassed at being caught-off guard.
The image that remains with me from that assignment was a new Israeli housing development in Jerusalem. At first sight it looked like a doughnut with a circle of flats overlooking a central courtyard. And then you noticed the strangely narrow entrance from the street outside and the slim, concrete-framed windows overlooking the courtyard. As our guide explained, any terrorists attacking the flats would be channelled into the courtyard where they would be shot by the armed citizens within. These Israelis were fully aware that while some Palestinians wanted a peaceful solution, others dreamed of driving the Jews into the sea and utterly destroying the state of Israel.
Thirty-six years ago in this unending stand-off, the Israelis were literally building for Armageddon. Today, in a hurricane of missiles and a sadistic, depraved orgy of killing and hostage-taking, the world has a terrible glimpse of how that final battle might begin.
Meanwhile in UK politics, Labour put up a good enough show at their conference to pave the way into Downing Street. Keir Starmer is never going to be Mr Charisma but he is a decent man and deserves his spell in power. My only reservation is that, because there is no magic money tree, after two years of a Labour government, it will look and act exactly like a Tory government.
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