Oxford-based singer/songwriter Dean Johnson's new single is set to be a hit with the troops serving overseas.
The song, about a Christmas time romance, has been exclusively pre-released on MoD websites where it can be downloaded for free. It has already had 12,000 downloads to the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan (so they've all got a copy then).
Dean said: “Some who have listened to it have said the character sounds like a soldier who is having a night out when he’s home on leave. Everybody really likes the vibe on this record and in particular the connection to the war.”

Wirral Globe:Sending festive cheer

Bedminster Down School in Bristol failed to observe the two minute silence on Armistice Day - because it would disrupt classes. The headteacher, Marius Frank, held that it was impractical to interrupt

lessons - particularly PE and cookery!
What an example this headteacher is setting for his students! He didn't think it worth setting aside 2 MINUTES at 11am as a mark of respect for those who have given up their lives for their country and for the freedom we have today.
What values are the likes of Frank fostering in our children? They're meant to be teaching citizenship but what they in fact teach is that it's OK to be disrespectful, that it's OK to mock our national traditions. Named after the famous consul who reorganised the Roman army c100BC, he should know better- but then perhaps he's just a "mule".
Schoolgirl Hayley Thomas, 15, said: ''I have always been taught to respect those who sacrificed their lives to make life how it is today."

Well said Hayley - you need to give your headteacher a citizenship lesson!

The Mail: Outrage as school fails to observe poppy day silence

Patrick Bishop has been announced as the winner of the Army's inaugural "booker" prize for his novel 3 Para: Afghanistan, Summer 2006 THIS is war.

From 4,000 books on military non-fiction a shortlist of 10 was chosen and from these serving members of the Armed Forces could vote for their preferred read. The 10 nominees were:

The Times: Tales of 'hearts and minds' in Afghanistan
Amazon: Patrick Bishop 3 Para

According to an article in today's Sun newspaper, staff, police and officials attending official receptions in Buckingham Palace are being instructed NOT to wear the Remembrance Poppy because it might offend foreign ambassadors. This instruction came from bureaucrats in Britain's Foreign Office and was upheld by a palace spokesman who thought the Poppy clashes with ceremonial evening dress.

If this wasn't so insulting to Britain's Armed Forces, it would be comic.

The Sun: Poppies banned in Palace

Russian soldiers in replica World War II gear re-enact the events of 1941 when troops marched directly to the front from Moscow's Red Square to fight the invading Germans.

The Sun reports that a shop girl working for Christian Dior was ordered to take off her poppy – because it breached a dress code.
A manager told her to wear a Dior badge instead and confiscated the poppy, saying: “It’s a sweet gesture but it’s not really uniform policy.”

During the Second World War, French fashion designer Dior made dresses for the wives of Nazis and countrymen who collaborated with them.

There you have it - Dior: pure poison

HRH Prince Harry leaves Plymouth's HM Naval Base in an armoured Jackall after launching the Khumbu Challange '09. The challange is an adventure training exercise for wounded service personnel, many injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will take place at the base of Mount Everest during October/November 2009. The
Exercise will involve 85 people of differing mobility and experience, from veteran mountaineers to novice climbers, who will tackle a series of Nepalese peaks. The aim is to enhance their current rehabilitation programmes and reintroduce them to life in a military environment.
Having served in Afghanistan for 10 weeks earlier this year, Prince Harry has been keen to show his support for those wounded in conflict.

Nepal News: British prince to launch expedition in Mt Everest
The Telegraph: Prince Harry launches Khumbu Challenge

This excellent, well-designed website was only launched a month ago and is already proving to be a valuable resource with a wide range of information on the UK's Armed Forces (especially if you're looking for a job).

HMForces.co.uk

The Skill Force scheme, launched eight years ago, brings former military staff into schools to teach children everything from first aid and team work to how to fill in a curriculum vitae or excel at sport. The Skill Force programme now has 41 teams working with 9,000 children a year in schools across the UK.

By the end of the courses the proportion of participants who are at risk of being expelled is cut from 36% to 6%, according to Jonny Gritt, the programme’s leader. Military values - self-discipline, team work, mutual support, motivation – are the key to the scheme's success.
The Tories are so impressed with Skill Force that they want to expand it fivefold, sending more ex-servicemen into classrooms to become role models for bored, disaffected and shy children. Gritt wants his instructors to be able to take a one-year teaching certificate course – a move supported by the Tories, who would give £9,000 bursaries to ex-servicemen who are graduates to train as teachers. They have also proposed the introduction of a British “GI bill”, which would pay for soldiers to take a degree after discharge.

Despite the open hostility of many of Britain's teaching fraternity to all things military, it is ironic that it is ex-Service personnel who are achieving in our schools what the teachers themselves have failed to do.

The Times: Quick march to school success
Aquila Victrix: Skill Force capitalising on military leadership skills