It was pleasure to honour our troops at Cardiff today. It was unfortunate that some of those interviewed tried to twist the respect of the crowds for the soldiers into approval of the mission impossible in Afghanistan.
Defence Minister Liam Fox was pretty neutral in his remarks. Privately he is agonising about the task he daily thrusts on our brave soldiers. His truthful remarks about the futility of improving education in a 13th century land were not successfully airbrushed out of history. They will return to haunt him.
Protocol on these occasions is crucial to some. I have always believed it's best to take a lowly seat and wait for the meek to inherit the earth. By accident rather than design I found myself sitting in the front row of the VIPs. Kevin Brennan was similarly favoured.
I noticed one MP and several AMs coralled on some concrete steps on the side of the main event. Alun Cairns and his wife were there, plus Jeff Cuthbert and another Tory Andrew Davies. I told Alun they were lucky to get those seats as originally the AMs were designated a viewing area for the event on the Bristol Channel Island of Flat Holm.
The Lib-Dem leader of Cardiff made an interesting slip of the tongue in saying that he was 'heartened by the pleasure of the Prince of Wales'. He corrected it to 'presence'. Since then he has probably repeated that phrase a thousand times. It happens to all of us.
It was a great day. Cardiff and Cardiff Bay look beautiful. They staged a fine event. Today the soldiers were applauded. Tomorrow we must continue our work to end this pointless conflict.
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