East Midlands: Your comments on the programme...

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Some of your comments on the latest programme...

On prison death...

Today's news item on the death of Martin Green, a young man in his twenties, who dehydrated to death in the 'care' of Blakenhurst Prison in 2002, was shocking in the extreme. This father-of-four was owed a legal duty of care, and had a right to life. I applaud the Politics Show for giving coverage to this shocking case. Effective scrutiny of the penal system is very important in highlighting such horrific deaths. Mr Green's death represents a failing on the part of the Prison Service, and it is the duty of the media to remain vigilant and monitor the failings of those in power, whether it be the Ministry of Justice, or the Prison Service.
Pauline Campbell

Have we become Savages? There is a clear Gap in services with no half-way house for mental ill-health, poor financing and provision
Rodrigo Portico, Ashfield

On bomber command...

I think this issue is complicated by the Aircrew Europe Star medal regulations, which exclude many Bomber Command veterans who flew their sorties after 5 June 1944. There also appears to be some debate about the status of the France and Germany Star (though I am hardly an expert on this). Discrepancies and perceived inequalities need to be addressed. A single Bomber Command medal would solve the issue.
It would also have the merit of giving surviving veterans a feeling that their contribution to ending the war is finally acknowledged. It would then be up to British society as a whole to take responsibility for discussing whether the ends justitifed the means - instead of quietly offloading responsibility onto Bomber Command.
But there is another, more pessimistic take on this. Over recent years, Britain has become more and more aware of the injustices of the bombing campaign. The contribution to rebuilding Dresden's Church of our Lady, and the generally sympathetic reviews of Jörg Friedrich's book "The Fire" are surely evidence of that. Giving Bomber Command veterans their own medal may serve to undermine this trend. In fact, I suspect that this is precisely what is intended. Not by veterans - but by those determined to resist what they see as attempts to "sully" Britain's war-effort. We should not make veterans into pawns in a game of memory politics.
My own view is ambivalent. I am both sympathetic to the veterans, and I am critical, and I sometimes feel ill-equipped to judge from the armchair of hindsight.
But please feel free to contact me (0115 923 1054), or I'll try to ring you. I can certainly provide information on recent discussion in Germany about the bombing war, should that be helpful. There was even a recent two-part TV series on the bombing of Dresden - in which a British pilot falls in love with a German woman, who helps him to recognise the crime of British "terror bombing". Interestingly, the current view in Germany is very much a reprise of the East German position on the bombing war - something of the GDR that has survived...
Professor Bill Niven, Nottingham

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