Should the UK service people get paid for the stories?
Posted by: acad tsunami on 08 April 2007
I think not.
Posted on: 09 April 2007 by Paul Hutchings
As is often said, the only reason they are offered money for their stories is because "we" as a public lap it up. Same reason Jordan and Peter get £1m from Goodbye for their wedding pics etc.
I'll bet it must be great being a squaddie lying in Selly Oak Hospital with a an arm or foot missing reading all about your fellow servicemen's "ordeal" and knowing they probably got £100k for it whilst you probably have a shit pension and little to no support from your employer to look forward to.
I'll bet it must be great being a squaddie lying in Selly Oak Hospital with a an arm or foot missing reading all about your fellow servicemen's "ordeal" and knowing they probably got £100k for it whilst you probably have a shit pension and little to no support from your employer to look forward to.
Posted on: 09 April 2007 by AL4N
there shall be no more selling of their stories 
Posted on: 09 April 2007 by MichaelC
I still do not believe they should sell their stories. At the end of the day they are public servants. Perhaps on their retirement from the armed forces they may sell their stories.
Posted on: 09 April 2007 by BigH47
No.
Posted on: 10 April 2007 by Rasher
So... you have a military force on the front line fighting, and one guy goes:
"Hey, if I get myself caught instead of sitting here firing, this might be my chance to sell my story when I get home, make a million AND become a TV & tabloid celebrity!".
Before you know it, you'll get Channel 4 making a reality TV programme out of it, and hoards of Z-list celebrities (sic) lining up for the front line (Hey..not so bad after all!).
We've had books like this before of course, but not before the conflict in question has ended. This is just cheap and undignified.
"Hey, if I get myself caught instead of sitting here firing, this might be my chance to sell my story when I get home, make a million AND become a TV & tabloid celebrity!".
Before you know it, you'll get Channel 4 making a reality TV programme out of it, and hoards of Z-list celebrities (sic) lining up for the front line (Hey..not so bad after all!).
We've had books like this before of course, but not before the conflict in question has ended. This is just cheap and undignified.
Posted on: 10 April 2007 by Bruce Woodhouse
These are serving members of the Armed Forces. They should do their jobs and get on with it. The publicity makes them individually look tawdry and grasping (and has actually made me less sympathetic). It has also failed as a PR exercise for the UK Forces as a whole.
As for the treatment they endured, those 10 days should make us all think about the inmates of Guantanamo bay, subject to similar abuses for years on end, without scrutiny or support (or indeed recompense).
Bruce
As for the treatment they endured, those 10 days should make us all think about the inmates of Guantanamo bay, subject to similar abuses for years on end, without scrutiny or support (or indeed recompense).
Bruce
Posted on: 12 April 2007 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly
quote:Originally posted by Bruce Woodhouse:
As for the treatment they endured, those 10 days should make us all think about the inmates of Guantanamo bay, subject to similar abuses for years on end, without scrutiny or support (or indeed recompense).
Bruce
Right On.
In the meantime, some tales you've probably NOT read in the Press.
Forward The Rifles.