PLEASE compare the difference to the following:-

1. Wayne Rooney brings his football club into disrepute, allegedly cheats on his wife numerous times but she forgives him, as does his club, who will now pay him £250,000 per week (because he's worth it). Due to all the stress of his alleged cheating and obscene wage increase, he has fled the country on an expensive holiday to get over it all.

I'm sure everyone who will shortly lose their job or benefits will have nothing but sympathy for him (for want of a better word).

2. The bankers bring the country to its knees by mismanagement, dishonesty and greed and still expect to get their bonuses this year (because they're worth it and they may go abroad if we don't give them what they want).

3. An RAF pilot, having flown 140 missions in his harrier jet in Afghanistan, risked his life many times over now faces unemployment as the hatchet men in the Coalition Government (in their infinite wisdom) ground the harrier fleet, effectively throwing them, this brave pilot and many like him on to the scrap heap.

The blatant miscarriage of justice between point three in relation to the other two is both obvious and at the same time heartbreaking. I confess to being in tears as I listened to that brave pilot facing an end to his career and feel it was frankly an insult to even mention Wayne Rooney and the bankers in the same news bulletin.

Our armed forces have been the pride of this country for as long as any of us can remember. We would not be able to live our lives so freely and take so much for granted, were it not for the outstanding commitment, bravery and sacrifice of our servicemen and women.

I am no military expert by any stretch of the imagination, but then neither are Messrs Cameron, Clegg and Osborne (obviously) so could someone please explain to me why it makes sense to have two new aircraft carriers without any planes to fly before 2019?

None of us in civilian life will ever know how much our armed forces go through, from the tough and often gruelling training, to giving so much of themselves in defence of the realm, especially in such hostile lands as Afghanistan.

We ask so much of them and they give it, time and time again willingly, with pride and without question, because that is the way they have been trained and that is why they should all receive our full unequivocal support and respect. I feel sick to my stomach to think that when we owe our armed forces so much, our Government sees fit to make these cuts and undermine our future security.

Our country is a safer place today because of everything our armed forces do and have done in the past, but we should never be complacent enough to believe we can manage with less of them, fewer tanks, fewer RAF bases, etc. Such is the stoic nature of our military, however, that they will no doubt dust themselves off, accept the decisions made and carry on with the job, to the best of their ability.

We should all wear our poppies with particular pride this year.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Maybe that should now read: "Never did we think we would see the day when the few to whom we owe so much would become fewer and fewer."

Susan Neale

Coleford