We need a new army

Here we go again, off to foreign parts with our sophisticated forces to wage war on what is seen as a backward foe.
But it isn't backward. IS is a modern, fluid force with clever leadership which knows how to achieve strategic success on the battlefield and can use modern technology to get maximum impact in the world.
And we are not sophisticated. We have the old army-navy-air force-nuclear weapons mindset which assumes that our enemy will be another country with an army, navy, air force and nuclear weapons.
The world doesn't look like that today. Today's enemies know how to crash planes into buildings, blow up trains, behead people and put the videos on YouTube.
In the old world, all the Brits knew they were good guys and the Germans were bad buys. Today, Brits come in many flavours and opinions on who is an enemy and who isn't come in many flavours as a result.
IS is a dreadful murderous bunch of extremists. It is also bang up to date.
Air strikes are a 20th century solution to a 21st century problem.
We need a new army to defeat terrorism, one which works in societies, not on the battlefield.
War should be the last resort, not something we should rush into because we are outraged by the images we see on YouTube.

Cow'rin, tim'rous beasties

I'm sorry the Scots voted No. There are very few opportunities for radical political change and they ought to be taken when they appear.
Why did the Scots chicken out? People don't like change. Politicians don't want to lose power. 
Power exlains why politicians can take seemingly opposite views with a straight face: Scotland should not go it alone. We are better together. 
Britain should go it alone, we are better apart from Europe.
If Scotland had voted Yes, Westminster politicians would have had less power. If we work more closely with Europe, Westminster politicans will have less power.
Forget all this nonsense about making things better for people. Frighten people with bogey men and tell them you are the only ones who can save them.
Your pounds and pensions will be worthless, your banks and jobs will crash, plague, pesilence, doom. The church and the press have used this tactic for years. Scare people and they will stay in line.
The Scots who believed they could cope on their own had a typically sharp reply to these tactics. 'If we are better together, why aren't we better now?'
Alex Salmond gave Scotland a brilliant opportunity to show these doomsayers they are wrong. An independent Scotland would survive. It would thrive.
Sadly, there are more wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beasties in Scotland than there are bravehearts.