Failing to learn the lessons of history

I do get really disappointed sometimes when politicians fail to learn the lessons of history. The difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan are both cases in point. A withdrawal from Basra could have remarkable similarities to the withdrawal from Aden when Harold Wilson left behind a slaughter of those who had been loyal to the British.

Another issue New Labour might need to think about from the Wilson era was the story about the apparent plot to stage a coup and put Lord Mountbatten in charge because of the Army's (and the police's) disgust at the then Labour Party. One of the versions I have heard about that supposed plot was that the Police would have taken over in the short term whilst a significant element of the British Army on the Rhine returned from Germany to assume full control under the leadership of Mountbatten whilst an election was organised.

New Labour have recently managed to break the concordat with the Army and totally disillusion the Police at a time when they are possibly leading us into recession. Now I absolutely would not support any thing of this sort and I am not making a case for it (much as I dislike the deceitful New Labour project), but you do have to wonder whether there is a danger of the past repeating itself? Certainly I can see stories of a plot emerging in future years in the same way that speculation about the mid 70s have emerged.