“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over GIRoA [the Afghan government], usually as a result of government corruption, ethnic bias and lack of connection with local religious and tribal leaders”.

That is a direct quote from a NATO report. This blog has been telling you for six years that the Afghan government rigged its elections, is enormously corrupt, full of warlords and deeply implicated in the heroin trade. That the “Afghan army” is a tribal construct based on the Northern Alliance, and channels weapons to warlords. That no development is really happening. That the government of Afghanistan is comprised of individuals who make money from war and have no interest in peace.

All this has been at odds with the mainstream media narrative, which consists of embedded journalists and visiting ministers telling us that British troops are bringing civilisation to Afghanistan, roads are being built, markets opened and little girls going to school. The leaking of a candid NATO report on the genuine situation has brought us one day of reporting which jars with the general narrative flow.

Watch the propaganda machine go into top gear and more of the same old lies pouring forth in the next few days.

Personally I don’t care if he is called His Holy Magnificence Viceroy Goodwin of the Water of Leith. The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Battenberg familiy three times offered to honour me (LVO, OBE and CVO) and three times I politely refused. I did not think my worth as an individual would be enhanced by being covered in bling by Greco-German midgets.

Come to think of it, German Liz has been subsidising Greek Phil for sixty years. See how modern the Royal Family is – they even provided the model for the Euro.

Goodwin is a distraction from the fact that the resources of socirty are being channelled to the super-rich and unproductive as never before. Thousands of “bankers” in London are getting millions each in bonuses. These people are so regardless of the views of society and of the plight of others as to be truly sociopathic.

Let them keep their baubles, and wear them on their prison uniforms.