For all, here is a sample letter provided by Tony Morland, to send to your MPs: Dear (Your MP), Now the Scottish Referendum is out of the way and the conference season is coming to an end, I’m afraid I am compelled to write to you on the subject of the recent ‘Independent’ medal review. I will try to keep this as brief as possible, but the bottom line is apart from a few token gestures it looks like another stich-up. The case for the National Defence Medal (NDM) is extremely strong and cogent. There are no real weaknesses in the case, indeed far weaker cases have been accepted By Her Majesty for our Commonwealth Kin. The issues are clear: • Lack of openness and transparency with Sir Johns final report and the process • A greater bias given to the MoD pre medal meeting which was extremely brief to say the least and again lacked transparency. • An HD committee badly briefed and again a lack of transparency and again a false representation of costs. • Zero no opportunity to discuss any of these findings. • This 2yr+ medal review has discredited itself and has turned out to be little better than the two week previous MOD discredited review. • FOI information contradicts the costings used to make the decision. • FOI rejected for any information surrounding the HD Committee. • The countrys internal systems in the way it treats its veterans are poor and designed to obstruct legitimate call for change. • The review announcement made when MPs on holiday and the last possible moment before the Lords also went on Holiday. • Disgraceful and disappointing way to treat the countys veterans. • Campaign is factual, credible and merits support, we deserve a fair hearing and that has still failed to materialise. • Recent medal decisions such as the NATO Africa medal, and some of the criteria around the Libya, and this latest tinkering with the volunteer reserve forces medal (VRSM) has only reinforced the case that the HD committee (and MoD) have lost all credibility and continue to perpetuate an already woefully inconsistent medal system which is no longer fit for purpose. I would like the matter raised again, although I have little confidence in our archaic honours system or the HD Committee, or the mandarins that rally to protect it. Despite all evidence to suggest it is in need of a root and branch re-evaluation and change, I fear there are too many in our ‘civil service’ who recoil at any sniff of ‘change’, and sadly that may go much further. I must raise the issue via my MP, I will leave it to your judgement how to tackle, but I’m afraid the promises made to veterans at the start of the process have not been kept (again) and no line in the sand has been achieved only more resentment and frustration. It saddens me greatly that I have been forced to go down this road again whilst all the time older veterans continue to die without proper recognition. Kind regards,
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:36:00 +0000
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