Shock-horror – small children allowed to look through army sniper sight near Stirling! How long before they turn into killing machines? Apparently, the Army had some of its equipment on show at the recent Armed Forces Day in Stirling and it let some kids touch it. Any tacky journalist can see a chance of generating a story here. There must be someone out there who thinks this is a bad idea. Why yes, there’s at least one so-called Human Rights lawyer and a spokesman for the Quakers who will speak out against this outrage. I wonder how many Human Rights lawyers and Quakers survived Dachau or Bergen-Belsen. That’s of course providing that looking through the sights of a sniper rifle or an anti-tank missile launcher will indeed start children on the slippery slope to becoming a mindless mercenary killers in the pay of an evil British government. Perhaps we should stop children from learning to read – that way they will be unable to take in the war pornography that is an army recruiting leaflet. I myself remember that it was seeing an army parachute display team dropping into the carpark at East Kilbride Town Centre that came close to setting me on the road to ruin. The news that I had 12 ½ years to wait before I would be allowed to take the Queen’s Shilling didn’t discourage me in the least. The wife of one of my mates wouldn’t let her sons have toy guns. They made their own out of Lego. Somehow I don’t think their dad lives in fear that this means that they will quit school so, in Winston Churchill’s words, “We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do us harm”. Thank goodness there are brave journalists out there prepared to take a stand. We can all sleep better knowing we can never do too much to discourage interest in our own defence. Never remember that if you want peace, prepare for war.