Acting in my capacity as a damn nuisance member of the public I have had occasion to write to the present Home Secretary several times since he took up his appointment. My letters are passed to the Identity and Passport service and they send replies. These never address the points I have raised but I understand that I am lucky to receive a reply at all. The curious thing is, for a service specialising in identity, that these replies always come from someone with no name. They finish with "Yours faithfully, Signed on behalf of the Identity and Passport Service". I am still waiting for a reply to my latest letter, an open letter available at http://DematerialisedID.com/Open.html. It's nothing important, really. I'm just trying to show how to save the British taxpayer £20bn. Yours faithfully, Signed on behalf of the public, large stamp required.

David Moss, London, UK

D Murray is absolutely right - falsely denying the existtence (and possession) of the tape is surely 'perverting the course of justice' . If it isn't then there is something wrong with our Justice [sic?] system.

David Kirkham, Highland,

So, two years as a Civil Servant gives Mr Parris the right to voice his views on this subject? I spent 22 years in uniform and have been a Civil Servant since my retirement in 1995. Perhaps Mr Parris is unaware of the composition of the Mdeia Communications Branch in MOD? The last time I looked, there was a Captain RN, a Lt Col and a Gp Capt working there. There are many Armed Forces members of all ranks and grades in the MOD Main Building, but not as many as there once were. Defence cuts over the past few years mean that the military have been replaced by "cheaper" civilians, as the defence committments haven't been cut in keeping with manpower reductions. Morale in the Civil Service is at an all-time low, as we seem to be blamed for everything that goes wrong. Maybe Mr Parris should point his pen at the real culprits - those who make the policy.

C Hughes, HUNTINGDON, Cambridgeshire,

what does 'civil' and 'servant' actually mean in civil servant?

james morrell, doncaster, england

Spot on Mr. Parris.

Having successfully dissuaded 2 Graduate Sons from joining the armed forces due to the disgustimg treatement of both current, and ex-Service men and women, by the faceless mandarins of the M.O.D, yet more confirmation for me that they made the right decision.

Thank you, yet again, for a brave, informative and honest article.

Keith, Folkestone, Kent., U.K.

On a lighter note, I hope Matthew's chain-sawing of his dead Scots Pine wasn't deemed necessary simply for tidyness sake. A dead but unfallen native tree can provide woodpeckers with feeding and nesting opportunites for years. On my land I only clear away dead sycamore branches, sycamores being intrusive aliens that don't even rot well in the UK environment.

Lloyd Walters, Lampeter, Wales

It is my understanding that initially the US government did not want this tape to be shown in a British court - since when can a foreign government decide what may or may not be shown or given as evidence in a British court of law? I venture to suggest that along with Blair's decidion not to pursue the alleged Saudi bribery and corruption scandal as not being in the best interests of the country that the public are being extraordinarily ill-served by your elected officials.

Adrian Ryan, Donegal, Ireland

I am dismayed but unsurprised at the latest revelations in the so called ‘Friendly Fire’ incident. I fall on the side of placing the blame on the Pilots and the Ground Controllers, in my humble estimation, that responsibility is split 70/30 against the Pilots. They should have faced disciplinary action.

In military environments such as this, the key to success/safety lies within what they used to call the three ‘C’s – Command – Control – Communication. We know from the tapes that they had Communication, we can also decipher that there was precious little of the other two components, Command and Control.

In my view, the Pilots have a clear responsibility towards those friendly forces/civilians on the ground. That fact their Control failed to ascertain the situation, does not remove the Pilots duty of care. They were not under fire, they could/should have made better use of their position to visually identify the possible targets, and they did not. Even though they must have known that the orange markings should have raised very serious questions in their minds that these were friendly. Their apparent gross misidentification is inexcusable.

In summary, I take the view that the pilots and the ground controllers were negligent. The excuse of the ‘heat of battle’ does not apply here. As for the tapes, I understood that all such aircraft have and operate ‘gun cameras’ if only for post flight analysis of battle damage.

R Tevaskus, Powys,

D Murray speaks of "Murder" & "Negligent Homicide" - there speaks the voice of true ignorance !
Has he ever been in a military uniform, let alone a war ? 'Blue on Blue' will always happen, the risks can be reduced but never eliminated; any one who has ever served in the Military knows that.
I have every sympathy for the two American pilots, who were mislead by their controller, BUT - nothing but contempt for those in the MoD who deliberately misled or even lied to Matty Hull's widow about the existence of the cockpit recording.

John Newbury, Calne, UK

I have long held the view that "civil servants" have forgotten how to be civil in both senses of the word and that they are our servants, paid for by us, the general public. There are also far, far too many of them. The same goes for members of parliament: they too have forgotten they are OUR reperesentatives elected to do OUR bidding. They are our masters and there are far too many of them too. I would rather have a large, stinking, sloppy dog turd on my front door step than any poltician of any hue. Politics is now far and away the most dishonourable job.

Robert Warner, Henley-on-Thames, England

Community Hospitals
One aspect of the debate about Community Hospitals that does not seem to have been discussed is the incidence of MRSA and similar problems. There seems to be strong evidence that small hospitals are able to cope with these problems much more easily than larger ones and that they are therefore a safer option even though, apparently, more expensive to operate.

Roger Sutton, Great Malvern, Worcs

Yet again some common (uncommon in government ranks it would seem) sense from Mr Parris.
Having been present at my daughter's birth - around 200 meters from the Police staiton to Woolworths - I was rather pleased that the maternity hospital was close many years ago.
It has now been demolished and the nearest would have been another 25 minutes or so away and I had only limited facilities in the car on a freezing February day. Having a hospital close to provide the basics - and know when to refer onwards for an emergency (together with facilities to then get an ambulance moving speedily) would seem a much better approach than is being propounded.
It seems to me that this is yet another of the love high tech but couldn't safely put a plank across a brook mentality that seems to run downwards from our Prime Minister.
Maybe we should start putting plaques on monuments - or the sites of closed hospitals -from the Diana Memorial downwards naming and shaming those involved in the decision so they can be held up to derision for posterity and maybe cause others to get advice from those with ordinary day-to-lives before they make such decisions.

John Sutton, London, UK

Though we use expressions such as 'friendly fire' or 'blue on blue' in reality it is murder- in this case probably negligent homocide.

The Government seeks to have company directors subject to manslaughter charges when a death of an employee occured on company premises or company employment. The employer in this case is the MoD and their agreement for employees to serve in a Coalition Force.

The MoD and US DoD obviously failed to provide appropriate safeguards for their employees so they are killed but in this case no 'Directors' are arraigned for the homocide. The fact that it was during a War is no defence as no other combatants were involved or indeed that near.

Moreover there is a cover-up and though playing with words is clever there was obvious determination not to support an inquest.

So when do we see the MoD & DoD 'Directors' charged and in Court?

D Murray, Eastbourne,

I'm still wondering what happened to those responsible for a career-boosting financial short-term (I'm guessing a sunk ship ended up costing more, ignoring the human aspect, of course) saving by opting out of fireproof conduiting on HMS Sheffield.

Eventually there will be a reckoning, and one thing these guys do do well is keep records.

Who was it Douglas Adams reckoned would be first against the wall?

Peter Martin, Ross on Wye, UK

The pilot made a tragic mistake. But the decision to lie to his family was a conscious, deliberate act. The people who did this must be named and disciplined if only to act as a deterrent to other civil servants.

Barry G, London,

The lack of training in armoured veicle (AFV)recognition is really the key to the tragic error made by the A10 pilots. All those pilots should be able to recognise whether the vehicles were Allied or Iraqi and confirmation is made by the recognition panels. It really does stagger belief that they could not recognise the type of vehicle even after making low passes. They were of course National guard and not regular airforce. The US forces have a poor record in the Middle East at aircraft/vehicle recognition. They were unable to recognise a Black Hawk helicopter, only flown by the US and shot it down over northern Iraq a few years ago, with the loss of about 15 personnel.. Sadly the tapes tell you how gung-ho and ill disciplined this particular squadron was. Good training for war helps prevent these tragedies I hope they will have learnt. All the crewroom walls should be plastered with AFV recognition charts.
Chris Grover, Bromyard, Herefordshire PS no papers here yet which is why one is at the screen

C J Grover, Bromyard, UK

Dear Mathew,
I couldn't agree more about the M.O.D. They have a culture of resistance but what about the Defence Secretary and the Veterans' Minister surely they are culpable and at some point must have lied about the video?

Their duty of care is to the serviceman's family not the guilty US ill trained pilots and the US Govt. Who are the british officials who sat at the inquiry letting the two pilots go free?

It stinks to high heaven, I sincerely hope the gutless cowards at the MOD are exposed and identified.

Ian Stuart, workington, cumbria

If we, the public, lied to the authorities like this, we would be locked up. However, they - the authorities - can lie to us, the public , whenever they choose, with total impunity. Who decides that the double standards are acceptable, and why are the Opposition parties in Parliament not creating a big fuss?

Doug, Glasgow,

Matthew, your analysis of the use of the health service is spot-on and, so long as Britain's 'health service' is run by people with no knowledge whatsoever of the health business, then it will continue to be the shabby, mismanaged, ineffective mess it has been for so long.

John A Blackley, Austin, TX, USA

I think Thunderbolt is one name for that type of aircraft, not a missile. And I think the aircraft attacked with the A-10's gatling gun, not missiles.

J Kennedy, Reading, UK

It is a disturbing story about the death of Lance Corporal Matty Hull and the culture of deceit by the MOD. This culture of deceit and lies is also very evident in the manner that the MOD have dealth with the issue of the PJM medal awarded to former British servicemen by the King of Malaysia for their service in Malaya and Borneo during the 60's and 70's.
Veterans were told that the Queen had given permission for the medal to be accepted but could not be formally worn. Efforts to have this decision changed has met with lies, misinformation and scurrilous efforts by senior public servants in the MOD to stifle debate. Where is the accountabiltity for those highly paid anti -public servants. Letters to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary go unanswered. Not only is it a sad reflection on the government's attitude towards veterans but also to those brave men and women currently serving.

Ivor Rich, Palmwoods, QLD, Australia

Matthew Parris is right to highlight the normality that lying plays in life today. We went to war in Iraq based on a lie although this may also to be referred to as incompetence or imperfect information. Our political leaders set the example and are called colourful when lying to their wives regarding unfaithfulness. The word honourable is still used in Parliament but one wonders if anyone has looked up the definition recently.

Many people seem to feel that dishonesty is acceptable as everybody is and when shame no longer exists then law breaks down and all do what is right in their own eyes - witness our overfull prisons. We live at a time when good and bad are regarded as no more than a personal or group opinion and the MOD action is but one example of this belief mechanism. A conscionsness of our arrogance is a start in the right direction in regaining values which demand truthful behaviour for its own sake.

Robert Whitrow, Northampton,

Again & again, those in charge whether civil servants, the MOD or Ministers choose to lie and/or hide facts from the public when it embarrassing, awkward or just plain inconvenient. When the facts do start emerging some time in the future, theres a natural outrage not over the original error, sin or mistake but at the cover up that was attempted. Previously we had the Watergate cover up that did for Nixon and maybe a cover up will do for Blair over loans for peerages. This case over friendly fire was a very sad mistake for which lessons should be learned, but hearing the sound footage I feel just as sorry for the pilot as I do for the bereaved family. I agree with Matthew Parrish, the real crime is the outright lies made by both the Pentagon and the MOD to the family which prevented closure. These cowards in charge never learn from their own mistakes or history, and try to brazen it out by blatant untruths. Its time we had real criminal sanctions against these spinners of lies.

Mike, Denia,