Is Brown moving away from clumsy individual letters to mass verbal condolences?

Today the death of the 100th British soldier in Afghanistan this year was announced and the prime minister Gordon Brown said his "thoughts were with the families and friends of all the 100 British personnel who have died this year." The dead soldier from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment brings the number of fatalities since Britain got itself involved in this futile "little" exercise in bringing "democracy" to the Hindukush, while ridding the world of terrorism, to 237. Moreover, with 10,000 British troops now in place to help General McChrytal's surge the number of British dead is not only going to increase, it is also going to increase dramatically.

Gordon, therefore, saying that his thoughts are with all one hundred who have died this year might be a demonstration of pragmatism by that "great" statesman. Yes, sending verbal condolences out to one hundred at once is a good idea, especially at a time when there are going to be so many letters to catch up on. Moreover, when we bear in mind that he has had difficulties in the past in getting letters of condolence out promptly, one letter arriving two years late, and when we consider that those handwritten letters that he does send tend to be scribbles that are full of spelling mistakes, Gordon really is doing a bit of quick thinking.

When, oh when, will people begin to realise that these idiots do not care one iota for their own, never mind for the thousands and thousands of innocents who are dying in Aghanistan?