[THE PAPER that supports our boys recently commissioned…]

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THE PAPER that supports our boys recently commissioned a poll which showed Thatcher's war party had a 22% lead over Foot's camp followers.

That piece of news was Sun. But some other questions asked in the same poll have not so far found space in its pages.

Pollsters asked Mr and Mrs Cross Section "Who is standing up best for Britain in reporting the Falklands The good news for the Sun was that its response ente hast tha Mailu Mirror hu rate vedt ut wauy muus vy 4%. The bad news was that the Mirror's 5% and the Sun's 9% scores were dwarfed by those who opted for the BBC which gained 38% of replies and easily topped the poll.

The Sun trailed behind almost everyone else including ITN, 26%; and Don't Knows, 11%.

There is no truth in the rumour that the Admiral of the Fleet is vainly seeking volunteers for an "Our Boys that Support the Sun" group.

However, in the spirit of unity, let us look at those things which unite the media, not, those things, whic unites the media more thoroughly than the conviction thạt the Argies are a pushover.

It was summed up in the News of the World headline last week "We've got 'em on the run" and in the Daily Mail the next day even more categorically "Victory in a week!"

The picture that emerged was of frightened conscripts left without food or training, trembling at the inexorable advance of British forces -whose major problem would be in travelling over SOggy ground without getting their socks wet.

dronicauy ine Argenunt Arrantima press was conveying a similar picture of British troops at exactly the same time.)

Stories of inferior opposition are as old as war itself and are certainly an integral part of the history of British imperialism. British troops are invariably cheerful, humorous,:, and folk philosophers.

Foreign troops are emotional, cowardly, and liable to panic at the first signs of battle. As (orporal Jones from Dad's Army was fond of saying: "They don't like cold steel, sir. They don't like it a bit." • The BBC is just as guilty as the sun. Keports continnothing,. .ually play. on. law ,marale amongst Argentine troops and reports of rows within the airforce - always from unnamed sources. Censorship exaggerates this tendency. Eye-witness accounts are broadcast describing Argentine planes being shot down. But the same reports do not mention direct hits on British ships which the reporters have seen, until that news is released, little by little by the Ministry of Defence up to two days later, on a pattern of first of all saying there has been slight damage; then that the slight damage has got a little worse; and finally that the chin has cunk stup las sunn.

It is true of course that Argentine forces are largely conscripts who are poorly trained compared to the British invasion force. But they are still a professional and highly motivated army. Their pilots have shown themselves skillful at flying through the enormous barrage of missiles and antiaircraft_fire. The mounting toll of British ships gives the lie to the basically racist description of Argentine forces being displayed for the British public.

Above all, there is perhaps this in the Argentine forces: a sincere belief that the islanas are. nome lerr- la mass a taarr at lact haino liherated That opinion has been held all their lives, unlike the British forces who for the most part have had only seven weeks acclimatisation to the concept of the islands being inalienably British.

Finally it is amazing how all the "technical problems" about. sending pictures vanished as soon as a picture of the Union Jack being raised on the Falklands was taken.

Funny, too, how reminiscent those pictures of British troops being offered mugs of tea by the Falklanders have proved. They call to mind scenes in Belfast and Derry in 1969, when troops were welcomed by Catholics in working class areas.

The circumstances are totally different and no insinuation should be drawn. from them that there will be 13 years of hard struggle ahead with little to show. After all, the Falklands are much more straightforward than Northern Ireland. Even the hills look like Scotland, we are assured Maybe that's why these ill-trained Argies can't stand the pace. At this rate it will be all over by Christmas! cratic reforms within the Labour party - mandatory reselection of MPs, electoral college - the right wing have responded not by attempting to directly overturn these reforms but with attacks on the fairly liberal internal regime that has existed over recent years.

First came the refusal of the NEC to endorse Peter Tatchell as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey on political grounds, despite the fact that the constitu-

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published as you might expect. prominently in the