Pen Farthing - Afghan Animal Rescue

I don't doubt he'll be lionised by some animal lovers, typified by unmarried ladies of a certain age in shabby grey cardigans thick with pet hairs who say that they like dogs/cats more than humans, because at least animals don't CHEAT on you!

However, I can't help but notice that he seems like an utter merchant banker. Threatening to turn his chubby pot-noodle hoards on any official that hinders the pet pest on his doubtlessly shitlittered march to the airport and freedom, in front of all those mothers handing their babies over walls.

British people really need to come to their senses about animals.

 

True, you should see people's faces when I tell them that I like eating guinea pig in Peru.

 

Its very obvious there is a Tory smear campaign on social media against Pen Farthing this morning, instigated by Ben Wallace and his political advisor Quniton, in order to deflect from their failure

Torys up and down the land have been mobilised... current MPs... ex Tory MPs... the Telegraph... the Spectator... all started tweeting the same smear

What has really surprised me though is finding out this morning that Clive is a Tory! Who would have guessed!

 

He won't answer until later as he's out shooting pheasant.

 

FTFY

 

He's a bit of a ****. The issue is not and never has been space for doggies on the plane as they are in the hold, and indeed the plane offered an extra 130 seats for humans over and above his team. The issue was the use of precious troop and admin resources to get them to and through the airport.

HOWEVER by taking sides on this and getting animated you are letting the Tories succeed in their distraction tactics. What we are arguing about this morning is this sideshow rather than:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ice-ignored-pleas-help-afghans-mps-evacuation
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...erupts-as-british-soldiers-fly-home-6b0c2x9tx

Anyway, as the politics section has de facto come back, with everybody apparently united against our ****** government, can I just so some discord with you-couldn't-make-it-up part 12,679:

 

What is that saying Clive… The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

 

I see you've bought into the MSM demonisation...if you watch his videos, all they needed was a call sign and landing permit.

 

Troop and admin time so precious that they had time to put a car on a plane home ahead of people and animals 4 days ago

 

You're right about the diversion, but Farthing is indeed an arse - and has diverted effort from getting people and equipment out. It has been pointed out that if the dogs are riddled with disease they might have to be put down when they arrive.

 

Exactly. All easy peasy in the middle of everything that's been going on in Kabul this past fortnight.

 

Well of course they halted all the refugee evacuations to rescue the animals.

 

So much of a diversion that.... the UK troops finished up and ****ed off home last night 2 days before the deadline, and Pen's flight was the last one.

You do know nowzad has been reconnecting dogs with ex squaddies for years, all animals receive a full treatment of jabs? Not one disease riddled. You are repeating yet more Tory smear.

 

Sarcasm aside, all I'm saying is it is/was a far, far bigger undertaking than Pen and his social media fanbois ever portrayed it. You've also overlooked the fact he wanted to bring all his staff with him, something that was always going to be prevented to the Taliban.

 

Loads of flights were leaving with spare capacity, because of the chaos on the ground and because they had to maintain their flight windows. It was certainly not down to Farthing.

Farthing is hardly my cup of tea, but anyone rescuing animals is at the very worst not hurting humans. He’s undoubtedly a brave guy and was right in the thick of it when the bombs went off. He does seem to have put himself on the line for Afghans that helped him.

How much sympathy he deserves for choices that put himself in harms way in the first place is a personal opinion. He was a commando in Afghanistan and rather than forget about the place he appears to have been working through that experience by immersing himself in it.

I don’t think he deserves any spite, but time will tell if he becomes a poster boy for the daftness and eccentricity of empire dreaming.

 

What does the undertaking involve?

Unless I'm mistaken, the Ambassador stayed at the airport processing visas for people who would have been prevented from leaving by the Taliban, so that argument is pretty thin.

 

I said IF they are diseased. It was reported as coming from a civil servant - no idea how he votes.

 

Maybe I'm missing something but what's not to like about Farthing?

 

What makes me sick is that if the animals were left behind, they would have a better quality of life and longer life expectancy than the humans he didn't take.

So many idiots crying and wringing hands about animals while people will be slaughtered by fanatics.

 

Why do you think saving animals and saving people is mutually exclusive? Why does it have to be a choice?

We are where we are because Joe Biden threw everyone under a bus, and the UK government were too incompetent or too lazy to recognise the warning signs and take action early and quickly

Blaming animal lovers for that is swallowing the distraction campaign that the UK government want you to hook line and sinker

 

Sorry, I don"t read the Mail. I read The Times, where you get both sides of the stòry.

I haven't been to Kabul and don't work in the FO, so I'm not in possession of all the facts, but it seems to me prima facie that the fuss he has caused must have caused a few people to turn away from their main job to deal with his issues.

 

The Spectator wrote a piece along the lines you are thinking, and later added an update after being contacted by a trusted MOD source:



Perhaps your trust in the Times is misplaced?

 

OK, fine. The Times didn't tell me what to think, it reported the story (in several ways) and I made up my own mind. If I was wrong, it wouldn't be the first time (probably second or third). But you can't deny that at least the Government's press officers had an extra job to do.

But my main outrage is over the Embassy staff leaving before all sensitive papers had been destroyed. I doubt Raab was directly responsible for that, but his going on holiday against advice set a very bad tone. Top prority should have been getting our Afghan helpers out.

 

u shire m8?

MWDs (Military Working Dogs) are highly (and expensively) trained assets whom I can't see being 'dumped' by the Army/RAF.

 

Pakistan government source 'Raab didn't make a single call to anyone in Afghan or Pakistan in the 6 months before the crisis. He just didn't care.'

 

Afghan Animal Arse is a superb title though.

 

That makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to the obvious. Nor does the fact the animals travelled in the 'hold'. We've seen photos of up to 800 people crammed into the hold of cargo planes. The space occupied by fluffy pets could have been occupied by humans. Perhaps some of the 150 British citizens unfortunately 'left behind' or some of the thousands of Afghans who assisted our very questionable cause over the years.

 

I can assure you, you have not seen 800 people crammed into the hold of a commercial air liner, which was the plane crowd funded and used to bring pen, the animals, and (should have been but for Joe Biden) the staff out.

That would be illegal, the airline lose its operators license, and the aircrew lose their jobs.

Youi have seen 800 people crammed into the load space of a military C17, a space which is multipurpose, including for transporting people.

 

Personally, I don't think they were ever likely to get out. The odds were always against them, especially as Farthing wanted them to travel together in convoy to the airport. I'm presuming (and maybe I'm wrong) the precondition for them being granted papers to travel here were they had to come with him.

And during those few days you refer to, while Farthing was making abusive phone calls to MOD officials threatening to destroy them if they didn't fulfill all of his demands, the Taliban were preventing Afghans leaving. Yet he continued to demand the British government get his staff and their families out - even though he knew the paperwork for that was sorted and that was really all the UK govt could do - and encouraged his supporters to lobby for that too. I understand a lot did so in a similar manner to Pen.

The whole episode is only a good news story if you don't scratch the surface.