Not Just a Covid Expert

Back in the autumn of 1976 my Dad came back from Thornton Watlass pub in the Yorkshire Dales.

“Well, I never knew there were so many experts on Northern Ireland, drinking in The Buck Inn!”

That’s what he exclaimed. He had just come back from a six-month tour of duty at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland, having also taken part in Operation Motorman.

“Nuke West Belfast.”

“Shoot all the Catholics.”

“Send in the tanks!”

“Boot all the Prods to England!”

etc etc ad nauseum. Every single patron of The Buck Inn knew more about counter-terrorism than this Northern Ireland veteran. Impressive, eh?

Fast forward to March 2022 and my workplace. Amazing. Everyone is an expert on Putin, sanctions, the Geneva Convention, and much much more…

I stand my ground when I tell my colleagues, this is how it is.

“Anyway, Samuel Peeps Dairyist, what do you know about Putin’s war in Ukraine?”

Me: “Apart from a degree in Russian Studies, three years as an intelligence operator in the Intelligence Corps, and watching the Russians since 1975?”

All this experience is, of course, useless, compared to YouTube videos produced by celebs, with whose views you already agree.

Long live the viral YouTube video!