The death of Sgt Steven Darbyshire in Afganistan is yet another casualty of that unwinnable and illegal war.
I know it shouldn't affect me any differently from the hundreds of those brave soldiers who have also died but the fact that he was a local lad makes me feel it more. Yes a life is a life and all are equally precious and as sorely missed but I can't help being especially sad when a Wiganer loses his life as a result of government policy.
He will have walked the same streets, visited the same pubs and shops as I have and no doubt been as proud of his town as I am and that seems to give me a bond with him closer than the bond I share with all the other brave lads.
I am proud to have shared our town with him.
I extend my sympathies to his family and my contempt to those who sent him, a man who joined to serve Queen and Country to die in a war waged not in the interests of our country but the interests of global capitalism.
My message to his family. Keep your chins up and remember your hero with pride, as we will.
My message to those who sent him, Rot in Hell.
