Blog Relations

My generation at Hampton School turned out two war reporters.  One, Stephen Farrell, has been in the news after he was kidnapped and rescued in Afghanistan.   The other, Peter Beaumont, has recently published a book on the trauma of witnessing war horrors for years.   Last week Peter wrote about Stephen in the Guardian.

I played rugby with Stephen.  He was rather better at it than me, although I had plenty of enthusiasm.  When I recall his ruby-playing, I can understand how he acquired the reporter’s nickname, “Robohack”.   I do recall that the troubles in Northern Ireland were raging at the time, and like a lot of  Irish people then,  he was rather anti- British army.   That was a very long time ago.

In Stephen’s vivid account on his blog he writes:

There were some celebrations among the mainly British soldiers on the aircraft home, which soon fell silent. It later emerged that one of the rescue party was also dead, mortally wounded during the raid. His blood-soaked helmet was in front of me throughout the flight. I thanked everyone who was still alive to thank. It wasn’t, and never will be, enough.

I’m extremely  glad indeed that a brave reporter – and somebody who was a friend at school – is safe.   It’s a great shame that  both his Afghan colleague and a British soldier  died in the rescue.    Sometimes the pursuit of  truth comes at a very high cost.   I think that’s what drives the best journalists like Stephen – not so much the short lived glory of the byline – but a determination to clear away the fog and the lies, and let the truth out.   Sometimes that determination can drive journalists too far … and I think in this case Stephen probably miscalculated the risk against the benefit.

There had been some criticism of Stephen for taking this risk – but reports also suggest that the troops who took part in the rescue thought the mission was worth while.   I can see why.  Journalists are important to soldiers.  The worst sort of war to be fighting is a forgotten one.    Is the Afghan war worth fighting?  I can’t say.  But without people like Stephen, there would be no facts in the open, no public debate, and politicians would quietly forget about  the soldiers and civilians who are dying there.  Getting a true picture out to the world is important.

Hampton School produced a third journalist around that time – myself – who followed not quite such a distinguished career.    I’ve ended up writing children’s stories – a slightly different turn .   That’s fate for you.  I think stories do good for the world.  I’m happy with my lot.