PRINCE Harry has reportedly told a ‘close friend’ that he believes the incarceration of Royal Marine Sergeant Alexander Blackman on a murder rap - he shot a wounded Taliban fighter - is ‘ludicrous’.

If that’s what Harry’s allowing his mates to say on his behalf, then it’s a fair bet that, like his outspoken granddad who is the Royal Marines’ Captain General, his true opinion is probably unprintable.

But then so is mine.

The people who persecuted, prosecuted and then imprisoned Sergeant Blackman are, in my opinion, craven, snivelling, politically-correct toadies who - given that they could simply have admonished him - chose a course which has effectively destroyed his life. It’s certainly ended a career in which he served Queen and Country with courage and honour, trying to make the world a safer place.

Now he lies rotting in a prison cell, accused by his tormentors of ‘moral disengagement’.

Just so the kind of people who are happy to pontificate about human rights - but would never dream of actually putting their lives on the line to defend them - can sit in Islington and Chipping Norton, feeling really, really good about themselves.

It was ever thus.

As we prepare to commemorate the Fallen on Sunday it would be nice to think we could see beyond the wreaths, beyond the pointless, liberalist arguments and whether Jeremy Corbyn should wear a white poppy or if David Cameron is fit to lick a soldier’s boots.

If we could see beyond the haunting words of Flanders Field and the awful poignancy of the Last Post and actually THINK about what it is we ask these men to do in ALL our names, then maybe we might ALL have been in Parliament Square last week, supporting the Marines who turned out to support Sgt Blackman.

This man had toured Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. On the fateful tour he was working in what’s been described as ‘the most dangerous square mile in Afghanistan.’ His father had just died and he was responsible for 15 young Marines who he was said to be dedicated to keeping safe.

Like his men, Sgt Blackman lived in daily fear of capture by an enemy that would skin its captives alive, cut off their body parts and hang them, booby-trapped, from trees.

On his tour of duty this soldier had seen seven of his Marine colleagues murdered by the Taliban and 40 more injured. He was acknowledged to be exhausted and suffering combat stress when he fired the shot that killed a man he says he already believed was dead.

I believe him. And I believe our own Richard Drax MP when he says Blackman was: “A man pushed to the very edge, sent to do a filthy job with his hands tied behind his back.”

I think the people who judge him - and the bleating human rights campaigners - are pathetic, and few have any idea how people like him have to work.

Even people like me - who are privileged to have spent a day undergoing Royal Marines training - have only the smallest glimpse of what it takes to do a job where ‘99.99 per cent need not apply.’ I’m happy to admit I failed their tests abjectly but the real failure would be in not standing up for Sgt Blackman and all those who make such terrible sacrifices in war.

We can’t save the dead, only remember and honour them. But, as Prince Harry has reminded us, we CAN save Sgt Blackman and show all our precious servicemen and women and their families how much we appreciate what they do for us.

If you’d like to help, please visit this site justiceforsgtblackman.co.uk

There are two lanes on Spur Road: use them!

MEMO to all those who are using the Spur Road during the current resurfacing horror. What bit of USE BOTH LANES don’t you understand? We who DO correctly use the right-hand lane are not pushing in – we’re alleviating the back-up which, at times, looks as if it’s stretching back to Southampton. And while I’m on the subject, can those brain-dead drivers who toodle along at 8mph – just so they won’t have to brake and go into first gear – remember that the maximum speed in the roadworks is 40mph. So on the odd occasion when we are blessed enough to be able to achieve it, please take full advantage. Then some of us can actually look forward to getting home in less than two hours!

Lack of support for the hardworking families 

ONE day after voting to cut tax credits, Tory Lord Michelle Mone (job description: ‘Bra seller’) flew to stay in the Caribbean, in a resort that reporters claim costs £1,150 a night. Funnily enough, that’s around the sum that many hardworking families - the sort that Tories like to claim they support - will lose under Chancellor George Osborne’s vicious proposed cuts. Just thought I’d mention it..

Are you still the special one, Jose?

SIX games lost in a run of 11 and an FA sanction to see out - wonder if Jose Mourinho still likes to consider himself a ‘special one’? Or has he only started to realise he was probably just a bit of a lucky one?

In fairness I have to admit that unlike the rest of the female population my age, I never really got Mourinho. Yes he’s fit. But what’s the point of all that when he looks as if the only person on this earth that he’s ever found interesting was the one he sees in the mirror every morning?