There is no debate to be had about a frighteningly large number of poor decisions that have been made by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, however, to write a handwritten letter is the very smallest mark of respect that anyone should wish to see from a Prime Minister writing to a mother who is bereaved as a result of his war. Had he typed it, the same barrage of criticism would have saturated the newspapers, clouding the issue that he wrote a personal letter, not a tailored document fit for publication in the media.

I applaud his decency in writing it by hand, and deride anyone who dares to suggest that it could possibly be construed as evidence of a “not-caring” attitude.

My message to the Sun: Report on the issues that matter, not trivia that can be warped any which way to further weaken a Prime Minister. What you have done is the same as having an intelligent discussion with somebody, becoming aggressive, and then attacking them on their appearance for want of any further intelligent comment. This is playground stuff.

I also have to say that revealing private correspondance, especially to the press, is atrociously bad manners in itself.

My heart goes out to Mrs Janes. Her son was killed as a result of a monumentally stupid war run by a discredited and pathetic government – led by Brown. But this letter looks to me as though it is sincere.

@ LFATWow, this was really a Marmite post – split the commentors down the middle (apart from Backwoodsman, who rather stupidly decided to try and make this into a party political issue when it is nothing of the sort).

I should reiterate that I’m not in any way excusing what Brown did, but I am most certainly attacking the Sun for the inferences that they made about what Brown did. The PM should never be let off the hook for not equipping our troops properly and there is a bizarre sense of justice about him being berated by the mother of a dead soldier in full view of the press. That said, I do not think Brown’s carelessness with a pen is in itself good reason to declare him a failed leader.

So you are shooting the messenger but not the message. Are you a Scouser?

I should reiterate that I’m not in any way excusing what Brown did, but I am most certainly attacking the Sun for the inferences that they made about what Brown did. The PM should never be let off the hook for not equipping our troops properly and there is a bizarre sense of justice about him being berated by the mother of a dead soldier in full view of the press. That said, I do not think Brown’s carelessness with a pen is in itself good reason to declare him a failed leader.

Ordinary people would make sure that such a letter is properly written and without any spelling mistakes. Is it too much to expect him, the Prime Minister, to do the same?

Remember she’s from an army family, through and through. She knows from the people on the sharp end just how bad the effects of Brown’s policies have been on the Army. And then to receive a letter from the man himself, who’s clearly oblivious to the fact of his own responsibility, simply rubs salt further and further into the wound. I’m not surprised she’s hit the roof .

Yes, The Sun concentrated on his cack handed handwriting and poor spelling, but to me that looks like it’s a letter dashed off in a couple of seconds without any thought. In a similar situation I’d expect a first draft and then a carefully written letter. And if he’s such a terrible speller, why not use the telephone as a first choice instead, except that would leave him open to too much personal insight into his policies…

As I’ve said at http://cogitodexter.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/complaining-about-the-suns-janes-coverage-misses-the-point/ the whole attack-the-Sun thing is dangerously missing the point. This is ultimately about soldiers’ lives and the failure of the PM, both now and when he was Chancellor, to adequately resource the military even when it was being asked to do more and more to meet the political objectives of the government.

But it is also surely relevant that the grieving mother has an important point to make about why her son died – and is perfectly entitled to make it as loud and as visibly as she can. The Sun newspaper is perhaps an easy target, but she is not. Her son died fighting a war whose objectives are still not clear, and died for the want of proper equipment. She is correct that government shares a big part of the blame for this, and entitled to have that view widely reported.

You should pack away your sentimentality, and tomorrow of all days you should be supporting a mother who has lost her son to this country needlessly.