Peter Rhodes on Brexit, Afghanistan and a death to be envied

Kabul twinned with Brexit. The media got it wrong again, didn't they? In the build-up to the EU referendum the national media created the impression that almost everybody treasured the EU and that a huge Remain vote was a racing certainty. Unfortunately for them, “almost everybody” tended to be politicians, academics and the rest of what we call the metropolitan elite.

Similarly in Afghanistan, Western correspondents tended to speak to progressive, middle-class Afghans who were championing democracy, human rights and sexual equality, but spent less time chatting to non-English speaking peasants beyond the city walls. The result was an image of Afghanistan as a land thirsting for more reforms. In truth, it was thirsting only for peace and, having seen civil war and Kabul laid waste in the past, ordinary Afghans would avoid a repeat at any price. And if that meant putting their women back into burkas, so be it.

There seemed almost some sort of media conspiracy, in the first 24 hours after the fall of Kabul, not to tell us what had happened to the 500 Paras we flew into the city to snatch UK citizens and loyal Afghans to safety. Were they still in Kabul, or safely home, or being held as hostages? Anyone with a sense of history will have been reminded of the fall of Singapore in 1942 when thousands of Allied reinforcements were marched off their troopships and virtually straight into captivity. A warning from history.

Most of us cannot choose how we die but Frank Smith, a lifelong and passionate hill walker from Nottingham, went out as he surely would have wished. He set off from a hotel in Scotland, and his body was found a few days later near the summit of Ben Cruachan. He was 84 and there are no suspicious circumstances. As his daughter put it: “He died with his boots on, walking somewhere that he loved. People must do things that bring them joy.” A grand end. A glorious epitaph.

Looking more closely at my home-insurance renewal (up by 21 per cent), I discover that £25 of the premium is an “arrangement fee” simply to continue the cover and that if I wish to cancel they'll charge me £35. What is the point in insurance companies spending millions to create a caring, trustworthy media image when every time you see their logo, you think “Bloody spivs”?