the importance of "lessons learned" (what modern government calls "history")

In March 2004, several dozen Pakistani paramilitaries soldiers were killed in an ambush in South Waziristan, where Islamabad is trying to deal with its own insurgent groups.

Afterwards, a British diplomat politely suggested to the Pakistani military that they get a copy of old military manuals such as Report on Waziristan and its Tribes, left over from the days of the Empire.

Written at the end of the 19th century, they described how British army commanders lost men in exactly the same place, in exactly the same way, in attacks by exactly the same tribe.

The manuals then outline what the British did next time around to outwit the raiders and get their convoys through.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4926628.stm

(no subject)

and, for a lighthearted change of pace, a selection from Overheard in London.

( cut for adult content )