No it's not, the post is actually quite an good description of what the poster appears to have been doing and offers the poster some good advice into the bargain.

I don't think so, Didn't the British lay waste to Peking at the end of the 1800's due to a disagreement between the Chinese Emperor and themselves over whether they should kow-tow to the Emperor ?

It sounds to me like you need to get yourselves a Maggie Thatcher, she was able to sort out the corrupt mining unions here in the UK good and proper.

You seriously took 30Kg of gear for a one day hike ? WTF for you masochist.

That sounds like a pretty reasonable offer, given the success the US has had capturing Bin Laden in the years since.

I see one fault in your logic. Rewarding warlords with "peace-time hush-money" only sets precedence for other countries at conflict with the United States

Almost certainly true but nevertheless exactly what the US is already doing. You can clearly see in these documents that the local warlords are more than happy to accept "compensation" when the US accidentally slaughters there people. It's higly likely they are equally willing to accept large monetary gifts in order to not offer support the Taliban, or stop growing poppies etc etc.

The British were trying specifically to not conquer Afghanistan for a number of reasons. All they really wanted was a buffer state between India and Russia ruled by interests sympathetic to the British. Unfortunately the first attempt was commanded by an incompetant and aged buffoon who was scared of refusing ridiculous requests from their Afghan proxy to pay out bribes and keep the British troops well out of the way of Kabul in a makeshift encampment at the mercy of elements and with insufficient food.

The second attempt was much more successful and Russian plans for invasion of India scuppered for good.

Even with ID cards you still need to provide proof of address to open a bank account. One of the people who did buy one explained this on Radio 4 this morning. He used his driving licence so in fact it turns out that having an ID card did not make opening bank accounts any easier.

Yeah, ramp up that TERROR, turn the dial to PANIC !

Are you scared yet citizen ? Are you ...

I'd like to second this opinion.

You'll be bored out of your mind after a week in London, never mind two, so get out and explore the rest of the British countryside.

Perhaps avoid the Lake District at the moment though.