2026: Week 22 - Helicopter tragedy and Devon Day
I was deeply saddened by the horrific helicopter crash in Okehampton last week, where three Royal Navy Officers, including the UK’s only female Royal Navy Commando, lost their lives.
As a member of the Parliamentary Armed Forces Scheme on the Navy course, this tragic incident has affected me deeply. The Royal Navy, and indeed all our Armed Forces need to be able to trust and depend on all the equipment they rely on to do their jobs and bring them home safely. One of the Merlin helicopter’s key roles is as a Russian submarine hunter; its crew are known as “Pingers” due to the distinctive sound that sonar makes.
These helicopters are an essential piece of equipment used to keep our country safe, yet they are 35 years old. During a trip to a Naval base I visited the maintenance workshop where experienced aviation engineers can spend years fixing these helicopters and making them fit to fly. We don’t yet know the cause of the tragic incident in Okehampton, but there must be an urgent enquiry to find the cause, to prevent further tragedies.
I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those brave officers who lost their lives in this crash.
In stark contrast to the loss of these brave serving officers was the riots that were incited by Nigel Farage, in response to the murder of student Henry Nowak. Whilst I condemn the actions of his murderer, as a country we cannot let one incident create such hostility and anger. Henry’s family said “we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension, we want his story to make our streets safer for everyone.” I agree with the Nowak family’s call to the Government to treat knife crime as a national emergency. For too long we have seen young people become victims and this needs to be addressed now.
The answer is not rioting on the streets, the answer is not targeting groups of people, the answer does not lie in ostracising Sikhs. We need real solutions and tangible actions.
To finish on a lighter note, we celebrated Devon Day last week, on Thursday June 4th. This is also St Petroc’s day, who is the patron saint of Devon.
Once of the legends surrounding St Petroc is that he tamed a wolf whilst on a pilgrimage to Exeter Cathedral! The Devon Flag is dedicated to him and is flown with pride across the county.
I hope you all enjoyed celebrating Devon day last week in whatever way you wanted, but that you enjoyed your cream tea the correct way (at the risk of enraging any Cornish readers) cream first!