Rob,
Earlier, you asked me to point out errors that I detect in your writing. The word losing, as you used it, only has one "o". I don't know what it is about that word that gives so many people problems but believe me when I say that you have plenty of company in that particular spelling mistake. I even see reporters, who definitely should know better, using two "o"s in losing.
Now to respond to your quotation. I agree wholeheartedly with Wellington's statement. During my lifetime, this country has fought four major wars and after defeating the opponent (except in Vietnam), have then spent untold amounts of money rebuilding the infrastructure of the losing countries. Whatever happened to the former concept that said "to the victors go the spoils"?
First of all thanks for informing me of the correct spelling of the word 'losing', I ran 'loosing' through the spell checker but it was not identified as an error, are there times when the word 'loosing' is used?
Regarding the saying 'to the victors belong the spoils' this concept would not fit into a civilised society, i.e. if it was implemented in 1945 it would have made the allies as bad as the regime they were fighting.
What grates me about past wars is the fact that too many people are oblivious of the sacrifices made for them by current and previous generations, I had a friend of mine tell me that if nobody had opposed Nazi Germany during the second world war the only consequence would have been a German speaking UK with better roads. I was enraged but at least he said he did not know enough about the war to comment any further on it. When I was doing GCSE history my teacher told the class that history should be made a compulsory subject for all students as it helps people to learn/understand their past and this information will aid them in the future and possibly help prevent similar mistakes in the future.
