Tanks for the memories...

[Mark David Tristan Brenchley]

Thought some of you might be interested to know that the British Army will
no longer be employing tanks as part of their armoury. Yes, that old
symbol of oppression (Tiannamon Square) and liberty (UN peacekeeping
forces - if that's not a contradiction in terms) is now rendered obsolete.
Of course, tanks will still be in use for the next couple of decades until
the new machinery has been invented, but after the Challenger 2, the
British Army will have to keep up its tankless task of pacifying the world
for you and me.

Regards,
Mark

P.S. Re: Walter  Benjamin and the aestheticisation of politics. What does
our Mr Pynchon think of the Futurists? Also, there is a possible
comparison between the Futurists (yea, fascism"!and The Surrealists (yea,
communism!), both have strong aesthetics but given the Surrealists
strongly anit-aesthetic approach to art (through their links to Dadaism)
it is perhaps not surprising that they sided with the Communists. I'm not
quite sure that this idea holds up, but I'd be interested in hearing your
thoughts.