Well, that was not what I expected to read this morning. Am sure you are doing the right thing but your daily posts will be greatly missed not just "down these yerrr parts" , but around the world. All the best. Tricky

I fully understand and am not surprised as to why you are doing this. I would just like to thank you for all the pleasure you have provided. You and The Englishman have been my first (and sometimes only) two reads for years now. Good luck.

Oh no not another one of my first read of the day to go,first it was Kim du Toit who was the first blog i ever read and now you,life just sucks.

Dear Mr. F.M.
I have enjoyed tuning in to your blog every day for at least two years. While I don't necessarily agree with everything that you have to say, I have enjoyed reading your observations and comments. On This Day is a very nice bonus too.

Very many thanks for hours of reading enjoyment, and I'll keep checking regularly for OTD.

Roverdriver in Oz.

Well darn, old sport! Giving way to financial pressure, are we....? Excellent choice!! Nothing in the world like good old-fashioned opportunism and following the capitalists motto: "For money, we'll do anything...." :-)

Seriously, I am going to miss you, Mr. FM... Well not personally, but your view of the world and comments on it. :-)

SIR! I salute you and wish you happy sailings on the ever turbulent waters of accountability...

That took me three readings to work it out (no surprise there!), I should have known this would happen eventually, I shall miss the posted ramblings but no doubt we can still meet regularly to dish the dirt no doubt.
see you soon, ttfn.

From Los Angeles Califorinia.

This post grieves me deeply. I have greatly enjoyed reading your frequently updated blog, and your achieved posts have regularly filled the occasional spare leisure hour.

As a gentleman employed in the financial services sector, I understand your concerns. But, as an American, firearms enthusiast, Latin scholar, and political thinker, I will sorely miss reading your posts. Before discovering your blog, I had little idea that men like you still existed in England, and I'm sure you'll easily understand my incredulity.

Unfortunately, it seems as if my country is now following the same path as Britain... a path that was poignantly described to me as a teenager by a certain Austrian economist...

Nevertheless, I will continue to frequent your page. If it does in fact lose its vim and verve, I hope that it will eventually respawn itself with a new title, and a more thickly layered veil of secrecy.

Thank you for all the cynical insight, jovial entertainment, and inspiring invectives that you've offered. Cheers.

-JL

Gonna miss ya 'round these parts. Oh well, onward and upward has its own costs. Thanks for playing.

It’s been a pleasure to read your blog over the last few years. But I do understand the pressures you are under from the faceless hordes! This evening, when I’ve finished work, I shall raise a glass of fine malt to toast the health of you, your family and your loved ones.

Not surprised in the slightest that it came to this. A lot of us here will remember the debacle that befell KdT(Peace be upon his Afro-American ass.

Well played Sir.

Ray

"Well done that man". Sorry to see you go.

blimey oh reilly - so they have have discouvered Tom - we still have tunnels dick & harry. Keep on digging against the onlslaught of the PC SS. Anyway where the HR people when I was in public school - in the showers or rugby scrum - i bet they were the accomplices in it all then too!

I, too, will miss 'the best first webpage of the day'. Over the years you have become a strange kind of internet friend and I feel in some way I have known you for some time; so it is very upsetting to see you go. May good fortune go with with you and your family and at least with the pay rise you can buy that Beretta SO! Leave your empty mag on the table, clear ease springs and leave the range.

What a shame. Your site has been a daily read. Thank you for all the fun, and the vitriol and the shenanigans. Best wishes and success for the new real-world project. If you ever get the yen to come over and shoot a BHP or other forbidden goodies with me, you'll be most welcome.

It is a sad day. I will miss this site in it's current form, although I do understand why you have to take this decision. All the best for the future!

Shame. I would place a bet - if you were black, gay, muslim, transgender, an immigrant or other non-white you'd be left alone and you could carry on as normal without fear of being sued or lambasted or put down....but you are a white, heterosexual male therefore you are doomed. Goodbye and god bless (hope I can say that!)

"well done that man!" enjoyed it all for a long time. Second click in the day. Loved the work on the Mauser especially. Oh well - "shoot straight you bastards"
From Oz

bugger it!!!!
your thoughts, musings,pearls of wisdom and above all sense of fun will be missed throughout fair albion and in particulary my umble abode on the other side of the wansdyke.

thanks for the laughs

leslie

God knows how I'll keep sane now. But, many thanks for what has been my only regular blogstop.

By the way - the promotion isn't to PM is it? Damn.

You will be missed. The blog has been an interesting read generally.

I've wondered several times when you touched on work if this would be an issue for you.

Good luck with the work and hope everything is well with you and your family.

TB

It is a great shame to lose my only regular internet fix for humour and weaponry. Perhaps you may endeavour to maintain the "Infantryman of the Year" section? You will be missed nonetheless. Enjoy it, Mr FM.
Matt. Aus

Do not go gentle into that good night.

What a shame. Best of luck for the future Mr FM

Yes thank you for the past few years, keeping the flag flying in the dark times, good luck!

what a pity dude......you even had a few fans all the way down here in johannesburg

Damn, Damn and thrice Damn, but very many thanks for the Blog.

I am grateful that "On This Day" continues. I will settle for that, especially if the facility to post new comments continues - I suspect that Col Beausabre and others will continue to enrich the record with you.

Be nice to see the occasional guest post from Kim - still top of my Gunnies folder, Kevin Baker and the Geek? Some of us Brits too, and if I emerge from a dwam (Scots for reverie) with a thought that holds the attention for more than a few seconds, I would offer it.

Enjoy the money!

Sorry to see you go. I used to leave your site till last as my favourite read of the day. Good Luck in the future to you and your fambly and many thanks.
Charles Craig

Well played Sir. I shall miss your posts, but see your dilemma and agree with your choice - got to pay the mortgage after all. Congratulations on your new post, and god bless the good ship FMFT, she served us well.

JT

Thank you for writing your blog for all these years. You have provided much amusement and considerable food for thought.

Thanks for everything you've written over the years.

Well, fudge!

You will be missed sir.

T-Bolt

Well that's a shame. I've enjoyed reading your blog for a couple years now -- found it through KDT's site. Good luck to ya, from an American.

Very sorry indeed to see you go. I hope you return one day.

Alas, another daily read to shutter. I will temper my sorrow with eharty congratulations on giving in to filthy luchre! Would that we all had the same problems :) May it buy you many rounds (both to shoot, and drink).

Windage and Elevation, MrFM, Windage and elevation..

Larry in Rochester

Well that brought me up short! Fully understand your predicament but nevertheless very sad that this day has had to come and will miss your excellent posts enormously.

The Best of British to you Sir!

First KdT, then Remittance Man, and now Mr. FM. I am inconsolable. Perhaps if I write a letter to the Times...

Though I'm currently residing in Dublin, not too far from your location; I have done my share of traveling (or wandering if you want), and I must admit that I often found the most sensible yet humoureous views from the continent to be found on this website.

Hail to thee!

I will miss you dearly.

As an escaped Brit happily now living on his own range in N. Idaho, I have relied upon FMFT to help maintain "the attitude".

Can't you leave with a more hopeful note of "I am just going outside and may be some time"?

Good luck and God bless all the same.

Mr. FM:

I'll join in the chorus of, "Thank You" that's emanating from your commentariat. I've appreciated the wit and humour, caustic when needed, and a point of view from once-Great Britain that I never see anywhere else.

I somewhat understand the corporate pressures that have driven this decision (although as a lowly design engineer for MegaCorp I don't have anything approaching your levels of responsibility or visibility). I must say that it is a shame that you must put your extracurricular activities behind a shield of anonimity in order to maintain your corporate image, which should be entirely separate (IMHO) from your personal life.

And yet, as the collectivists have endlessly preached, "the personal is political". All I can hope for is the Glorious Day when we actually make it so.

Best of luck with all your endeavours, personal and economic, and if there's any way to let your faithful readers know where you might be posting sub-rosa, I'll ask you to figure out a way to let us know.

Good luck,Sir!
Sad to see you go.
John

Well it has been a good run.

It is good to know when to get off the horse before it collapses beneath you.

You and Kim are missed.

K

A sad day indeed it is Sir. Ditto the comments by Ian, it just goes to show how far the tentacles of the political correctness monster reach. It has almost devoured the last vestiges of 'free speech' from us that are holding out this side of the barricade.

As a member of Once Great Britains's emergency services, I know all too well the decision you have made and the rationale behind it. I and many of my fellow readers of this blog would have done the same.

After a less than glamorous shift, Mr FM is my first therapeautic port of call. Not only have you kept us all smiling these past years, you've probably prevented a lot of us, me included, from serving lengthy custodial sentences.

As the old butler turns before closing the door of the study... "Will there be anything else this evening Sir?"

Well damn. Just damn.

Since Kim wrapped it up, you've been first blog of the day.

I certainly understand your decision ... corporate can do that to you.

I wish you and yours nothing but the best.

And if you're ever in Chicago, and want to shoot some Webleys most Englishmen have been denied even looking at, give me a call. (Kim has contact info.)

Best,

Bob K

Perfectly understandable. The wife has to be kept in Land Rovers. Family considerations trump all.

If you ever find yourself out in this neck of the woods again, drop me a line and I'll show you a few other restaurants I'd recommend.

Just damn! First Kim and now you.....another favorite read packing it in. Damn.

There, now I have felt sorry for myself...my very best to you and the family on all future endeavors. Cheers!

Sad to hear it. It might be best if you save it/print out an archive, in case you ever feel like putting it back up, after retirement, etc.

Sorry to hear about your decision but when it comes to lack of imagination I fear that corporate PR bods set the bar disturbingly low. I have enjoyed your articles and look forward to following your most welcome and informative "On This Day" posts.
I shall raise a glass of Nelsons Blood in your honour.

Sorry to see you go. Please return if possible

I'll try not to think of this as your "retirement", but rather imagine you as a subversive agent attacking the belly of the Beast from within. I've enjoyed being a member of the electronic community that you have created, and wish you, your family and your readers well. As for the w@nkers and fools who seem ascendent on a global basis: "We shall fight on the beaches,we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,we shall fight in the hills; we shall NEVER surrender...."

May you have fair winds and following seas.

People wonder how Britain came to be ruled by self serving bureaucrats, fuelled by cronyism & a self censoring media.

There aren't many who will continue to say what is right when offered a comfier seat.

Bloody hell! Yet another one bites the dust!

Acidman up and dies on us, Kim closes up shop, Rachl Lukis has the audacity to let Real Life interfere with blogging, and now FMFT succumbs. It's a conspiracy, I tell you; a conspiracy to deny us the musings of curmudgeonly writers around the world!

In all seriousness, though, I wish you well in your future endeavors and offer my profound thanks for allowing me to partake of your wit and wisdom over the years.

Best of luck to you & yours from this reader in northern Illinois, USA!

"Before discovering your blog, I had little idea that men like you still existed in England" - Jack Ligman

They don't.

Mr FM,

I've had a few hours to digest the bad news since my first post, but one thing still bothers me. As I said earlier, I DO understand why you have taken this decision, but being the selfish bastard that I am, I have one question. Is it not entirely possible to carry on but with a few minor changes (I know you hate the word 'censorship')? That is, no photos of work related trips and no reference to, or photos of, family, dogs and surroundings - keep it anonymous. I realise this may limit some of the excellent content you have provided us with over the years, but it's got to be better than nothing at all? This is a purely selfish suggestion, as I will miss your musings/rantings - decent reading material on 'teh interwebs' is hard to come by!

Whatever you decide, good luck and all the best - you will be missed...

Pete.

Mr FM,
The dreaded day has arrived then, as dreaded days must. You have been my 'next click' after the email check every morning and evening for a lot of years. You have echoed so many of my thoughts,dreams and wishes in your blog.
Sorry old friend, some grit in my eye - nothing my manly 'kerchief can,t handle..
Return if you can in some annonymous form where we can find you and they cannot.
I am proud to add this tribute to those that have gone before and have expressed more than i have been able to do.
I raise a glass to you sir....
Farewell.

Vale, Mr FM: you were one of the very first blogs that I followed and you have utterly failed to disappoint.

Good luck! Though I hope that I may see you down the pub again...

DK

Sorry to see you go, Mr. FM.

(Adds "PR Consultants" to the list...

I will miss your posts. You have been an inspiration. Check with Kim about saving your blog history, believe someone hijacked his first one. Good luck with the new position and best wishes to you and your family.

Having thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts, I'll miss you insightful comment. Understand the corporate diplomacy, hope the money is sinful ;-)

Greetings and farewell from Christchurch, NZ. Have enjoyed a daily visit to this site for a long time, and like others in the "right wing, gun owning capitalist" church will miss this site. - As I still miss KTD. But, I understand the realities as well as the next person, so, simply, thanks for the time and the effort, best wishes for the future.

In the words of Edmon Blackadder "All for one, every man for himself!"

Cheers,

Tony

Sorry Mr FM I have a piece of grit in my eye, I shall scrub it away with my manly handkerchief and continue.
You have been my first click, after checking for incoming, for several years. You have, for a long while, expressed thoughts, wishes and dreams of mine and others, (witness the previous postings all of which I echo).
You will be missed and I respect your motives.
If you can slip back annonymously into the fold we promise to keep schtum....

Wonderful job you've done, Sir.

Over, Out

I can only hope you post elsewhere under a nom de guerre....it has been good fun.

Shame, shame, shame. Thank you for all I have read.

Roger that, Mr. F.M. Old Virginia salutes you...

God, another sensible person gone from the intertubes. Dammm your eyes, faceless corporate PC nannies. Please try and keep posting within perspec as you can. Will miss your view of the world.
Regards from yet another colonial in Christchurch NZ.
Illegitimi non carborundum.
Franko

Long time lurker, only time poster.
I'm sorry to see you go Mr FM, but I fully understand your reasons for doing so.
The best of luck with your new role, I hope it goes some way to filling the hole which will undoubtedly appear once this outlet of yours disappears.

Acta est fabula, plaudite...

Really sorry to see you driven to this, but I can understand your reasons - and may a plague descend on your HR bods and all who share their PC mindset.

My respects and best wishes to you & yours, and please come back to us if circumstances permit in the future.

Bryn, Anglesey.

Well damn! You've been just about my only indicator that the heart of the stout British Bulldog still beats, however faintly. I'll miss your acerbic wit and your stout curmudgeon-ry.

Leatherneck

You're a right bastard for fucking off like this. If you ever want real religion and guns, come to Arizona mate.

Loved the African Infantry series. Can't wait for the book.

Best, Cpl. Deluxe

Sad to hear it matey. Have you considered the possibility of a "member's area" where you can carry on ranting for the benefit of those who have "security clearance" as it were?

:)

England has been handed another defeat! I can only hope that you come to the States. So that you can own the toys that you desire & deserve. (We always have room for another good man over here)
Have a Cav Day!

Very sad.

http://xkcd.com/137/

Sure thing. Family first.

Going through the thick of it I have been reading Free Market Fairy Tales since Apr 07. Daily. Even when there were no new posts. I guess I read most of the backlog from then.

Read all the comments until joined meself. Pity it will not last much more.

Thank you for great thoughts, great links, fine humour, fine guns.

Please do keep the On This Day section alive. Humbling tales of courage and dedication.

All the best for you, Mrs FM and the Free Markettes. They will surely keep shooting straight, and not only guns.

Perhaps you can come back when the heat has died down?

Firstly, Thank you for all the good things.
Best wishes for your career.
Damn and blast! I feel like a wall-flower, with one blog hero after another moving on and leaving me behind. Jilted! But the only thing in life that is certain, is change.
"So long, and thanks for all the fish"

Dear Mr. FM,

You rat bastard, selling out to "the man?!" I am truly saddened, but I guess those Land Rovers don't buy themselves. I found your blog quite by accident--but after reading your July 30, 2007 entry with picture of Slobradors and hilarious caption (it was brilliant), I was hooked. Over the years you have managed to capture a little slice of heaven with scenes of country life and captured my heart in the process. Thanks for the great pictures and stories of family and firearms. If you ever come to Los Angeles I would be honored to buy you a drink.
Cheers,
Jan

Shortly after I found your blog via Kim's, you became my first read every morning. I've enjoyed all of it (as much as I could relate to anyway) and it's a darn shame that things have to end this way.
I expect that once you've become rich enough to retire that you will come back with both barrels (assuming it's still legal to come back with barrels of any kind over there) and pick up where you left off.

Should you ever decide that you can no longer hold it in and you need to vent, I volunteer to allow you space on my humble and hardly read blog.

And as always, if you are ever unfortunate enough to be sent to Detroit, please drop me a line and I will do my best to show you around some of the finest ranges in my area.

Well, I'm horrified!
I have been working in the Far East for years and am surrounded by increasingly politically- correct, young men who think white phos is a kind of cocaine and Al Alamein, some form of fried noodles... So I came here to be among those who understood the way things are- or are supposed to be.

Quo Vadis...?

Best of luck, Mr.FM!

Best wishes with the future endeavors; I can certainly sympathize with the need to avoid work-related penalties for opinions. I'm only sorry I found your writings so late in the game.

Damn it.

Okay, Corporate PR drones are on The List. and that Compliance Officer better watch his step, too...

Got to be someone who can carry on the African Infantryman series. And post the occasional missive, maybe "from my British Cousin."

Illigitimati Non Carborundum.

Dang. You will be missed. I hope you keep up the history and literary references. Surely corporate can find nothing wrong with that?

Our best to you.

Balls, that is a shame.

I have to agree with several other folks around that the African Infantryman of the Year Contest should survive. After all, what else have they got to fight for?

I've only been reading this site for a few months now, but will be sad to see most of it go. Thanks for leaving us with On This Day though.

Thank you very much for all you have done and written.

A* stuff!

Thank you so much for all your hard work on this blog; for the posts that by turns amused and enraged, the justly famed African Infantryman series, and by no means least, the scathing denunciation of those &%@*! in the government/HSE/EU/any other cabal of prodnoses and socialists.
Mr. FM, I salute you.

My second cup of coffee in the morning is just not going to be the same. Thank you for the hours of enjoyment and all best wishes for your future.

Alan

You will be sorely missed. You have provided me with hope for some time and I will now have to rely on only my own puny resources in a world of PC/HSE etc..
I remember the first time that I stumbled across your excellent blog; it was like the scene in one of those post apocyliptic (sic) films where the survivor hears a voice over the wireless or see a light in the distance and then knows that he is not alone.

I will be raising a glass of a peaty nectar to you this evening the sun being below the yardarm at the moment.

Best wishes to you and your lovely family for the future.

Lou..............

Well hunker down, make lots and lots of money, buy the corporation, taking it private. Then fire a good portion of the HR dept. and various Legal Drones.

We are utterly inconsolable.
A light has gone out in the darkness.

"But, Richard...for Wales?"

Well, sic transit gloria mundi.

I'm another escaped Brit (having first escaped South Africa to the UK - making me, like KdT, an African-American), living the Dream (tm) in Arizona. I have thoroughly enjoyed your missives for the last seven (god, is it that long?) years, and you will be sorely missed.

Thank you for the thoughts, laughs and efforts over the years. I'll add my invitation to the list: if you're ever in Arizona, you and yours are welcome to visit. And I have many toys for you to try. Kim has my reach details.

Good luck, and should you ever start up an invitation-only blog, count me in!

Kevin K

From the ever-shrinking, yet still whisky-swilling, pipe-smoking and common-sense-talking portion of our "youth" to which I belong, I wish you the very best and offer my gratitude for brightening the tubes with your muzzle flash.

Tom

Dear Mr. FM:

I shall greatly miss your blog, which has been an island of consolation in the unclean waters of the era.

Congratulations on your continuing ascent. I congratulate you, too, on your display of loyalty and consistency. Even when tempted by the inducements of high-level capitalism, you have maintained the fiction that it was who you wrote FMFT, not the Englishman or Mr. du Toit. A lesser man would have confessed to the deception. You have persisted in it, at some cost in inconvenience and embarassment.
All best wishes,
Bill

Make a ton of money ... start your "Fuck off assholes!" fund.

Once it's complete, and you are unassailable by the ninnies, consider restarting the blog, with a bit more anonymity.

We'll still be waiting.

In shock I must turn to the words of others

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

The winter evenings will be a little darker these days. All the best.

Ghostrifle

Just before I leave
Corporate Compliance Officer? boys lock and load!

Ghostrifle

It's been a pleasure to read, I wish you and family FM well.

Should I ever meet a wise speaking Bulldog who is the owner of a wrong handed cammo'd R93 rifle at Bisley I shall extend my hand.

This is just terrible news - well at least its for money - perhaps the depression can be warded off with the purchase of a new match barrel or something in a similar vein.

I greatly enjoyed reading your blog over the past year nevertheless all the best old man.

The ill fortune of having an incompatible professional and private life.

I feel your pain of being owned by the Corporate PC Gestapo.

Time for a more anonymous nom de plume perhaps ?

Your public awaits...

It is sad day for us all, but I think we all understand the reasons.

For the record, I wish to make it known that I opened a new bottle of Auchentoshan triple distilled Lowland Malt for the specific purpose of toasting the health and future of Mrs FM & the family.

4,094 posts, every last one of them appreciated.

Nothing changes. "La a' bhlair's math na cairdean"

from Georgia, US:

I've only been reading following your blog for a few months, but have enjoyed every single post. Especially the African Infantry ones. As a combat vet, it's always interesting to see how other... cough... soldiers.. conduct themselves on the field.

I understand your concern though. In these times the internet is sometimes simply another way for Big Brother to spy on the commoners. Thanks for your insight and willingness to share it.

Safe travels,

Steve B.

I'm mortified, but I understand.

I anonymized my blog for the same reason and it still risks me getting into trouble just from the few people who know about it.

One other blogger I know who got a government job had to remove all political content.

Meanwhile, jerks like Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, and all the other leftists blog freely during "WORK" hours on the taxpayer's dime. Their speech is sacrosanct and venerated.

I will miss your "invective" and witty repartee. I look forward to seeing continued On this Day.

Best of luck to you. I'm afraid I might soon be joining you in the oblivion of Free Speech Deprived writers of reason and PT Barnums of leftist clown acts.

Happy hunting, regardless of who your prey is.

I am very sorry to lose such an entertaining part of each day!
My first reaction was to add your name to the list, but instead will wish you good hunting!

It has all been said above, in far more articulate terms than I am capable. Thanks for the suberb entertainement and information, I only hope that you may be in a position to start up again someday.

Good luck with the future, and if you are ever in the Monaco area, the range is open and there is a fine selection of toys on offer.

Best

Sir,

We are all sorry to hear you are leaving us. Mornings will never have that little piece of humour, wit and banter they always had. I thankyou for your valliant efforts.

You will be missed.....

Keep up on those Land Rovers.... (just been given a brand new 90 X-Tech by work - best company car possible, and bugger all tax!)

Best of the world to you and your family,

Rod.

A true loss to the internet. Your posting will be sorely missed.

All the best to you and yours.

Thought I'd wait until everyone else had their say. If I may quote some other bugger:

Another shining light goes out;
The darkness encroaches
While the howls of wolves
And cries of frightened children
Assail the ears of those who stay
And guard the ramparts.
A good and true soul
Has passed from us; and though
Others may take his place in the line,
Yet none may match his skills and courage.

And all the while, the forces of darkness
Grow ever stronger, as light after light
Is extinguished.
Let the few lights that remain
Shine brighter and stronger,
So that all may still behold
The approach of the dread enemy,
And defeat their loathsome legions.

Christ, Kim, sitting here in Britland one gets a real feeling of dread from that passage.

OK, I am feeling End of Days: what's the source so I can read it all?

Still, it's more positive than Cavafy's Waiting for the Barbarians.

A sad loss indeed. If you ever fancy a holiday in the Yucatan (or need to start a new life outside the UK) you´ll be welcome here anytime. Hasta luego!

What a shock! Your bon mots will be very much missed in this household. I guess we'll have to make it up ourselves from here on inwards. Good luck old bean!

Well that just about blows it....will have to find a new leader for the glorious day! Still, hope you'll be there to watch them up against it with a hip flask in one and cigar in the other, shaking your head sagely and saying "told you this day would come"

I'm only recently intorduced to this little corner of sanity but I am going to miss it dearly. Still, I will get a happy grin on my face every time I see a nice tall clocktower whileindulging in a KFC.

Good luck to you and many thanks for all the work.

God Save the Monarchy because ruddy Labour won't...

Truely, an era has ended.

Good Night, and Good Luck

Bugger the Masters of Mammon have won again. Well good luck to you I have enjoyed your unfettered ramblings, anecdotes , facts ,guided and misguided opinions etc etc.. Lang may yer lum reek and all the best to your family.. Graham NZ

fuck me! what a carry on, he's not dead, just not blogging and who knows if that will be for good as you can't keep a good man down.

Damne, Sir! One would have expected more of a fight from the FM freehold. It may be that you must lay low for a while, know you will be sorely missed, but most definitely not be gonne. While at it, we too miss Monsieur du Toit.

Mr.FM, I will sorely miss your pictures, your hunts, your love of all things GUNS, and your many articles on a variety of issues and interests. I honesty, didn't know Brits like you existed, one, who valued their liberty and freedom. I very happy to know the liberals in England can "Standby" for some change down the line.... You run a squared away ship here. May you have fair winds and following seas, Captain! I hope to see you again, when circumstances change to your favor!
Semper Fidelis,
Gunny

Disturbing, but hope your endeavor yields piles.
Of money, that is.

Dammit, another oasis of the free dissapears from the 'net. Good luck with the job anyway Mr FM.

For what it's worth, you can have my vote for retention of the African Infantryman posts.

Well, crap. Damn it. Fuck. And other four-letter Anglo-Saxon expressions generally read to mean "I'm going to miss reading you, Mr. Free Market."

Not least of the various reasons is that, in the United States, it seems that the only time we hear of Britain is when your Health and Safety Idiots do something particularly idiotic, or when once more some poor sod is assaulted in his own house and the Plods threaten the victim with arrest, or some other example that makes those of us who love what England was go 'tisk, tisk, the sun has surely now set on the British Empire.'

I wish you all the best. I hope that you aren't so sanitized, so P.C.ed that you cease to enjoy the life that you so eloquently wrote about.

Good luck in your new endeavours and godspeed.

Gutted- great blog and will be missed - when they make you redundant you can start it up again and I am sure it will be better than ever.
Good luck - see you at Bisley some time

It's a shame it's come to this.

Well, I can't offer you shooting like that offered by many of the other gentlemen above, but if you're ever on Tyneside I can offer you a bloody good night on the drink in Newcastle with several former members of Her Majesty's Airborne Forces.

No doubt you'll recognise this quote and the sentiment from A Bridge Too Far: "I'm sorry, we don't have the facilities to take you all prisoner. Was there anything else?" An English gentleman's way of saying, we'll fight to the death before we give in to you bastards . . .

Utrinque Paratus.

I came to your blog around 6 months ago after it was recommended by a friend. I've had you at the top of my blogroll ever since. I understand what could cause this decision but I don't like it. Not what I expected to read this morning.

A suggestion would be to start another blog and change the content slightly.

I am so very very sorry you are going leaving us. As a committed socialist I have been one of your biggest fans since stumbling across this site soon (ish) after you started it.

Happy to buy you a drink or two and curse Blair. And that damned idiot Cameron.

James

Oh, and we could go for a ride too-not that my Triumph would keep up with your Ducati..

And so the bastards win another round and silence another voice.

Can't say I blame you--that would be a bit hypocritical since I don't exactly use my real name, but it still saddens me.

Mr Free Market

I stumbled across your blog some time in 2005 and it has been a daily read ever since.Thanks for all your posts over the years. Good luck in the new job, I'm just glad I run my own business and consequently will never have to listen to a PR consultant.

Can only echo all the above comments, damn shame to see you go...mind you prepared to bet no more than 6 months before some PC drivel has you posting again...heres hoping.

From mid-Ohio - and Denver, Colorado, sometimes. Sorry to see you go! Perhaps another blog, a bit more "hidden" from The Powers That Be?
Best to you and your lady.

Well I can't say I am overly surprised, as your frequent mentions of 'the list' and the 'glorious day' would have incurred a visit from HM Plod and the rapid removal of FAC, man toys and computer not to mention a spell in the pokey 'on suspicion' for yer lesser men.....just glad that you stayed afloat as long as you did and it didn't all end in tears before bed time

As another escaped Brit, I can truly say that not only have the lights gone out all over Europe, the last flickering beacon of liberty and free speech in England has been extinguished.

Wish you luck in the future

Bugger.
One of the people on the blogosphere I consider to be a blogbuddy, sorry to see you retire my friend.

I really do think you need to look at emigrating... I'm sure with your CV you could nab the position of Cheif Operating Officer or Cheif Executive Officer at a company in Auckland NZ, Equivalent income to your current, Several hundred acres of land in the hills behind Huntly, with a shorter commute than you currently have.

Imagine being in a position where you can make Blogging MANDATORY to all staff :D

Better yet, get a B cat licence and own pistols, an E cat and have your own SLR, buy a new rifle whenever you want one, without needing to get your certificate endorsed by the police several months beforehand...

When can I expect to meet you at the Airport here to look over properties and take job interviews to check your juniors are subservient enough? :D

It will be a pity to see this site loose it's ramblings and never get up and rant again.

Ugh. I feel sick. It's like watching books burn.

I suppose if this is what must be done...

From now on, when a three-oh hits its mark downrange, I will say, "/That one/ was for Mr. FMFT."

Sic transit gloria mundi.

As a long-time lurker, thank you for all the pleasure you've given. I left England in 1996 convinced that the entire nation had long gone insane, but reading you I have often regretted leaving. Congratulations on your ascent of the corporate greasy pole, and may the descent be long-delayed, slow and well-cushioned.

Mr. FM,
I found your blog in Kim du Toit's blogroll during his last month.
You've shown me a side of England I had no idea existed.
Thank you, Sir!All the best to you.
Les Coffman

Well Sir your blog has been an intersting read for me over the past couple years as well. I have frequently visited the just for fun section; it was a common evening pick-me-up. I'll still visit fairly often, but I will miss those sections. Anyway, take care of yourself, and thank you.

-stephen

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Very sorry to see you go, Mr FM. You will be missed.

Matt

Sir,
It is a fair sad day, when the hard won freedom to speak ones thoughts, to open your view to discussion and debate are to be quietened by the well meaning and misguided individuals who, at an instant, would fail to take their place in the fronk rank of a truely honourable society!!

Sir, I salute your efforts and the contrubutions of your supporters. It has always raised my morale and during my most recent trip to a warm and dusty locations east of persia your site became a firm favourite with my fellow Tommy Atkins!

Sir, keep the hemp to hand and in good order! (one never knows when it may be needed!) May your family be in good health and teach the lad well. If the B*****ds prepare to assault the FM towers, shout and I'll have biscuit boxes and meale bags delivered and ready for a redoubt and may the weasals of political correctness learn the true meaning of a ".455 miracle"!

Regards

A Mad Jock Ferret!

Well hell.

I am truly gutted, I discovered you quite by chance just under a year ago whilst looking for images of "the lobster pot, pembrookeshire", and have been an avid reader since.

your acerbic wit will be missed greatly by myself and the Current Mrs Manley, and all the other members of Manley Towers.

Steve

I was reading this blog before I even knew what a blog was. Stay sharp. Stay safe. Maybe one day you can return to us.

Been in the 'stan, you will be missed.
coop

Oh how I wish you were still blogging today after hearing the guy on the radio news saying something like:
"It was a great big sniper rifle"
No it wasn't.