as Queen Anne said after the latest battle victory and loss of life in the War of Spanish Succession....

...How many more victories can we take?

• Defence Secretary Des Browne said: "We've had a very difficult time over the last 10 days. We've lost nine soldiers altogether in three separate incidents."
• He added: "The Taleban are losing in Afghanistan, I know it may not appear like that at the moment, but we are enjoying a degree of success."
• The latest deaths are the biggest single loss of British lives in Afghanistan since an RAF Nimrod crash in 2006 which killed 14 servicemen.
• BBC News defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the feeling among British military leaders was that the Taleban were being outgunned and that their command-and-control was disintegrating.
• The problem is that this has driven the Taleban to measures such as the latest explosion which are very difficult to defend against, she said. (18 June 2008, BBC, "Woman soldier among Afghan dead")