IT seems somewhat fatuous pontificating away in a quiet rural backwater about the rights and wrongs of a war in Iraq.

The war seems a long way off, fought out on the television screens as the rest of us get on with the mundane matters of life - the week's shopping, discussing this latest sporting events or contemplating how to spend the weekend.

But this week the war was brought home in dramatic terms when a young man who has made his home in Skipton became the first British casualty of the war, killed in a helicopter crash.

It has been a long time since the Herald had to report on the death of a young, local man who gave up his life for his country. During the First World War such events became so commonplace that they merited only a few lines in the paper - although after the war a book with the photograph of each victim was produced by this newspaper and distributed to each family.

However Philip Guy's death should jolt us out of any complacency that this war is fought out in a distant land and somehow does not concern us. It is not some video game, with spectacular special effects but ultimately no-one is hurt.

Captain Guy has given up his life for his country. Skipton must remember that. When this war is over, his name must be added in permanent form to those who made the same sacrifice in previous conflicts.