Derek.
I always did say the universe was a queer place.
I say this now because I find myself agreeing with you for the second time in a week.
Perhaps we should declare peace..?

Gets my vote. Oh and thank you.

I’ll let you know how I get on Sunday.

One of the things I have troubled with is why I am so fascinated by it all. I have never served and am never likely to, so why is it so compelling?

Of course the poem actually says.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Hence my point about the “Glorious Dead” above.

I used to be fairly ambivalent towards the poppy appeal, largely because of my father’s and indeed grandfather’s influence. My dad was always annoyed that WW1 and 2 got all the attention but the other conflicts never did (he served in Cyprus in the late 1950s). Then along came the Falkands war and suddenly all the other conflicts were remembered (and not before time). Those lost in Malaya, Korea, Aden , Cyprus, Northern Ireland and lately GW1 and 2 and Afghanistan (and the myriad other conflicts) are now rightfully remembered.
I think my dad also had a problem with the appeal being named after Earl Haig, who was arguably responsible for many of the casualties in the first place
My grandfather’s ambivalence was different. He served in artillery in North Africa and Italy and Greece from 1942 until 1946 I think. He never wore a poppy and certainly never paraded. He wondered who on earth would want to see some old boys parade wearing some tarnished old medals. He rarely spoke of his experiences and largely thought it was all a waste of time. I suspect there were many like him.

A few years ago I read a book called The Unknown Soldier by Neil Hanson. This got me hugely interested in WW1 and especially its day-to-day conditions. But we still perpetuate the myths today. “The Glorious Dead” it says. Well, as someone said, there was nothing glorious about drowning in a shell-hole or being blown to very tiny pieces or having your dugout being held up by bones because where your trench is, used to be cemetery a few years ago. I still don’t think the true horror of WW1 has been told. Maybe it will be in two years time. Maybe it needs a “Saving Private Ryan” sort of film.

One aspect of WW1 I hadn’t appreciated was that “mass hysteria” and mass outpourings of grief were not new. They weren’t invented when the Princess of Wales died. When the original wooden Cenotaph was built, there were so many flowers they had to be removed regularly and in 1920 people filed past the tomb of the unknown warrior for days (it might have been weeks – I need to check).

On Sunday my 9 year-old daughter is taking part in the Remembrance parade as a Brownie. I am keen for her to do so but I want to explain to her what it is for. For a 9 year old with a head full of Fairies and One Direction this isn’t going to be easy.

we just keep coming back for more…..

Some of us have no choice, you just have to cough up.

Your condescending comments and generally arrogant attitude have told me everything I need to know about you. I don’t wish to get into a heated argument with you on all of this, and hopefully you won’t be so hostile in the future. I’ll finish my thoughts on this thread below

Condescending and arrogant? I think you might need to point that bit out to me. You know nothing about me so don’t try and think you do. And you accuse me of being condescending?
I think the problem you had is that someone disagreed with you.

Republicans have to ask themselves is why they lost to an unpopular president in the midst of high unemployment and an economic downturn. I think they know the answer to that one but are unwilling to grab that particular nettle. If they don’t become more inclusive they will wither away.

It’s OK though, here in the UK the right wing are trying to blame the “entitlement” culture, not realizing that the true blame for this mess lies in our financial system. I guess we all need a scapegoat though.

Condescending and arrogant. Sheesh….

As someone who does 20000 miles a year just commuting I don’t know about this one. It costs around £3000 a year for me to commute, that’s just fuel alone. About £2000 of that is tax so if that was removed the cost would have to be around 9.5p per mile for me to stay as I am.
There is little point in the government saying people may have to look far and wide for work and then punishing them if they have to travel any distance.

My apologies – you said “The last time…” implying this was the next time.

A very sweeping statement for which you will have little evidence, I would suggest. Iran will certainly be relieved, I grant you.

Not just Iran

Middle East Relief

European Relief

British Relief

Chinese Relief

Asian Relief

I could go on….

Normally I’d go on a rant about just how wrong this statement is, but based on comments I’ll just leave it at this. That statement is only partially correct…

So “how wrong” is it? Oh, just partially wrong. I wonder which bit is wrong?

The fact you aren’t going on a “rant” to “correct” “just how wrong” my statement is tells me all I need know.

The last time the US saw two consecutive democratic presidents was 1963 (and we all know the reasons behind that).

Didn’t Bill Clinton win two terms?

48% of the US may be disappointed but the rest of the world is breathing a massive sigh of relief.