Do you wear a poppy?

It doesn't have to be red, although obviously that would make you despicable. And probably a communist.

no...felt weird when i was offered one last year in work, was the first time since i've moved here that that happened. i felt a bit conflicted and hadn't really thought about it enough to say yes or no, so i said no.

wear one every year for my grandfather who served Canada in WWII.

Usually yeah except I always lose it after a couple of days but tbh the shenanigans of Help for Heroes etc has put me right off doing this now.

Any particular shenanigans? There was some internet gossip about what they do with the huge amounts of money they raise but I've never seen anything official. Or is just their whole modus operandi?

yes, but not this year (lol deutschland)

No. I've occasionally gave money though.

Have the Daily Mail started bullying the Premier League teams into wearing them yet?

yes, they ran something a few days ago. everyone's caved in except man utd. they're having their own green and gold poppy presumably.

white poppy people are kinda pricks

Looks like Man Utd are joining in after all.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1325026/A-set-Manchester-United-join-proud-poppy-club.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

I've never worn one. My dad was in the RAF and the militarism of the remembrance services I went to as a kid was just such an oppressive, ugly thing, and I guess I really associate them with that. Maybe it would have been different if I'd had any relatives killed in the war?

maybe you had some distant ones in the first world war? i only just found out recently about my great grandmothers brother who fought for a highland division who were nicknamed "the ladies from hell" by the germans. i'm assuming that's cos they wore kilts!

I could be wrong, but I feel like Remembrance Sunday is a bigger deal in the U.K. than Veterans Day is in the U.S.

I'd never even heard of the poppy tradition until I had to write something about Remembrance Sunday for work recently.

No on account of every time I have ever worn one in the past it has fallen off after five minutes. May drop some shrapnel in the collection tin though.

http://games.softpedia.com/screenshots/1-3960_1.png

as a newcomer to Canada, this is my first Remembrance Day. Now that Halloween's over all old ladies are sporting poppies.
jaymc, here's where the poppy tradition comes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flander%27s_Fields

^Oh, I know that now.

I won't surrender to 'poppy fascism' says Channel 4 News host Jon Snow

he is a bit of a cunt

I disagree. I'm meeting the fellow in a couple of weeks so I hope he isn't anyway.

Nah he's alright. Am v. bored of the military endlessly spinning themselves as fucking "Heroes". I can totally relate to guys who fought in two World Wars, mostly under conscription, but there aren't many of them left any more. If modern day soldiers feel so hard done by then they wanna get themselves unionized quick sharp.

he does this every year, he is the challop king

he is also a bit of a cunt

Never forget.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/11/21/article-1229917-074E723E000005DC-196_468x411.jpg

Is Cameron pooping on a grave, there?

In a very real sense, yes...

OB vans make such an attractive addition to the local scenery

I used to, then I moved to Quebec. Impossible to find them here.

When she first came to England a Polish friend of my ex complained about the cheap men wearing the paper flowers.

I'll wear a poppy. Keeping losing them tho. Ends up being quite expensive paradoxically.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/43_George_H.W._Bush_3x4.jpg

?

In Ireland (Republic of) if you wear a poppy it is a sign of eccentricity or of digging with the other foot.

I must salute Snow for not wearing the poppy. Regardless of whether you think the wearing of it is a good or bad idea, it is a bit creepy how everyone on British TV seems to feel obliged to wear it. That kind of enforced conformity turns something that is meant to be a salute to fallen soldiers into an empty signifier.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

h8 u ilx

The other day in one of those shitty free subway papers, the lead story was WHY ARE NOT THAT MANY PEOPLE WEARING POPPIES, in which some 'reporter' went to a busy intersection in Toronto and counted people who were wearing them and it came out to like only 10% or something. And they ran a photo of two poppyless pedestrians with the caption "Pedestrians not wearing poppies". I mean it was fucking ridiculous.

That said, I happily wear a poppy.

it's the 11th and i've still not seen anywhere that has them. same last year.

the poppies on the royals at the cenotaph are interesting. all fancy schmancy except for phillip and one of the princes, keeping it real.

and yes, btw

Celtic fans are not wearing poppies.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/09/article-1327826-0BF387EC000005DC-61_468x245.jpg

SOME Celtic fans are not wearing poppies. I'm wearing one right now. Note these Celtic fans are so stupid they can't even spell bloodstained, the morans :-)

Does anyone wear an Easter lily?

Well, not me.

Is there some flower our Orange friends wear? Maybe I could start wearing that all the time and get my face punched in.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone wear a lily in real life to be honest.

Of course Ailsa, I should have said 'some'. Celtic are saying they are going to ban the banner holders for life. Can't see that actually happening though?

These guys don't :(
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328703/Remembrance-Day-Poppy-burning-Muslim-protesters-mar-Armistice-Day.html

tut tut

Don't know, there's a bit of an issue between the group with the banner and the board anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them do get banned. It's too complex to go into here, tbh, but suffice to say they're not representative of as many Celtic supporters as they like to think, and they certainly aren't popular with the powers that be.

Banning "for life" always seems a ridiculous thing to threaten. You get less for murder, etc...

Aye, and then you just get your mate to rock up at the ticket office and buy you a ticket with cash and away you go. No-one will recognise any identikit wee bawbag from another, tbh. Is a gesture, and one Celtic were forced into due to general outrage at the horror and shame of it all.

The Great Silence.

Good read, btw.

oh ffs - I heard about the Celtic protests and assumed it would be a handful of attention-seekers, but there must be a hundred people actually holding those banners up, across hundreds more. Did nobody among them tear them down?

It's an organised group of Ultras. That section of the stadium is set aside for them and they plan and organise their displays well in advance. There was some audible tutting and huffing around our bit, but dissent from within quite unlikely.

Okay, didn't realise there were dedicated sections like that here. I take it that's a club-sanctioned subculture? Because it's brought a fair bit of bad publicity the last few years.

(obviously not suggesting the club sanctions the moronity, btw, just the idea of having a dedicated ultras thing)

It's tolerated more than sanctioned, I think, but not tolerated very well as some of them get kicked out every single week. I probably need to read up on it some more.

They do some great displays, but that was very much not one of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Brigade

Bit of history there. Badly written so suspect written by the bloke who painted the bloostained bit of the banner.

Regardless of whether you think the wearing of it is a good or bad idea, it is a bit creepy how everyone on British TV seems to feel obliged to wear it. That kind of enforced conformity turns something that is meant to be a salute to fallen soldiers into an empty signifier.

This, even more so now.

And then there's this

On a purely practical level, wearing a poppy would be easier if it were easier to buy one. I never see people out on the street, and only very rarely in shops, selling them.

xp Because I am 'elf and safety gawn mad' I assumed the 'ban' was because the pin in the back of the poppy might stick in someone and thought it sounded v. sensible.

I heard that a local council in the West Midlands tried to rename them 'Winterval Flowers'.

On a purely practical level, wearing a poppy would be easier if it were easier to buy one. I never see people out on the street, and only very rarely in shops, selling them.

Used to be an auld geezer in a kilt selling them in the Nag's Head Shopping Centre but I haven't seen him this year... mibbes he's deid :(

I've seen quite a few sellers about. My father-in-law sells them and showed by a Poppy Crescent he's selling for the first time this year, aimed, as he put it 'at the Muslim market'. I can't find a picture online (doing a search for muslim poppies leads you down links you'd probably not rather go) but it's like the little wooden cross you stick in the ground only it's..er..a crescent, obviously.

Ahh, here it is, from the British Legion website. Not a very good pic.
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/media/1155276/crescent.gif

Blimey, I had to look at my screen from an upward angle to see that!

That could have your eye out

Abu Hamza was clearly misunderstood.

i probably won't this year, tbh

We had someone around the house last night collecting, which is the first time I can recall sellers going door to door.

i wd dearly like to punch in the balls whoever decided this was going to be an issue around some shitty football friendly

I'm sure our surviving veterans will agree there's no greater monument to our war dead than the poppy being worn by such upstanding moral citizens like Ashley Cole and John Terry ahead of an almost certain 3-0 whipping by Spain.

i cannot imagine a less relevant subject for our politicians to turn their tiny minds to today

Beeb must be delighted it's been able to conduct a whole day's national debate about freedom of expression and what constitutes a political symbol. Better yet, I had to wake up to Laurie Penny on TV trying to sell me a Socialist Worker.

I'm sure our surviving veterans will agree there's no greater monument to our war dead than the poppy being worn by such upstanding moral citizens like Ashley Cole and John Terry ahead of an almost certain 3-0 whipping by Spain.

They laid down their lives so that we wouldn't have Klose and Podolski in our team.

a lot of Germans laid down their lives in an effort to avoid having Podolski in their team too

Wouldn't at all be surprised if the English players put a poppy in their pants for spite. Actually, I can see John Terry whipping it out after 90 mins tbh

Not sure John Terry knows what it's for tbh.

Strange how this football/poppy thing has become an issue

11th Nov 1953 England vs Northern Ireland: no poppies
11th Nov 1987 Yugoslavia vs England: no poppies
13th Nov 1999 Scotland vs England: no poppies
10th Nov 2001 England vs Sweden: no poppies
12th Nov 2005 Argentina vs England: no poppies
17th Nov 2010 England vs France: no poppies

So why now?

Poppy sellers are everywhere in Toronto. We cant get enough. But we don't get the leaf on ours like the UK.

once upon a time you had to pay more for the leaf, and if you paid even more you got a -- how else to say this? -- hairy black bit

when we were kids we stripped it of the red bit as soon as was politic, and pretended the remainder was a little green pipe <-- DG will like this at least, surely

you paid even more you got a -- how else to say this? -- hairy black bit

pretty sure that was the Dennis the Menace fan club

hairy poppy with moving eyes <-- wd wear

The Glorious Dead and Gnasher

Gruesome watching a succession of Tory MPs standing up during PMQs to ask pre-prepared questions on this poppy nonsense, sometimes I worry that my hatred of Tories is irrational, bordering on psychotic, but then you witness something like this...

Poppy wearing is very uncommon here (in Dublin). One tends to make certain assumptions about the wearers.

I salute (but not literally) the wearers of poppies here, as they are very much swimming against the mainstream.

Should be a knighthood for Mr Glendenning for this.

Of course, only English soldiers died in WWI + II - no Scottish, Welsh or Irish - so it's understandable that some people would get vexed over this

Seeing all these poppy people out is one thing that reminds me I live in a foreign country.

I think all the home nations have lined up behind this but tbf nobody cares what Scotland wear so I can see why this is the story. No wait, why is this the story? What on earth are they doing? How undignified. Well said Glendinning. I await the Malvinas armbands next time England draw Argentina. I presume Spain will be too grown-up to break out the 'loss of Gibraltar' armbands on Saturday.

I do find interesting the phenomenon of such things becoming more emotive the further removed you get from anyone who might directly have experienced it, though.

I think all the home nations have lined up behind this but tbf nobody cares what Scotland wear so I can see why this is the story.

This is true but we're used to (various) English (idiots) claiming two World Wars as their own

Simon Kuper, who speaks fluent Dutch, was on the radio here yesterday about this. He said he didn't wear a poppy because of the nationalistic associations. He did say this was more a thing of 20 or 30 years ago but he doesn't feel comfortable wearing one for this reason.

So is this still a thing? Is the poppy still 'kidnapped' by the (extreme) right-wing or a symbol of nationalism?

It never was, LBI, it's always been a personal gesture of solidarity and the main emotion is simple sadness. This row is so depressing because it's near enough the opposite of what the little flower means.

Thanks Ismael. Totally agree about the last bit, it is a depressing and disgraceful row.

Boyler OTM here

i've not seen anyone distributing them so far this year. but i have 4 or 5 from previous years. am caught between wearing an old one (to show support, which is important) or not wearing one (because i haven't donated, which is also important).

Why is there no poppy on every ILX page? Just observing.

There's poppies on every single 77 page!

some people just don't respect our war dead enough to ask for a 77 invitation.

Whilst the wars in which those people die are a matter for debate and decision by politicians, it will always be political, and it is specious to claim otherwise.

Boyler OTM there

Is the poppy still 'kidnapped' by the (extreme) right-wing or a symbol of nationalism?

Basically this is a debate of:

1. The poppy commemorates all people who died in wars. Wars are bad.

2. The poppy commemorates all brave people who died in tne many just wars fought by Britain; well done our boys. Wars in defence of our freedom and way of life are GRATE.

Some time ago I remember there being a white poppy campaign, the idea being that people would wear the white poppy to commemorate war dead in an unambiguously "war is bad" way, but that seems to have faded away.

I was, incidentally, amused by the LRB review of a book on the Opium War that mentioned how last year David Cameron wore a poppy on a visit to a country into which the poppy's fruit had been forced by Britain at gunpoint.

Benjamin Zephaniah wore a white poppy on Question Time last week.

but that seems to have faded away.

Not at all, saw a guy from the Peace Pledge Union on TV last night debating with the inevitable Tory arsehole MP

http://www.cbc-international.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/bbc-children-in-need.jpg
No poppy

Maybe he hurt his eye while putting it on and it's under that bandage now.

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/media/232135/chelsea_train.jpg

I observed the minute’s silence. Transcends all the needless hype and hysteria. I was happy to forget all the crap surrounding it. It gets you, the feeling itself. It gets me anyway.

i think a couple of minutes of the year when people STFU is always welcome

So I have discovered that as well as being armstice day and Nigel Tufnel Day, today is also the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death. Things just keep happening.

Dostoevsky's birthday too. Happy 190th mate.

I am going to see the SISTERS OF MERCY tonight. I wonder will Andrew Eldritch wear a poppy.

Happy 190th, Andrew.

Observed here, but ruined a bit by some guy photocopying all the way through it.

Wear a black poppy to the Sisters' show and say it's a gothy?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/3932217/Phil-Jones-loses-poppy-in-play.html

Poppy + Nazi salute. Classy.
http://s1-02.twitpicproxy.com/photos/large/447048515.jpg

Or his he brushing dust off his shoulders?

james mcclean hates our freedom

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2230924/Remembrance-Day-2012-Premier-League-respects-war-heroes.html

omg stoke dude

i'm going to assume that stoke's touching tribute involved inflicting great violence on foreigners in the style of our brave boys.

this just gets more political and jingoistic every year, 'a tremendous networking opportunity' for military contractors remember

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/15/royal-british-legion-president-quits/print

once the WWII vets are gone this will be mostly fucking horrible

Not too keen on sentimentalisation of the military.

There's a poppy wreath on a soldier's tomb
There's a poppy snake in a dressing room
Poppy poison-poppy tourniquet
It slithers away on brass like mouthpiece spit

ok this is possibly the worst thing i have ever seen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQgOekuR490

That is incredible. Not very realistic tho, cos you'd imagine an unmanned drone would be a batter way to ta

This fucking phone. Well you can see where I was going with that one, anyway.

http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/news/article/14-11-07-statement-regarding-james-mcclean-2070059.aspx

country feels pretty fucken jingoistic of late

did I ever post my Poppy Day clue here

Red flowers and jingoistic speech (6, 2, 5)

It seems there's much more of a bigger deal made out of it in recent years (this is purely an observation made from watching the telly). Was there a time when the poppy was only worn on Rememberance Day to nowadays where it's worn over a week? (or 2 weeks even!?)

SMDH at giant poppies on the grilles of articulated lorries....

https://twitter.com/day_appy/status/527758276424118272/photo/1

#manbassador for @jacamo.

Being Irish in England, I clearly don't wear one, and each year try and avoid getting annoyed, but when it gets to peak poppy i can't help it.

i've been enjoying the steady downplaying of the pointless butchery of WWI this year, you'd almost think it was a great moment in patriotism

The beeb have done some really terrible sanitised WW1 drama that is fucking dreadful.

A skull and crossbones would be more appropriate to symbolise an empire who were committing genocide on every continent, even after WW2. I wish they would fuck off from football, it is like going to a rally these days "to defend our freedom etc ...Fuck off!

poppies more than an important sentiment for any family with parents or grandparents who served in WW2. not many WW2 vets left now, and obviously it's becoming political. I didn't even realise poppies were not only for WW2+1 until recently. Growing up poppies were important and emotional for our grandparents who fought in WW2. Was nothing about patriotism, nationalism, or imperialism or any of that b.s. Simply about family, and other families and friends torn apart fighting a very nasty enemy.

I don't remember my parents and grandparents showing the slightest interest in wearing poppies fwiw.

Might be more 'fwiw' if you expand a little on why, perhaps? Did they serve in WW2? Don't know of any WW2 vets who didn't wear a poppy, personally.

my grandad was a pow in wwii, and for as long as i can remember, my nan sold poppies behind a little card table at the back of our local Target

it doesn't seem to be really a thing in the US, or at least not around here. they have veterans day parades & whatnot, but no remberance day specific stuff

Is this fucking facebook or something?

lolll

more or less

i thought this was a cool drug thing at first.

thought this said "Do you wear a puppy?"

you could ask this question as if you aren't sure what to do with a poppy. do you wear it?

life is an endless desert

yes I went apoopy

http://i.imgur.com/HtPjAsP.jpg

Poppies originated in the US, VG.

Might be more 'fwiw' if you expand a little on why, perhaps? Did they serve in WW2? Don't know of any WW2 vets who didn't wear a poppy, personally.

Well my parents both grew up during WW2. My mother seemed to enjoy herself, tbh, I can't recall my father saying anything about the experience ever. His father, I've no idea whether he fought in the war or not, it was never talked about. Both maternal and paternal great grandfathets fought in WWI, I think, though again I don't remember it being talked about - but it wouldn't make difference to me anyway as they were both dead by the time I came along so, as I'm not appearing on " Who Do You Think You Are" any time soon I can't mananufacture feelings for long dead ancestors. There's a funny story about what my maternal grandfather was up to during the war but haven"t got the time to go into it right now.

It is the 100th anniversary of WWI, which is the big one for the UK, so a certain amount of poppy fever is excusable this year.

Well my parents both grew up during WW2. My mother seemed to enjoy herself, tbh, I can't recall my father saying anything about the experience ever. His father, I've no idea whether he fought in the war or not, it was never talked about. Both maternal and paternal great grandfathets fought in WWI, I think, though again I don't remember it being talked about - but it wouldn't make difference to me anyway as they were both dead by the time I came along so, as I'm not appearing on " Who Do You Think You Are" any time soon I can't mananufacture feelings for long dead ancestors. There's a funny story about what my maternal grandfather was up to during the war but haven"t got the time to go into it right now.

You don't have any idea whether any of your grandparents fought in WW2?

It was never talked about

This has been reading comprehension join us next week same time

Joss Stone is singing a sultry soul version of "Green fields of France" (the official poppy appeals single) as the pre-game entertainment at the NFL game in Wembley right now.

(xxp) The day war broke out my maternal grandfather formed a close harmony singing group... well something like that. According to my mum, during the war, her dad (who was 'estranged' from the family by this time) and two 'women friends',used to tour the back courts of tenements in Glasgow singing songs for money. So, no, he didn't fight in WW2, except with my granny.

I survived the famous 70's Wiggan Lane flashpoint of Deighton vs Brackenhall every time I walked to fucking school and never got any medals. Fuck off and die army:p

language

He walked to procreating school.

http://i.imgur.com/FQcWTKV.png

Oh dear @ crimson ring...

just passing through northern France on the train - Arras in fact. an announcement came over requesting 2 mins silence, which given the location it seemed right to enter into the spirit of.

looked over the fields under which there were undoubtedly still the bones of the fallen, and cattle and dead Merovingian kings no doubt (buried with snail shells as a sign of immortality).

mind drifted on to the Benjamin's essay on Nikolai Leskov, where he said that the significance of the First World War was that it was the first from from which people returned not with stories but silence:

A generation that had gone to school on horse-drawn streetcars now stood under the open sky in a landscape where nothing remained unchanged but the clouds

at that point the phone of the man sitting behind me went off, and was quickly cut short, accompanied by muffled french swearing.

but after all, practical life goes on - people are indifferent, forgetful, unaware, and I felt at that moment quite intensely that this is by far the better way.

there is something nauseating about structural remembrance, unless it does actually represent a meaningful prophylactic against war, local, civil or international.

That's especially the case when it becomes more about patriotism than remembrance, as it seems to be in much of the media at the moment.

The DM and other right wing press have used the formula that this stance is *unpatriotic* frequently.

1) Who gives a damn? rural labourers in Englamd hymned Napoleon and hoped he would invade to rid them of the landed classes.

2) what that ugly patriotism formula forgets - in fact deliberately negates - is that patriotism *is not enough*. (that's a quote from somewhere, but I can't remember who). it is not a love of borders, but a starting point for building a nation that embodies principles of which one can be proud, and which seeks to include rather than exclude.

ultimately that may still be a distasteful creed - see Dr Johnson - inherently tainted by exclusion, and lack of internationalism, but most of what's presented doesn't even reach that.

some of these feelings dissipated with the realisation that families who've suffered loss because of war may want to feel that society is made aware of that loss (that's a strong *may* tho isn't it? sure "glorious sacrifice" doesn't really come into those emotions all the time).

then my thoughts drifted back to Russian short stories, with their old ladies in a village "who lost a son in the war", a hazard that was of a piece with disease and hardship.

it was the vast strategic machinery of WW1 and WW2 that brought forth the need for a structural sentiment.

patriotism *is not enough*. (that's a quote from somewhere, but I can't remember who).

Who: Edith Cavell. Where: Her monument on Charing Cross Road.

http://londoniscool.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/london-20.jpg

/ patriotism *is not enough*. (that's a quote from somewhere, but I can't remember who). /

Who: Edith Cavell. Where: Her monument on Charing Cross Road.



that was it! thank you. often looked at that.

gonna hold a minute's posting to celebrate that fizzles effort. actually nah i'll just post an 'otm' and scarper

That's beautiful fizzles

I don't think wearing a poppy or taking part in "structural remembrance" necessarily has anything to do with patriotism

i thought that 'Dawn' on her gravestone was a bit of a revealing detail... was killed by german firing squad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Cavell

yep, agree anagram - hopefully covered that with That's especially the case when it becomes more about patriotism than remembrance, as it seems to be in much of the media at the moment.

Tho did deviate a bit by the end because I was (a bit hazily) feeling that the structural remembrance is the corollary of structural warfare - that is to say the nationwide conscription of people to war - but is not antagonistic to it: that 'sacrifice' and 'remembrance' participate in The Old Lie (dulce et Decorum est...).

Reminds me of this recent LRB piece on the Peshmerga Kurds:

They are highly disciplined and intensely dedicated to the cause of Kurdish nationalism: this has enabled them to wage a war for three decades against the enormous Turkish army, always undeterred despite the devastating losses they have suffered. The PKK, like Isis, emphasises martyrdom: fallen fighters are buried in carefully tended cemeteries full of rose bushes high in the mountains, with elaborate tombstones over the graves. Pictures of Ocalan are everywhere: six or seven years ago, I visited a hamlet in Qandil occupied by the PKK; overlooking it was an enormous picture of Ocalan picked out in coloured stones on the side of a nearby mountain. It’s one of the few guerrilla bases that can be seen from space.

Quite liking this program on The Great War, poems found: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pd0vt

Warning: contains matters in regards to the poppy.

USA citizens can only dream of a 82,000 troop military.

http://undergroundmgzn.com/2014/11/11/tower-london-poppies-obliterated-machine-guns/

The Sun Military Awards (televised as A Night of Heroes: The Sun Military Awards since 2009) is an annual awards ceremony which honours members of the British armed forces and civilians involved with the forces. The awards were created by The Prince of Wales.[1] The awards are organised and sponsored by The Sun newspaper.[2]

During the televised ceremony, awards known as "Millies" are given out. The awards and their recipients are chosen by a select panel of ten judges, made up of national figures and military chiefs.[3] Nominees of all but one of the categories are selected by the general public, with the remaining category winner chosen by the judges.[2]

The 2009 award ceremony took place on 15 December 2009, and was broadcast on ITV on 21 December at 9.00pm. The judges included John Terry, Jeremy Clarkson, Kelly Holmes, Ross Kemp and four ex-Service chiefs.[5]

From The Sun Military Awards 2014.

HUMBLED Homeland star Damian Lewis poses for a selfie with three Millies heroes last night and told them: “You’re all legends.”

at times like these it is important to remember the real heroes like samir nasri, raheem sterling and eden hazard who bring joy to millions every week with their selfless dedication to the beautiful game

Probably what one of the Millie heroes said to the other two Millie heroes after Damian Lewis had finished taking his selfie. (xp)

does nobody in the army feel slightly demeaned by this tabloid pr nonsense

it's not like they didn't introduce the entire idea of giving medals and commendations for achievement long before every area of civic life decided it needed its own lurid mixture of a school prizegriving and an italian tv variety show

Katherine-Jenkins-grabs-attention-EXTREMELY-low-cut-pink-dress-Night-Heroes-military-awards.html

This "heroes" wind is very powerful and dangerous, to the point that I keep my mouth shut more these days. i wouldn't want to offend someone who has been seriously injured, but still loathe the armed forces and the insidious propaganda campaigns they wage at football matches every fucking week in the name of people who have been injured.

Our boys

the whole thing is grossly overplayed

all of those obituaries of ww2 veterans with 'he didn't like to talk about his war days'......it's scarcely as if any sentient person doesn't recognise the selflessness and courage of those people whether or not a cottage industry was constructed to glorify it every day of the week

constant reiteration of 'heroism' by parasitic tabloids merely gives lie to its ostensibly laudatory aim and shows it to be bludgeoning cant that uses the army as a vector for jingoistic dogshit

In Band of Brothers they got around how loathsome many aspects of WW2 were like allied medics keeping separate black blood/white blood stocks and the input of black soldiers to the war effort, just by not portraying any of it. And then there is the case of the Kenyan "heroes" who fought against the Nazis in North Africa without a wage and then spent the next decade getting worked to death and tortured in British gulags.

Send this fucking arsehole to Afghaqn
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/resources/images/3399008.jpg?display=1&htype=0&type=mc2

"This is a symbol of peace and reconciliation" bellows angry internet mob calling for war with FIFA

The poppy/anti-poppy stuff on twitter is going to be a 'hilarious' few weeks.

i wear one

Don't people in GB realize WWI ended almost a century ago? And that they now hate brave little Belgium with a fierce passion?

i noticed today that they've changed the design.

also, in W12 shopping centre today, they had a shitload of the things. proper poppies, stemless poppies, pin badges, Somme anniversary pin badges, some rugby related pin badges somehow.

wtf!
http://www.poppyshop.org.uk/charity-jewellery/premier-league-pins.html

i threw 9 poppies away recently. i obviously hate veterans.

... we're used to (various) English (idiots) claiming two World Wars as their own
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 November 2011 11:01 (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And here we are again.

Not seen it mentioned above, but the Royal British Legion not above getting its fingers into the production side of the glorious dead:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/15/royal-british-legion-president-quits

that's just one bloke though, not the entire Legion.

https://styleandthensome.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/swarovski-crystal-brooch-ebay.jpg

On Flander's Etsy, the poppies show
Our horrible tastes, row on row

p shocking disrespect to the idea of showing our gratitude to our brave lads itt

the idea of respect certainly is due an idea of respect check these guys out
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/11/08/article-2230098-15EC11CB000005DC-338_634x827.jpg

thought that said C.C.C.P. for a minute

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtwQC23WEAAYYcB.jpg

sigh

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtwQC23WEAAYYcB.jpg

tbh i prefer a random squaddie to james mcclean

I am glad we didn't become Vichy Britain but I'd rather get eaten by a fucking komodo than die for Blair's narcissism. Which a lot of these poppy wavers seem to equate with preservation of freedom or safety.

I can't countenance the base ant colony instincts the red poppy represents. But I am one of these space cadet peacenik cloud dweller types who loathes anything military. If my type prevailed we'd be reduced to the Putin Isles obv.

There used to be a white poppy that commemorated the whole death count, including civilians killed by soldiers.

white poppy still exists.

I just heard something on R4 about it, never seen one once in my life though. Barely see any red poppies where I live though tbh

I've also never seen one

Bought one just 20 minutes ago, bending the pin double so it'll stay on. Both of my grandpas were in WWII though neither saw combat

I used to sell white poppies when I was at school. (Confessions of an adolescent contrarian)

white poppy still exists.

In fact I just ordered some.

'Thanks lads' is p succinct.

both my grandpas were in the second world war one in africa and one in singapore

My great granddad got shot at Gallopili and then had to dodge more bullets on the hospital ship. I think both my non-serving Irish granddads might have been harbouring Nazi sympathies, there was a lot of that about back then but it was verboten to mention it afterwards.

my paternal grandfather fought during the second world war*

*as an amateur boxer in the non-involved chilean military during his national service

my maternal grandfather put himself in harms way during the second world war*

*he was a roofer and in those days health and safety standards were non-existent

All grandfathers are shit

i love my grandad

Teresa May making a solid case today that the poppy is an apolitical symbol.

verily did i lol at the poppy sheningans on this account

https://twitter.com/StreathamRovers/status/793781721183420416

Bizarrely Streatham Rovers are a great bunch of lads.

How small is a poppy allowed to be? Wear poppies small enough for anyone to actually notice.

https://twitter.com/giantpoppywatch/status/793718893151911936

Hope they throw the book at them.

please deduct points for maximum lols

Too right.

I was thinking the other day about a very prescient Billy The Fish cartoon in Viz from 10-15 years where it looks like a game is never going to kick off because they keep adding extra minute's silences on. Like this one is for victims of Jack The Ripper in Whitechapel, and now another for those that perished on rms Titanic etc..

Gordon Smith just on Skynews defending the FA/SFA on the grounds that FIFA's Say No to Racism campaign could be considered political too. Fucking idiot.

Christ alive, suddenly that utter tool Danny Mills doesn't seem so bad.

Do u wear a poppy

nah

I think, for two weeks a year, it's appropriate to have a reminder of the brave boys out in Afghanistan.

https://s1.postimg.org/5pqtl49u9r/070410_poppies_hmed_1p.grid-6x2.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/v7fqd3.jpg

im in this picture thinking "that's a pretty poor spelling mistake"

was debating whether to post this on the facebook meme thread but I think it's better here:

https://scontent-frx5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/23167916_10155782428436192_8753786084183199185_n.jpg?oh=fd16c847a78602a75da851a22451f458&oe=5A679BC2

War Christmas kicking off in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex. pic.twitter.com/dYNIR03wj0

— Tim Burrows (@timburrows) November 1, 2018

the lengths some people go to keep the tv license inspector out is ridic.

Still wear a white poppy, though tbh having to explain it on a near-daily basis is an irritant

going to put a collapsable war memorial up in the parking space outside my house

I've still never seen a white poppy irl.

me putting you all to shame:
http://howe-gtr.air-nifty.com/tamakichi/images/pg04_thumb.jpeg

ive avoided it as a rule

white poopies are best avoided.

https://i.imgur.com/GkC6jVV.jpg

poppies are good...

for me to poop on

One of the local libraries had an ongoing project to knit poppies, and someone gave my grandma supplies who then gave them to me, but I never did it.

yeah i'm not into this, just happy we get that monday off

Nothing underlines the apolitical nature of the poppy more than the relentless stream of "if you don't wear a poppy gtfo of our country" memes as their numbers swell year on year

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DrfLuoCWwAAnQhU.jpg

talk about putting the poop into poopy!

very topical, as loads died of typhus whilst shitting in holes in the ground, to defend our freedom to shit onto the fatberg!

love how the buses here say "LEST WE FORGET SORRY NOT IN SERVICE"

it's already poppy season on bbc politics live (oh, it's only the one guest, tory mp?)

Kind of ironic to commemorate a war caused by nationalism in order to reinforce nationalism

lol exactly

soldier f cannot be found guilty, in related news