Remembrance

Every year poppy fever rages higher as councils launch their local appeals with increasingly diverse events; schools and communities are urged to do their fundraising bit and the national appeal is launched with hit singles and celebrities. And you can of course follow trendy young “Poppy” on Facebook and Twitter.

This year three young Welsh boys are “the faces of this year’s Poppy Appeal”, chosen because their dad “died a hero in the war in Afghanistan” when his vehicle was…

There has been a Saturday morning peace picket in Stroud's High Street since the build-up to the Iraq war. This is my pitch for selling PN and seasonal white poppies but I've only just discovered -- to my chagrin -- that the picket predates the arrival of our family in Stroud and has been going on since the war in Kosovo.

The picket is small but, as I've lately been made aware, admirably persistent. It has become part of the street furniture so to speak and this year our…

On 7 March, Emdadur Choudhury, a member of “Muslims Against Crusades” (MAC), was fined £50 after being convicted of committing public disorder during the two-minute silence last Remembrance Day. Choudhury burned two large plastic orange poppies at an MAC demonstration in west London on 11 November. Khalid Mahmood, a Muslim Labour MP, described the fine as inadequate, saying: “We don't take it seriously enough, he hurt a lot of people. I really don't think it is acceptable to protest against…

Providing material not only for Remembrance Sunday but for other occasions which call for reflection on the reality of war and its cost, and the desire to work for peace and its cost too. The introduction on Henry Allingham and Harry Patch sets the tone which, in a variety of ways, honours the words of Harry Patch: “War isn’t worth one life”.

Once again this year, Aberystwyth town council voted to lay a white peace poppy wreath at the war memorial. In truth, stalwarts on the council had a struggle getting their fellows to continue the tradition, which has a symbolic impact beyond the borders of Wales. Only two councillors, Mark Strong and Alun Williams, both of Plaid Cymru, attended the ceremony on 13 November.

Unless people lobby the council, the future of the ceremony remains uncertain. Once laid, the white poppy wreath…

87% of Britons agree with the statement: “Remembrance Sunday should be about marking the dead on all sides of war, not just the British”, according to a ComRes poll carried out for the Christian think tank Ekklesia at the beginning of November.

93% say they believe that, contrary to existing remembrance traditions, civilians who died in war should also be remembered.

95% say they think the main message of Remembrance Sunday should be one of peace.

When…

The funeral of the last British survivor of the trenches of the First World War was held in Wells Cathedral on Hiroshima Day (6 August) attended with pomp and circumstance, and solemn honours from politicians and the mainstream media. While they proclaimed their respect for Harry Patch, who died at the age of 111, political leaders and media commentators almost entirely ignored the core message to which Harry Patch devoted his last years.

The man who saw some of his best friends…

Once again this year Aberystwyth Town Council will lay a white poppy wreath at the war memorial. The ceremony takes place on Saturday 8 November at 11am. In taking this action Aberystwyth Town Council is unique in Britain. But the decision to maintain the tradition was not made easily. It took the casting vote of the Mayor, Sue Jones-Davies.

The white poppy not only commemorates all those who suffer in wars; it also sends out the message that “there are better ways to resolve…

On 10 November, for the fourth year running, the Mayor of Aberystwyth, Lorrae Jones-Southgate, laid a white poppy wreath at the castle war memorial on behalf of the Town Council, in the presence of around 40 people.

Leading the ceremony, Pryderi Llwyd Jones said: “We have gathered here on the eve of Remembrance Sunday to remember, with those who will be here tomorrow, those who have lost their lives in two world wars and the families and communities that lost their loved ones. But we…

In November we are all reminded of past wars. I think that, in the midst of this remembrance, we also need to think of those who suffer now for opposing present and future wars.

Many years ago, I was acquitted, along with 13 other people, after a trial under a silly law called the Incitement to Disaffection Act.

The acquittal came on 10 December, and ever since then I've celebrated with a party on or near Human Rights Day (10 December).

One year a couple came to the…

They may have been in circulation since the 1930s (hmm.. sounds familiar...), but the power of the white poppy to provoke remains as pronounced as ever.

In the run up to Remembrance Sunday, the Movement for the Abolition of War and Royal British Legion were widely reported as having reached some kind of “truce”, with the Legion agreeing to remove their contentious “wars are inevitable” statement from their website and to include MAW information in their schools pack. MAW invited the…