Sir, – Having read the excellent analysis by Stephen Collins (Opinion, November 9th), I was saddened when I moved on to read Brian Hanley's article (Opinion, November 9th) on the wearing of the poppy.
I am a retired British serviceman, married to an Irish national for the last 35 years. My grandfather was a major, posted to the Dublin Castle garrison, light duties, to recover from injuries received in the trenches, in January 1916. I wear my poppy with pride on Armistice Day to honour all who died in wars not of their making and to remind our current leaders that war is never the right answer.
To try to associate the charitable activities of the British Legion, helping injured servicemen and their dependants, including Irish men and women who have served in the British forces, with some obsolete notion of British (by which Mr Hanley means English) imperialism suggests an inability to recognise that the world has moved on. We should be using this annual period of reflection to consider how we can work together to make tomorrow better. – Yours, etc,
NIGEL NEWLING,
The Folly,
Bristol, England.
Sir, – The point of the poppy is “lest we remember” rather than “lest we forget”.
Shortly after I arrived in London in the 1970s I asked an aged poppy seller if my understanding of their mission statement was correct. If very elderly army veterans of say, the 1919-21 troubles in Ireland needed accommodation, care and/or treatment, the proceeds of the sales would help to fund this. Would this include those who had committed atrocities against Irish civilians of which there were many instances? Bloody Sunday, at that stage a recent event, could have been mentioned, but he had now deduced that this was going to be a difficult sale and his response became both inarticulate and hostile, so we had to break off the interaction with no empathy.
The first World War was a Europe-wide catastrophe and an individual tragedy for 10 million families, but there is no hint of the wider picture in British Legion media content. Unquestioning support for whatever wars they are or were involved in is the order of the day, with frequent use of the words “heroes”, “victory” and “our nation”.
Insofar as Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane are concerned, whatever their level of geopolitical understanding, this apparently takes second place to their perception of their own interest in being constantly present on TV or the internet as managers or football pundits. This brand value would not really have been affected by a lack of poppy display, but they lacked the courage to take that chance. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT O’MAHONY
Further Green Road,
London, England.
Sir, – I find myself in accord with Brian Hanley (Opinion, November 9th). I was born in England to English parents just 11 years after the end of the second World War.
Throughout my childhood, I am sure that the poppy was worn only on one day of the year: the Sunday nearest to November 11th; or at the very most, from November 11th to the Sunday designated as Remembrance Day.
Like Mr Hanley, I have seen the poppy being worn much earlier in recent years: on October 23rd this year the panel on BBC's Match of the Day were all wearing poppies.
In my early 20s I joined the British army (albeit briefly) to prove to my father that I could be a man (though I wasn’t that self-aware then). My father was in the army because of national service and his father was in the army to escape excruciating poverty. Three generations and none of us joined so that celebrities could wallow in the sacrifice of others.
Had my dad been born in Northern Ireland and not northern England I might well have joined an altogether different army to prove my manhood to him; who knows. But, like Mr Hanley, I agree that “embracing the fuzzy nostalgia of the poppy” only encourages those who want to justify war. When the poppy is once again separated from a current political ideology, I may go back to wearing it, or simply continue in my own quiet way to remember “all” those who have died in war. – Yours, etc,
KEITH TROUGHTON,
Oakton Park,
Ballybrack, Co Dublin.
Sir, – I have to agree with Patrick O’Byrne (November 9th) and Brian Hanley (Opinion, November 9th) regarding the wearing of the poppy on UK TV. It seems ironic that a beautiful little flower, meant to be worn to commemorate the war dead in the fight against fascism, has now become the victim of a new form of fascism practised by the poppy policemen in UK television stations.
Apart from Roy Keane and Martin O'Neill wearing poppies, even the dancers on Strictly Come Dancing have been "persuaded" to sport huge in-your-face versions of what was once my favourite flower.
I notice that one or two individuals have managed to get their hands on miniature versions of the poppy that don’t entirely dominate our screens for three weeks. I only hope that their contracts are safe. – Yours, etc,
LOUIS HOGAN,
Harbour View, Wicklow.
Sir, – The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is the oldest secular pacifist organisation in Britain.
The PPU began widely distributing white peace poppies in 1934, not as an insult to those who died in the first World War, but as a challenge to the continuing drive to war. This is not liberal PC claptrap (Ciarán Connolly, November 11th).
Red poppies used to have “Haig Fund” printed in the centre, a charity that uses the proceeds from sales to support veterans from conflicts and military actions involving the British armed forces. In 1994 the wording was changed to “Poppy Appeal” (possible liberal PC claptrap?).
For the record, I am a peace poppy wearer.
It is a human(e) thing. – Yours, etc,
Dr BRIAN LARSEN,
Banks Road,
West Kirby,
Wirral, England.