Exactly......and it certainly isn't up to Barbara Windsor to take that freedom away from us....

I dare you to say this when you see a war veteran with them. I always have a chat to them when I get one - they're all such lovely people and I have a lot of sympathy with them and what they went through. Google it then you'll find out why they came into being. Incidentally I understand why some people don't wear them, they have valid reasons but this really isn't a valid reason.

Beat me to it.

After all their National service record was one of true patriotic duty.

I know who I would like to sod off - and it is not those who choose to remember the war dead in their own ways.

These people sacrificed their lives for our freedom of speech - how bloody ironic.

Don’t you think one of the best ways to commemorate and protect British troops is by not sending off to war in the first place at every opportunity? Rather than just wearing pieces of plastic? I find a lot of these uber patriotic poppy wearers are always first scream war every chance they get. I was reading some of the posts on here in the politics forum at one point who were very disappointed Argentina and Spain didn’t escalate the falklands and Gibraltar dispute so we could go to war and show who had a bigger army/tanks/jets, predicting how many we would kill, frightening stuff.

A good number of the “YOU MUST WEAR A POPPY” brigade still think it was a good idea to go into Iraq and Afghanistan, and questioned anyone who didn’t support those wars as unpatriotic.

I’ve have no problem with people who genuinely wear one for remembering loved ones who died in wars etc, and choose to do so privately, but of the whole issue of the poppy promotion does appear to be a bit of a war drum beat.

I think we will know Britain has become a tolerant society in the year Derry footballer James McLean doesn`t receive death threats for not wearing a poppy.

I do agree with this as i also support charities and don't feel the need to advertise that support by wearing a badge. Indeed if i am offered one, i say no as charity should first be anonymous (you don't give to be seen as having given) and secondly, money spent on badges, wristbands is money not spent on the actual cause like medical research, food or housing for the vulnerable.

Poppy day is a little different as it is not just about raising money for Charity as showing respect for the Dead, specifically in a War which was horrific in its brutality and most did not have a choice about fighting. If you don't display the poppy, you are not demonstrating that you remember and respect those that have been lost.

But then, there is the problem. People do have several different coats or jackets and with weather changing as it has been this week, it is hard to ensure you always have one on. And also, which is more important, wearing one on your inside clothes in the office or your outside coat? Yes you could move it but i find it hard to keep them attached to one article of clothing once on.

So, do people keep their poppies from year to year? They'll wear one but haven't contributed for however many years. Do people need to buy 10 so they've got one on every jumper, jacket, coat they might wear this time of year?

Basically, my view is that I buy at least one poppy for a 5ver every year and i put it on the jacket I am wearing most at that time and try to keep one for my inside clothes. But, if i happen to wear a coat it isn't one, or it falls off (which happens) I'm not going to feel bad about not displaying the badge as I know that I respect the dead, i don't need to prove that to everybody that sees me.

I don't like this pressganging mentality - it should be up to individuals. If i'm honest, i actually think it should have been kept to WW1 remembrance only as bringing other Wars into it has clouded the issue somewhat. It didn't used to be an 'Armed Forces' thing but a 'Remembrance' thing.

I think there should be an Armed Forces day, and Charity drive but it should be separate to 11/11 whuch is specific to that war. And D Day, VE and VJ Day are specific to WW2.

I prefer to wear a white poppy which isn't just a patriotic war symbol but represents peace and supports and honours those that fight in all wars, on all sides. Google it if you aren't familiar.

Yep.

I also really hate the glittery 'bling' poppies that celebrities wear, on X Factor etc. I know they raise more money for charity, but that money can be given without using poppies as some kind of accessory/ fashion statement. War is NOT glamorous FFS!

So me choosing not to wear a poppy because i don't like them isn't a valid reason ? why not ? It's not going to make a slight difference to the world or anybody's lives if i don't wear one.

I don't need to wear a silly little plastic piece of junk to remember them by.

Agreed...
Truly shocking that someone from a city where innocent people were murdered by our 'so called fantastic' British army should receive death threats for not honouring them. Barbara Windsor should visit northern ireland then we'll see who sods off!!

I don't usually wear a poppy but stick money in the tin. Barbara Windsor can go and play with her blue balls. Silly old bat.

I think service men and women are very brave, however I don't wear a poppy as I don't support acts of war and everything it means. Military people are automatically seen as heroes that we should revere but I disagree. They die and fight wars so that the people at the top can hold on to the power they desperately cling to, people they've never even met. I find it all very tragic, not heroic.

They are so fiddly and a nuisence to wear. I have a pin on my coat for November but aside from that I don't.

I cannot stand people who think we should all do what you think or have your opinion.

I buy a poppy every year but the only time I actually wear it is on Remembrance Sunday when I attend the local service at the war memorial. I always wonder how many of these people who make a big show of wearing their poppies actually bother to get up on that day and spend the time to remember what they actually represent. It always saddens me as I stand there in silence to hear the rugby / football matches going on in the park and to see people driving past. However, I have to remember that the wars were fought so that we had the freedom to carry on our lives without being dictated to.

Thank you my lovely. I never really left, I just go through stages of wanting to post or not wanting to post.

And I'm so heartened to read the brilliant posts on this thread. It frustrates me no end when people mistake my lack of regard for what the poppy has become for a lack of respect for the service men and women who have died or been injured in a war they didn't create. As cyrilandshirley said in her excellent post, the poppy was meant to say "never again" yet we're still sending troops off to fight, all the while cutting mental health services so they have precious little resources to return to when they come home. It's appalling.

Barbara promotes gambling, she has no business taking the moral high-ground.

I'm not one for violence, a pacifist through and through, but I really, truly hope that someone pokes that screaming banshee Peggy's eye out with one of her beloved poppies.

I agree with a lot of your post, absolutely, but regarding the BIB - not all wars have been fought for freedom. WW2 was, for sure. But WW1 was a pointless horrific slaughter which was fought by idiotic Emperors and Kings over imperial ambitions. There's an attempt by the current government to rewrite it as a glorious sacrifice in protection of freedom, but it wasn't. Those boys were sent off to die in millions for no reason at all. But apparently that uncomfortable truth isn't very popular any more.

Like someone already said, the truth about WW1 is in Wilfred Owen, so I'll always go back to that when I hear the propaganda.

Another excellent post.

Barbara Windsor is a silly, old woman whose thoughts are irrelevant. I hope that she donates some of her stupid bingo ad earnings to the British Legion and other charities.

His treatment because of the issue has been extremely distasteful. Opposition fans have taken to singing "F*** the IRA" and "God Save The Queen" at him as a way of venting their anger, and all because he says he has a difficulty with the wearing of the poppy.

Agree, in all the 100 years remembrance there is no actual critique of how the upper classes used everyone else like cannon fodder over some petty imperialistic squabble.

Probably because the military still relies on people signing up to "protect the nation" in some far off land that is of no imminent threat at all.

The whole mandatory poppy wearing on TV is all very authoritarian, its the type of thing the same British TV networks would criticize Russia or China for doing.

Windsor is just a tired has been who needs to be controversial as it gets her publicity, to wear a poppy or not is a personal decision and the tired old train wreck should realise that.