A fine point McGrath of Harlow, although I would have thought Kipling wasn't so much naive as he was innocent - at least innocent of hindsight, which is all very well depending on the colour of ones spectacles, rose tinted or otherwise, and what historical perspectives one chooses to subscribe to.

I remember once sharing fags in a Northumbrian cemetary with a WW2 veteran who'd lost his legs & genitals, aged 19, as a result of standing for hours on end in the sea at Dunkirk. I was nineteen myself at the time, and underwent something of an epiphany; humbled to be in the company of a hero, rather than a victim, who wore his medals with the same pride with which and he told his story.

I dare say if I'd been a songwriter I'd have penned a suitable song; something about me with my pig tails and assorted Anarchist & CND badges enjoying the sort of freedom for which he'd laid his life on the line, and survived, albeit somewhat diminished, but more of a man than I'll ever be.

Needless to say whilst the hair remains (in one final follicle-fling!) the badges, and the diverse ideologies that attended them, are long gone...