Apologies: I hit send prematurely there. I won't bother reposting Jacks comments again but this is what I wanted to add.

I have really mixed feelings about all this. I'm no pacifist and the thought of turning the other cheek puts me right off Jesus. People who join armies and navies sign up for all sorts of reasons. I suppose patriotism for the country that you happened to be born in is one such, but I doubt whether most of the young men and women who join up understand intimately the politics of the wars they get caught up in. It's a cliché, but the first casualty of any war is the truth, and that works for all sides involved. Am I glad that they fight for this country? Well, I'm not proud of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, and a good few others, but what I do know is that, thanks to the defeat of fascism and the political reaction in Europe that ensued, and in spite of everything else that went wrong, I never got called up to fight in a war and neither did my son. If someone asked me to buy a poppy I'd buy it but I won't wear it because I don't want to be associated with the horrid militarism of the remembrance events. If you wear your medals with pride you are saying that you're proud that we won the war and of your part in that. Winning a war means we kill more of them than they killed of ours. Everybody who gets killed leaves many grieving people behind with shattered lives. And I don't forget civilians in that. Innocent civilian deaths in Iraq outnumbered armed forces deaths hundreds of times over, yet it's the military medals that are on show at remembrance events. I think we should be a bit more humble than that. We can still be humble about it whilst still celebrating the bravery and sacrifice of our armed forces. I'd be a lot happier if I saw loads of poppies but not a medal in sight. And the last thing I want to hear is a marching band playing Rule Britannia. Jack mentions religion. All our remembrance events are absolutely up to their eyeballs in religion, from crucifixes and vacuous bishops' eulogies to hymn-singing. That strikes a completely wrong note with me. When the Beeb focuses on the bereaved sister of a young man killed this year in Afghanistan, bringing the whole thing down to human scale, that's when remembrance is at its best for me.