I won't be buying a poppy. I haven't bought one for about 15 years. My reason is that up until then my dad got annual help from the Earl Haig Fund - he was a POW for 5 years in WW2.
It'd be something like food vouchers for Christmas, that sort of thing.
Suddenly he got a knock back letter reminding him of his lowly rank (conscription, just a regular), that those 'higher up' than him needed help, deserved it more (as diplomatic and bullshitty as is possible), and that funds were there to help 'all of our soldiers involved in all conflicts', which means Sadaam really was the new Hitler.
Bollocks.
I'm pretty sure there aren't many old dudes left from those times, I bet there weren't even that many then.
I don't begrudge the old guys their memories - course I don't, but I bet hardly anyone realises just how manipulative and cynical this whole 'fields of Flanders' imagery is now.
It's become a brand.
They can shove their poppies right up their arses (even tho they've got plastic stems now, not those sharp pointy ones).
x
