Remembrance Sunday

Today we remember all those who died so we can live in a free country. Their selfless sacrifice in two world wars led to more peace loving democracies emerging in Europe and Asia.

It is good news that 74 years have now passed without our country being enveloped again  in total war.  Today we also remember those who  have died in more recent local and regional wars despite the success in avoiding full on conflict between the great powers.

I will attend the Remembrance  service in Wokingham in a private capacity.  I have explained to local organisers that there are currently no MPs so there can be no official wreath laying on  behalf of the constituency.  Conservatives are not campaigning today in the General election.

104 Comments

  1. Fedupsoutherner
    November 10, 2019

    I will be attending our local Remembrance service to remember my brother who was killed in the Falklands conflict and all who gave their lives so we can be free. I fear with the unrest in the world our men and women will be called upon once again. We owe them all a great debt.

    1. Hope
      November 10, 2019

      Explain to us as we remember these brave souls why Mayhab and Johnson have sold our nation out and given control of our military to the EU when we are meant to be leaving the EU. Many articles in Con Woman and elsewhere showing the articles of the servitude plan to allow this and subjugate our own foreign policy! After all military has nothing to do with trade.

      1. dixie
        November 10, 2019

        Please stop hijacking early replies simply to get your opinions near the front, either get up earlier in the morning or post against the blog, .

        You are being rude and inconsiderate to other posters, no better than Andy, Hans et al really.

        1. Leaver
          November 12, 2019

          It is very funny how that even on remembrance day, people posting manage to drag the subject back onto the E.U.

          Surely on this, of all days, we should be able to set our differences aside.

      2. steve
        November 10, 2019

        Hope

        The EU is determined to get it’s borders as close as possible to Russia, and want to incorporate Ukraine to achieve that.

        They insist on control of our military.

        We maintain a nuclear arsenal.

        EU policy is influenced by those of former soviet communist ideology, some would have even been STASI. They vehemently despise Putin and the Russian federation. They also scorn NATO and the US.

        Figured it out yet ?

        1. margaret howard
          November 10, 2019

          steve

          “We maintain a nuclear arsenal.”

          Can you explain to me what good a nuclear arsenal will do? If we use a nuclear bomb to destroy a city they will lob one back at us in revenge.

          And so it will go on till the whole globe is reduced to a cinder.

          Reminds me of a quote supposedly by a US military man:

          “We had to destroy the village to save it.”

          Still we now know that our earth was nearly destroyed many times before and it always recovered making way for new kind of creature.

          Unfortunately it won’t be us.

          1. dixie
            November 10, 2019

            The UK established it’s own nuclear deterrent because Russia threatened to nuke us and the government didn’t believe the US would risk their own cities by retaliating.

            I realise the last crop of politicians and intellectuals would have welcomed the chance to bend the neck to Russia or anyone else really but this was not seen as an option in the 50’s

            You may have forgotten about the fear and uncertainty of the cold war I haven’t, my brither was in the services and my father was in Civil Defence and some of his briefing material was quite sobering.

          2. steve
            November 10, 2019

            MH

            “Can you explain to me what good a nuclear arsenal will do? ”

            Strictly speaking there is no such thing as a ‘good’ nuclear arsenal, and you might care to note I didn’t say there was.

            These weapons are not good, but unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle.

            Just pray to God they won’t ever have to be used. Or indeed surrendered to the control of fools.

            Personally I’d prefer this kind of weapon was beyond man’s technical capability.

      3. Fedupsoutherner
        November 10, 2019

        Agree Hope
        We were thinking just that when they showed the line up of our two faced politicians who are denying the British people true democracy and freedom from the rule of the EU.

        1. Ian Wragg
          November 10, 2019

          I don’t know how they dare stand after their traitorous behaviour of selling out Britain to the EU.
          Then Johnson has the bare face to say it’s a good deal.

        2. steve
          November 10, 2019

          dixie

          “You may have forgotten about the fear and uncertainty of the cold war I haven’t, my brother was in the services and my father was in Civil Defence and some of his briefing material was quite sobering.”

          Very similar situation here too. We lived very close to a well known aircraft factory. Across the road from our house was a WW II type air raid siren, which used to go off at regular intervals. One day my eldest brother who was also involved with civil defence told me why it was regularly sounded, i.e readiness drill.

          When all was explained, I rather wished they’d dispense with the siren as I wouldn’t want to know when the horror was coming. As you say, quite sobering.

      4. Martin in Cardiff
        November 10, 2019

        There is military co-operation-at-will between sovereign countries, which also happen to be members of the European Union, including the UK.

        There is as yet no military institution with command as part of the European Union, and any member state would be able to veto its instigation if it were proposed. It becomes more likely with the UK’s departure, however.

        Please do not try to spread your own confusion to others.

    2. steve
      November 10, 2019

      FUS

      “We owe them all a great debt.”

      …….but we owe Europe nothing, they owe us.

      Next time we shouldn’t get involved. Particularly with today’s weapons getting involved would certainly be our lot.

      1. Martin in Cardiff
        November 10, 2019

        What, all four hundred and fifty million of them?

        And what do we owe Russia, which lost tens of millions bearing the brunt of Nazi aggression?

        You’re starting a rather silly litany of claim and counterclaim, I think.

        1. Anonymous
          November 10, 2019

          It was German aggression. German.

          My grandparents never ever described themselves as fighting ‘Nazis’.

          I wouldn’t mind if the English were so easily absolved of historical misdeeds by being renamed *Imperialists* or some such – alas we are dragged through it repeatedly by Hollywood, the BBC, the Universities and Remain supporters whereas the Germans get a free pass and it all gets blamed on some mysterious disappeared tribe called the Nazis.

          1. miami.mode
            November 11, 2019

            100% correct there, Anon. A quick read of the Wikipedia entry for Dirk Bogarde is very illuminating with regard to his war service.

    3. tim
      November 10, 2019

      Fedupsoutherner- very emotional about my relatives sacrifice, people can not even image what it was like. BUT, they fought and gave their lives for FREEDOM. They will be turning in their graves after the Boris/Treason May servitue and surrender WA!

  2. Mike Stallard
    November 10, 2019

    When the British Empire was at its height, men fought and ruled in the name of the Queen/King Emperor. Commissions were given by the Emperor/Monarch to Officers. It was a personal relationship. My own brother and my father were soldiers too and they took it all personally to the regiment and to the King/ Queen.
    In the mighty USA, people fought for the Republic – an historic revolution based on a real democracy. and a lot of them were loyal to their army commander – Patton, Nimitz(Navy), Eisenhower.
    A lot of people, and I include a lot of Jeremy Corbyn’s followers here, think the monarchy is outdated. I wonder if they have thought this through. The trouble with fighting for a cause rather than a person is this: which cause?
    I do not want to fight for Socialist Principles, I am afraid. And the type of person who is elected in a Republic (I look to the Continent here) is not someone I want to give my life for.

    1. steve
      November 10, 2019

      Mike Stallard

      “men fought and ruled in the name of the Queen/King Emperor”

      I might be a bit rusty on this, but I don’t think we’ve ever had an Emperor, have we ?

      As far as I know the closest was Victoria, who was officially Empress of India.

      Do correct me if I am wrong.

      Regards

      1. Dame Rita Webb
        November 10, 2019

        Disraeli’s Royal Titles Act made Victoria Empress of India. The title was carried on by her successors

        1. steve
          November 10, 2019

          Dame Rita Webb

          Ah, right. Thanks for that.

          Regards to you.

    2. margaret howard
      November 10, 2019

      Mike

      But you are quite happy with our royal family from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (renaming itself Windsor post WW1 does not count) reigning over the country?

      And prior to that by the four Georges and Victoria from the House of Hanover?

      You must admit that despite being ‘Continentals’ they did rather well for the country!

  3. Mark B
    November 10, 2019

    Good morning.

    A moment of reflection that is much needed.

  4. M Brandreth- Jones
    November 10, 2019

    I cannot see that Wokingham won’t see you as anything else but their MP…that’s politics!

    1. Fred H
      November 11, 2019

      it will be a disgrace if ‘a disgrace’ should defeat him.

  5. Everhopeful
    November 10, 2019

    Politicians have trashed the freedom so dearly won.
    They have betrayed the deaths lost in the name of freedom.
    The utter misery our leaders have inflicted on us down the years!
    And all for what? Potholes,fireworks, deracination and chaos.
    Where’s the freedom?

  6. Martin in Cardiff
    November 10, 2019

    Thank you John.

    My paternal grandfather was killed in WWI, and my father fought in some of the bloodiest fighting in WWII.

    I naturally have the deepest respect for their memories and for those who fought, suffered, or died with them.

    However, I do not wear a poppy, sadly, because the gesture seems to me to have been misappropriated, by those who have turned it into the very opposite of what its honourable instigators intended.

    That is, into a celebration of militarism, and implicitly a fatalistic endorsement of war as a means of resolving problems.

    The nationalists and warmongers will make the inevitable pious claims, no doubt, but they do not convince me.

    1. steve
      November 10, 2019

      TiC

      “The nationalists and warmongers will make the inevitable pious claims”

      There is nothing pious about fact.

      “However, I do not wear a poppy, sadly, because the gesture seems to me to have been misappropriated”

      I haven’t worn one since the British Legion accepted a substantial donation from your hero Tony Blair.

      “I naturally have the deepest respect for their memories and for those who fought, suffered, or died with them.”

      If you did, you wouldn’t have referred to us as the ‘English grovelling classes’, and wouldn’t harbour a sick and twisted desire to keep us subservient to the ungrateful EU.

      1. Martin in Cardiff
        November 10, 2019

        I have zero respect for people who are as you indicate yourself to be, Steve, correct.

        But what ever do you claim to have in common with those like my late father and grandfather, about whom you know, and deserve to know, nothing?

        War is squalid, brutal, and inglorious. The men and women of service who recognise that are ennobled by their facing of that terrible truth, not by military parades and ceremonies.

        1. Edward2
          November 10, 2019

          Keep digging Martin.

    2. Edward2
      November 10, 2019

      It is quite simple Martin.
      We will remember them.

      1. Anonymous
        November 10, 2019

        And those nations who forget their protectors become forgotten themselves.

    3. Richard1
      November 10, 2019

      It is a pity to read that. I really don’t think that is a fair or accurate description of the attitude of poppy wearers. I suggest you re-think this next year. The money collected for the poppy appeal goes to an excellent cause also.

    4. Anonymous
      November 10, 2019

      My grandfathers were a miner and the other a sapper at the beginning of WW2 (one of the last to be rescued from Dunkirk having fought a rearguard action with a citation for downing a Stuka) and promoted to RSM by the end of it.

      I am equally proud of both.

      It is interesting that our nation chose a flower as the symbol of remembrance and still chooses to use it. Any other nation would have chosen crossed rifles or a field gun or a fighter plane.

      Why do you ALWAYS think the worst of us ?

      1. Anonymous
        November 10, 2019

        The miner died younger of injuries inflicted in service which continued long after the war (lung disease.)

      2. steve
        November 10, 2019

        Anonymous

        Isn’t it amazing how people’s life experiences can have a lot in common.

        As it happens our Dad was a highly experienced sniper, and yes he did have one eye, as some of the best snipers do.

        And similar to your Grandfather, our dad was credited with bringing down an enemy aircraft during a low level raid.

      3. margaret howard
        November 11, 2019

        Anonymous

        “It is interesting that our nation chose a flower as the symbol of remembrance and still chooses to use it. Any other nation would have chosen crossed rifles or a field gun or a fighter plane.”

        It was an American woman who first worked towards adopting the poppy as a WWI symbol which was then taken up by a French woman.

        https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/the-history-of-the-remembrance-poppy-9852348.html

        1. Anonymous
          November 12, 2019

          So what, smarty pants ?

          WE took it on and did not ignore it.

          Will your lot never EVER credit us with anything ??? The REAL flower power – not some hippy crap.

  7. Trevor Butler
    November 10, 2019

    I am old enough to have grown up with the generations that fought – I still have the original photos of my Great Grandfather in uniform before he went off to the trenches in 1914 – My parents and grandparents were incredibly stoic and resilient and that attitude has influenced me and helped me greatly over my 60 odd years but Remembrance Sunday always get me highly emotional I think because I am the first generation for over a hundred years that has not had to be called to the colours – Even my father fought in Suez in the 1950’s and it affected his life until he died – He only opened up to me about what he had been through in the months before he died – My father in law was the same – RAF – Burma – Traumatized but got on with being a good husband and father – Don’t really see this anymore…

    1. L Jones
      November 10, 2019

      No, Mr Butler, you’re right. We don’t see it. But that’s because the media only want to concentrate on the ”stories” they think will sell. Young men getting on with ”being a good husband and father” are not newsworthy (same goes for women, of course).

      Those young men so terribly injured in Afghanistan and Iraq, left limbless and sightless, somehow fade from the consciousness of many, though they’re still with us, and their suffering is ongoing right now. Again – maybe it’s because their ”stories” are ”old news” to the media, that is sniffing around waiting for something else ”sensational” to come along.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        November 11, 2019

        Yes, like who Phil in East enders will threaten next. Our papers are full of so called celebrity (my bsckside) trash.

      2. Cheshire Girl
        November 11, 2019

        And the Media got something sensational last night, when they showed a programme about David Lammy and ‘Africa’s Forgotten Heroes’.

        I could see both sides, and had mixed feelings.

        The Lady from the Commonwealth Graves Commission, gently pointed out that views/opinions were very different than they are today.

        I was very proud to wear my poppy yesterday, in memory of all those who fought and died for our freedom.

    2. Peace V
      November 10, 2019

      Trevor Butler, I am with you. “I think because I am the first generation for over a hundred years that has not had to be called to the colours” Well said.

  8. Oggy
    November 10, 2019

    I lost my maternal grandfather and 2 great uncles in WW1. My paternal grandfather was medically discharged after being wounded.
    We owe all servicemen and women a great debt for their sacrifice.

    I will not make any comment today about whether the UK is actually ‘free’.

    1. Andy
      November 10, 2019

      It is.

      1. Anonymous
        November 11, 2019

        Until you start saying truths that are deemed to be politically incorrect but true nonetheless. Your job is at risk if nothing else.

    2. Mirror mirror on the
      November 10, 2019

      “I will not make any comment today about whether the UK is actually ‘free’.”
      No need. The only ones who think we are free are properly called budgies and sit looking in the mirror, daily, if you’ll excuse the much intended pun

  9. Alan Jutson
    November 10, 2019

    It is absolutely right to remember those who fought for the freedom of us all, but we should not forget those who worked at home to support our troops in all sorts of ways.

    Grandfather and father fought, mother and the rest of the family in munitions factories, on fire watch, or special constables.

    Then the Country was united against a common obvious enemy.

    The enemy is not so obvious today.

    1. Andy
      November 10, 2019

      Sure it is. Farage.

      1. Jagman84
        November 10, 2019

        Your enemy, not ours. When the EU concedes that the Boris deal is little changed from May’s surrender document, his opinion is spot-on. My Grandfather fought from 1939-45, with great distinction, to help keep the UK as a sovereign nation. Nonentities like you would give it all away and dance on the graves of the fallen. You are utterly pitiful….

        1. Andy
          November 10, 2019

          My grandfather fought to keep our country free from people like you.

          Johnson’s deal is Brexit. It is rubbish, like we told you it would be. You will own the blame when it all goes predictably wrong.

          And Farage will end up where he belongs.

        2. Fedupsoutherner
          November 11, 2019

          And totally disrespectful
          Must be something to do with his upbringing

    2. I am
      November 10, 2019

      I love this site. I feel I am not as terribly alone.

  10. Alan Jutson
    November 10, 2019

    Viewed the Remembrance Service at Albert Hall last night.

    Organised and completed with perfection, as indeed are all of our major public events which involve the Armed forces.

    Why do we have such trouble organising hospitals, the police service, the railways, HMRC and all types of Civic and Local Authority Departments.

    Is it lack of a plan, lack of talent, lack of discipline, lack of desire, or simply a lack of money ?

    1. Alan Jutson
      November 10, 2019

      Or, could it be politicians are the real problem not the solution . ?

      1. Hope
        November 10, 2019

        It is interesting how IDS, Hannan and other Tory politicians write today of “parlaiment” preventing Brexit. An inanimate object you would be left to think. The truth is Tory PM and her Tory Cabinet Hammond, Gauke, Hammond plus those who lost the whip now let back in by Johnson were responsible. Plus Mayhab front and centre allowed to stand for this election! Unbelievable specious rot by people I used to respect. Desperate to say the least.

        The threat to Brexit is Johnson! He failed to deliver as Mayhab before him twice. He told us of the rotten Mayhab vassalage, now wants us to believe we should vote for it! Why should we trust him?

    2. Rule Britannia
      November 10, 2019

      “Is it lack of a plan, lack of talent, lack of discipline, lack of desire, or simply a lack of money ?”

      It’s not the latter. I’ve seen the incompetence fist hand, as someone tasked with investigating it, in a ‘forensic’ role, to produce a detailed report for suppliers in a procurement exercise.

      The civil service ha at least learned that hiding the truth from a supplier who wins a tender process only leads to a large increase in price when they know the whole truth. It’s not only incompetence, it is also nepotism…

      The policy of putting major departmental offices across the country leads to big employers in small communities, so shedding jobs there means someone’s cousin, someone’s mummy, someone’s sister etc being laid off, so they close ranks to keep people in unnecessary jobs.

      Basically, the management, and workers are in cahoots to a man/woman to keep everyone in work. And yes, not just unnecessary jobs, but also the incompetent even in jobs that are necessary.

      Privatisation is shouted down because they know a privately-owned organisation would never tolerate this, that’s the only ideology at play here: “jobs for the boys”.

    3. steve
      November 10, 2019

      Alan Jutson

      “Is it lack of a plan, lack of talent, lack of discipline, lack of desire, or simply a lack of money ? ”

      Mostly it’s socialism, political correctness, and good old fashioned left winger’s ‘not my job mate’ laziness.

    4. dixie
      November 10, 2019

      Military leadership is along the lines of mission first, your people always and yourself last.

      Guess what priorities rule in the public sector entities you list. I suggest it is along the lines of individual first, the people never and the mission only as far as it advances the interests of the individual.

  11. Dominic
    November 10, 2019

    Their bravery and sacrifice is humbling. Many died and many more millions injured to secure our freedoms and our liberties. They will always be remembered and their selflessness honoured

    Freedom to speak. At liberty to think free thoughts without intervention. This is what they fought for. Some would say their sacrifice has been dishonoured on the altar of politicians determined to warp our world with the continual politicisation of our lives.

    1. steve
      November 10, 2019

      Dominic

      ” Many died and many more millions injured to secure our freedoms and our liberties.”

      And to liberate countries that treat us with contempt, like attacking our fishing vessels, attacking our lorries, setting fire to our livestock, blackmailing us, attempting to break up our Island, plundering our maritime resources, interfering with our way of life, and using our Island as a dumping ground for anything they don’t want.

    2. Hope
      November 10, 2019

      This week highlighted how at a state school children were asked to rewrite Disney films without sexist or racist extracts! Tory Govt gone mad. I would not vote for them for this alone, brainwashing of children for minority polictical correctness must stop.

  12. Lynn Atkinson
    November 10, 2019

    We have not been involved in total war, but we are constantly at war and have lost our own country. Britain is no longer the home of the ancient British people.
    So we experience total defeat.
    I weep for my family who fought and suffered through 2 World Wars for NOTHING. We were not attacked, but went to war to ensure that Poland was for the Polish. Now the Poles have invaded Britain and occupied vast swathes of our land, some thanks,

  13. Dominic
    November 10, 2019

    ”Neither World War One nor World War Two is required teaching. Instead, these nation-defining events are relegated to the status of ‘Examples (non-statutory)’ that ‘could’ be taught to children. This contrasts with a statutory requirement to teach either Islamic history, West African history or central American history.”

    Thanks to CW. I did not know this but it reveals how destructive the political and administrative class have become. The progressive left are now in full control of all State institutions.

    Both main parties are a disgrace to those who laid down their lives

  14. Polly
    November 10, 2019

    The biggest heists and attempted heists on Britannia…………….

    55 BC

    1066

    1588

    1815

    1914

    1939

    Just because tanks aren’t rolling doesn’t mean there is no heist for control of Britannia happening right now…….

    This time it’s different, the heist is taking place in the shadows and darkness with money replacing tanks, and ”billions spent…. to undermine the nation state”. The objective being an all powerful ”Europe” and Britain reduced to a region.

    The same is happening globally via the UN………. all in the interests of……………….

    Globalism is a malign ideology, totalitarian in effect and execution. The aim is a world without nations and one central administrative government regulating every aspect of public and private life. It is about the dismantling of everything we know to be true and real and replacing it with lies and delusions.

    The globalist world is created and run by certain billionaires who frequently use the power of money to achieve their aims whether through bribery, blackmail or otherwise.. Those who refuse to participate are to be deceived, re-educated, intimidated or silenced if they continue to resist. Such issues as national security and love of country are dismissed as quaint old-fashioned notions that no longer apply..

    Globalism has at it’s heart an evil & narcissistic desire for power and control, it is about the destruction of the individual and the submission of populations for profit to the powerful and wealthy.

    Needless to say, the EU and UN are central to the globalism dream because the influencing of global policy through supra national organizations has trillion dollar profit opportunities, resulting in a vast transfer of wealth to the controlling billionaire elite.

    Polly

    1. DaveM
      November 10, 2019

      Well said.

    2. old salt
      November 10, 2019

      Polly
      My thoughts precisely.
      Shame the great majority are not so well informed.
      As with the UN and their Global Migration.

    3. Pominoz
      November 11, 2019

      Polly,

      I fear you are frighteningly accurate.

    4. Fedupsoutherner
      November 11, 2019

      Poll, frightening and true. What a great post.

    5. The Prangwizard
      November 11, 2019

      Extremely well put. My thoughts exactly.

      We must resist and fight this Globalist ideology in all its guises.

  15. alastair harris
    November 10, 2019

    I understand the importance of a national day of remembrance, but I also think we should not lose sight of the sacrifices our armed forces make; every day! To that end I do think the government should as a matter of priority sort out the mess our politicians made of the lives of our armed forces who served in Northern Ireland.

  16. Dave Andrews
    November 10, 2019

    I would like to remember those who died to secure my freedom today.
    But what of those who died in battles contrived by a warmonger in No. 10?

  17. Gareth Warren
    November 10, 2019

    It is good that we have not been in total war for 74 years.

    While you did not make clear your view in your book “superpower struggles”, you did show some scepticism for the case to go to war.

    Here I definitely believe we acted too often out of fear in the past, if we had not intervened in WW1 an economic system inferior to ours would have been set up on the continent struggling with the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The nazi regime was evil, but killed less then the communist regime and being based around socialism would have been doomed to failure as the events of 1989 showed.

    But that in no way undermines the sacrifice many made so we can live in the peace and prosperity of today, they should never be forgotten.

    Reply I prefer jaw jaw to war war but sometimes evil has to be confronted. I have given talks about how we have fought too many wars and argued that constructing the peace is crucial after a war.

    1. Gareth Warren
      November 11, 2019

      Thankyou for clarifying, and it is an excellent book. It is interesting to read the pre-brexit world of politics, the previous governments ideals (and tariffs) certainly did not align with reality as you noted when ministers were queuing up to visit English speaking countries rather than our EU allies.

      It took quite a few years for the reality of the UK’s interest in the EU to finally trigger brexit, I hope we can finally be free of the EU soon.

    2. Mark B
      November 11, 2019

      There is only one war that we fought in the 20th Century that I could say I was comfortable with – 1982 Falklands.

      Had we not gone to war in 1914 Germany would have beaten both France and Russia. She would have been the most powerful nation on the continent much like she is today but, we would still be one of the most powerful in the world, rather than today, reduced to begging for our own freedom like some colony.

      Events dear boy, events !

      1. Mitchel
        November 11, 2019

        I doubt whether Russia in it’s entirety would have been conquered-for the usual reasons-plus Japan and/or the US would probably have stepped in in Asiatic Russia,as they did during the ensuing Russian civil war.

        If WWI had remained a contest between Russia and Austria-Hungary over the carcass of the European part of the Ottoman Empire,the war would,indeed,have been “over by Christmas”;A-H lost 400,000+ troops in the first three weeks of the war and 1.23m by that Christmas(against a peacetime standing army of just over 400,000) and would have collapsed without Germany- which famously found itself “shackled to a corpse” for the rest of the war.

        The war -and it’s consequences-in the East were far more devastating,if you can imagine it,than in the west.

  18. Norman
    November 10, 2019

    “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I [Paul] am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” (1 Timothy 2:1-7)
    The above quotation is from the Authorized King James Version – rights in the UK vested in the Crown, administered through Cambridge University Press. In the USA, the KJV is copyright-free (an interesting distinction).
    All these things have a meaning, when viewed through the prism of the Bible itself.
    Yesterday, as I drove up the M5 through Gloucestershire, on my right, sat on the brow of the Cotswolds, I saw the Tyndale monument… and the rest is history…

  19. Me
    November 10, 2019

    One of my family was killed in action in World War II.
    There may have been more than one.
    One loses count.

  20. Rule Britannia
    November 10, 2019

    NATO is the most successful military alliance in history precisely because it has never had to go to war.

    My Grandad died in WWII. I never met him. So to see Corbyn absent from the Festival of Remembrance is loathsome.

    How can anyone vote THAT into office? It should be running for leader of the PLO or Hamas, his “friends” by his own words, not the United Kingdom.

    Shame.

    1. steve
      November 10, 2019

      Rule Britannia

      “So to see Corbyn absent from the Festival of Remembrance is loathsome.”

      Actually RB I’d be highly offended is he was there.

    2. Mitchel
      November 11, 2019

      That’s the propaganda line.You are forgetting the “out of area” operations that NATO has conducted.

  21. DaveM
    November 10, 2019

    OT – when can we start dredging rivers again?

  22. forthurst
    November 10, 2019

    Their sacrifice was real; the reasons given by the politicians for them to risk their lives and lose them were not. I challenge JR to name one conflict apart from the Falklands where the casus belli was genuine.

  23. steve
    November 10, 2019

    JR

    “I prefer jaw jaw to war war but sometimes evil has to be confronted. I have given talks about how we have fought too many wars and argued that constructing the peace is crucial after a war.”

    Interesting sentiment there JR. One to which I feel obliged to comment.

    To me, where your philosophy falls down is the belief that constructing the peace after a war is crucial.

    The french arguably facilitated events leading to the rise of the NSDAP by their dictating unreasonable terms at Versailles.

    We liberate france, and many other European countries, we commit to paying the US for their help for the next 60 years.

    Vast sums of money and machinery are given to these European countries, while our industry has to make do with clapped out machinery dating back to the first world war…..I know, because I was a Machinist at the time and saw first hand. How we ever produced such world beating products as the P1127 for example, can only be testament to what’s in our DNA as an industrious engineering people.

    Then, the principle country we liberated insults us with “NON !”

    We now see that same country holding us to ransom for access to our maritime resources or break up the UK. – and that is a fact, Macron himself told french fishermen Britain would be forced to allow their access to our waters or face losing NI. Macron saying exactly that is a matter of public record and cannot be denied.

    I have to say, on reflection wouldn’t it have been better for us to look after number one at the end of WW II rather than provide those we liberated with the power to subjugate us ?

    No, JR, I have to respectfully disagree with your philosophy on this one. France and Germany should not have been re-industrialised after 1945, and certainly not with our money.

    1. ukretired123
      November 10, 2019

      Lord Keynes our negotiator could not believe the USA’s punitive terms for Britain and suffered a fatal heat attack soon after that.
      The USA Marshall Plan allowed Germany’s post war economic revolution whilst Britain was held back. They did not want Britain to be dominant to USA and we suffered then from the brain drain abroad where lots of inventions ended up.

      1. margaret howard
        November 10, 2019

        ukretired

        “The USA Marshall Plan allowed Germany’s post war economic revolution whilst Britain was held back.”

        How come?

        “The largest recipient of Marshall Plan money was the United Kingdom (receiving about 26% of the total), followed by France (18%) and West Germany (11%).”

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan

        1. Mitchel
          November 11, 2019

          We blew the money on trying to maintain the pretence that we were still a great power with global reach.The government’s defence adviser Sir Henry Tizard was minuted -very presciently-in 1949 thus:

          “We are not a great power and never will be again.We are a great nation but if we continue to behave like a great power we shall soon cease to be a great nation.”

          He wasn’t wrong!

        2. Fred H
          November 11, 2019

          mh – That plan ran for only 4 years. You make no mention of the debt from WW1 – ‘In 1934, Britain owed the US $4.4 billion of World War I debt (about ÂŁ866 million at 1934 exchange rates). Adjusted by the RPI, a typical measure of inflation, ÂŁ866 million would equate to ÂŁ40 billion now, and if adjusted by the growth of GDP, to about ÂŁ225 billion’.
          Similarly you ignore the WW2 debt to the USA and Canada that was paid back over many many years.

          1. margaret howard
            November 11, 2019

            Fred H

            The fact remains that Germany used the money (less than half that we received) to rebuild its shattered country while we frittered it away trying to hold on to a tottering empire.

          2. Fred H
            November 11, 2019

            I will not respond to one so stupid and misinformed.

          3. Edward2
            November 11, 2019

            You forget that Germany didn’t spend anything on its armed forces after 1945.

    2. Gareth Warren
      November 11, 2019

      I read that we did initially try (or go along with) a plan to keep Germany a de-industrialised country after the war. I am pleased we dropped the idea since it would likely have been as successful as our plan to prevent our US colonies building a manufacturing industry.

    3. Fedupsoutherner
      November 11, 2019

      Steve. I was only saying this today. Why, when Germany instigated the war were they allowed to prosper after while we were left to stagnant? Why are we letting Merkel rule us? Why did we bother to fight?

      1. margaret howard
        November 11, 2019

        Fedupsoutherner

        “when Germany instigated the war”

        Britain declared war on Germany both in 1914 and 1939.

        In fact, until the 20th century Germany was the ONLY European country Britain had NEVER been at war with.

        And of course we have had a German royal family from the House of Hanover since 1714.

        WW1 was mainly a family and empire war fought to the bitter end with millions of lives across the globe sacrificed on the altar of greed and ambition.

        1. Fred H
          November 11, 2019

          MH – – ‘Britain declared war on Germany both in 1914 and 1939.’

          Please don’t try to suggest Britain could have stayed out of each world war – indicating you suggest we were to blame?

          You have written some pretty stupid things here, but this latest shows how foolish you really are. I imagine you are related to ‘lord’ Haw Haw?

        2. Edward2
          November 11, 2019

          Straight out of the Guardian book of modern history.

  24. ukretired123
    November 10, 2019

    Humbling to have witnessed the Armed Forces family of veterans during growing up as a teenager in the 1960s. Many never spoke of their experiences due to traumatic events and it was only after the lyrics of the timeless song “19” of the USA Vietnam war did people begin to appreciate their daily nightmares – and that is after they return.
    We should never forget their sacrifices and salute all our frontline emergency services too.
    Thank you to them.

  25. matt
    November 10, 2019

    No John it was all a huge mistake it should never have happened, it happened under the banner of imperialisms, English, German, Russian and Austrian, and millions of young, very young people died, So don’t keep on dressing it as it was something special something grand, it was not, it was an unmitigated disaster for the world and the army generals, governments of the day and Royals of the day should have been held accountable, placed in the dock, but they were not and they won’t. The Kaiser skipped over the border into the Netherlands for asylum one day before hostilities ceased. Dare I say what England needs now is a good dose of Republicanism, you had it in the time of Cromwell- so again maybe it’s time for change. Matt Dublin

    1. Anonymous
      November 10, 2019

      The Queen does not actually raise armies but she prevents private citizens from doing so just by being.

      I disagree with you, therefore.

      1. steve
        November 11, 2019

        Anonymous

        Actually the treason laws were repealed by Blair, surprise surprise.

        Theoretically at least it should not be illegal to raise one’s own army.

  26. BillM
    November 10, 2019

    Should there ever be another major war in continental Europe I trust that this country will not commit OUR money and OUR armed forces to defend them again.
    These wars were won with British aid and resources which bankrupted our Country but the defeated Germans, benefited more than ourselves.
    In the 20th Century we did just that, twice and in the 21st Century, when we needed European support they turned their backs to us.
    The EU in Brussels and too many of its member Nations have behaved despicably to us, conveniently forgetting the sacrifices we made to protect them from Rule by a German Dictator.
    It would appear that our sacrifices of yesteryear count for nothing today and for those reasons alone we MUST leave that ungrateful shower to their own destructive devices.
    Leave means Leave and the deal now on the table represents nothing like “Leave”.
    It cannot possibly be good for Britain because slippery Brussels has agreed to it!

  27. steve
    November 10, 2019

    matt

    “Dare I say what England needs now is a good dose of Republicanism”

    You could well be right, Matt.

  28. steve
    November 10, 2019

    Sadly I find myself expecting that the establishment should hang their heads in shame.

    ……..Was an item on C4 news highlighting the case of a 99 year old moslem gentleman who had fought for Britain during WW II, but has never been invited to any remembrance commemoration, it’s as if he has been sidelined.

    Don’t know if any of you saw it, but I think the country owes a very big apology to the gentleman concerned. Shame on us.

  29. Fred H
    November 11, 2019

    I join the numbers on here who sadly lost a maternal grandfather (50 days from the end of WW1) leaving a young widow with 2 very young daughters who scarcely remembered their father going off to war. Other relatives died, and so many hundreds of thousands damaged physically and mentally – but returned home to a life which could never be the same again. Then in such a short time WW2 repeated these horrors to yet another generation, with some taking part for a second time! Recently I have been saddened in my journeys on the train to Reading, and further afield, to find I was sometimes the only person wearing a poppy. Sellers stand outside so many places yet nobody seems to feel they should join the wearers. As my generation in a few short years pass on will the multi-ethnic making their journeys not even notice the Remembrance?

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