OPINION: David Cameron is a lying hypocrite

OK, ok, I probably need to be more specific. There are many grounds on which David Cameron could be described as a lying hypocrite.

Look at him in that photo, helping to launch the Royal British Legion's annual Poppy Appeal. Clearly he cares about lives and suffering. Clearly, he wants to bring wars to an end. Clearly, he's a man of peace.

In the words of the best pantomimes, "Oh no he's not!"

David Cameron's Government are currently supporting a proposal to allow, once more, the use of cluster bombs, overturning previous international agreements.

Yes, this weekend he'll be putting on crocodile tears while he lays a wreath at The Cenotaph to mark Remembrance Sunday: he's already made a big fuss about FIFA's ban on the poppy on football shirts (and scored points with various unpleasant extremist groups such as the EDL, BNP and UKIP);he's probably attending the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night and made a big deal about the two-minute silence and it's observance on Friday; but, while he pretends to care about deaths and injuries caused in war he wants to overturn an international agreement and allow cluster bombs to kill and maim.

The “Convention on Cluster Munitions” (which became a binding international law in August 2010) bans anyone from stockpiling, using or transferring; virtually all existing cluster bombs and outlines a plan to clear up the remaining unexploded bombs. 108 countries signed it but the likes of the USA, Israel, Russia, China, South Korea, India and Pakistan (all major manufacturers and users of cluster bombs) are have not. They are planning a "less restrictive treaty". Cameron sees this as a great opportunity for British trade - we can sell them cluster bombs, we can sell them death and suffering!

Cluster munitions explode into multiple smaller bomblets that rain down on an enemy, or, very often, on a civilian population. Often, some of the bomblets don’t explode and they are liable to detonate at any time like a landmine leaving civilians killed or maimed. 



The photo below is an example of what cluster bombs can do - I guess he's lucky to still be alive. If David Cameron gets his way, there will be many more children ending up like this... or worse.

I guess a man who fulfilled a UN policy to protect the civilians in Libya by leading operations that killed thousands of those same civilians isn't high on any moral ladder.

So, while he sheds his crocodile tears, just remember that Cameron and his wealthy mates in the Arms Trade are trying to increase the amount of killing and maiming by allowing cluster bombs to be manufactured and used again.

Perhaps, more shockingly, is that most of the leading High Street Banks, all having been bailed out by the British taxpayer and some part-owned by the British taxpayer, have supplied funds to those companies who want to manufacture cluster bombs.




David Cameron is a lying hypocrite. I'd go further, David Cameron is evil - we mustn't let him get away with it any longer.

REMEMBRANCE: Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen

Kenneth Branagh reading Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds

REMEMBRANCE: Tisn't Worth It

REMEMBRANCE: Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

OPINION: Charity Collections at Schools

I'm sure the following is a scenario familiar to households up and down the country each November:

Yesterday, my daughter, Olivia (aged 5) asked me if she could have some money to take into school next week because they were selling poppies.

Now, it's true, I do have an issue with the British Legion's red poppy appeal but that isn't my major gripe with the situation.

I asked Olivia what she knew about the poppies or what the money donated was used for. I'm sure you know her response. She knew virtually nothing and what she did know was sufficiently vague as to be meaningless.

But, despite that, her teacher was asking her for money to buy a poppy.

Doesn't this amount to theft?

Now I do think there is a particular issue with the British Legion's red poppy; very few charity badges are sold through schools and it is rare for schools to be asking for money for something that isn't part if a bigger charitable fundraising campaign, but surely, if any charity is to be promoted in school it should be fully explained to the pupils what the charity is, why the appeal is happening, what the money is used for and then, rather than a verbal message, a letter should be sent home explaining why the school is involved with that charity?

I find it deeply offensive that my daughter was asked for money for something she doesn't understand and which hasn't been explained to her properly.

Maybe it's best that schools stop charity fundraising? Certainly the sale of poppies and other lapel badges in class, and all the pressure and expectation that carries, should be outlawed - as far as I can see it is not far from mugging a 5-year old!

OPINION: Why I won't wear a red poppy

I've not worn a red poppy in years - I wear a white poppy instead. This has lead to a range of reactions from inquisitive youngsters asking why, to funny looks, and to insults from, let's be honest, ignorant knuckle-draggers.

The idea of the white poppy isn't a new thing, as many seem to think, it dates back to 1926 when a group of people thought it made sense to separate Armistice Day and the red poppy from their military roots. Having the military involved in remembrance is like having arsonists speak up for those injured in fires.

Somewhere in the region of 10 million soldiers were killed during World War One plus an estimated one and a half million civilians across Europe. As the soldiers returned to their homes, they noticed how the cornfield poppy, a delicate flower, continued to grow across Northern France and into Belgium. These returning ex-servicemen decided to make the red poppy their emblem, symbolizing their loss and their suffering.

It was, of course, immortalized in John McRae's famous poem In Flanders Fields:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

The Americans organised artificial poppies to be made by women in northern France and the funds raised from sales would be used to help children who had suffered as a result of the war.

When British soldiers returned there was no heroes' homecoming as many had expected; many were wounded, disabled, suffering effects from gas and, of course, shell-shock. Thousands, as a result of mental and physical injuries, were unable to work and, in the days before social services, the state's provision was inadequate. The British Legion was formed in 1921 to support such ex-servicemen.

It was suggested that the British Legion might also like to sell artificial poppies and the first batch of one and a half million sold out almost immediately raising over £100,000. Due to its phenomenal success, the British Legion established its own factory, staffed by disabled ex-servicemen, to manufacture artificial poppies for future poppy appeals. It immediately became an annual event.

Today, the British Legion manufactures about 32 million artificial poppies annually alongside wreaths and crosses of remembrance. Poppies are seen everywhere: television presenters who are normally meant to show neutrality, sales in school classrooms with letters home to parents (I know of one who was asked why their daughter had not been given money for a poppy!), politicians wear them prominently as do shop assistants normally barred from non-uniform items being displayed, and even the police can wear one on their uniform when they wouldn't normally be allowed to have a charity badge. Members of the peace movement have commented on the Poppy Fascism that exists annually from late October into mid-November. The Red Poppy has become the symbol of the establishment and has lost any meaning in helping those hurt by war.

In recent years, increasing numbers have expressed their doubts about the importance and significance of the red poppy: expressing concerns about the poppy's connection to the military and how it is used to hype up images of heroism, jingoism and, ultimately, justify the use of military force (just watch a few minutes of the Service of Remembrance held at the Royal Albert Hall which is always broadcast on the BBC to see). Others have expressed concerns that the British Legion is unnecessary as their is enough state care and benefits for the wounded and disabled. Others are concerned at the profligacy of the British Legion - it's administration costs are high compared to other charities.

Is the red poppy really about care for the wounded or is it more to do with propaganda for the military?

The introduction of a second high-profile charity, Help for Heroes, is even more dubious in its purpose and throws into doubt whether the British Legion is doing any of the things it set out to do.

On the black central circle, red poppies used to have "Haig Fund" imprinted. The No War Movement asked that this be changed to "No More Wars" but, because the request was declined ("Haig Fund remained until the mid-1990s), the pacifist movement decided to manufacture and sell their own poppies.



In 1933, the Co-operative Women's Guild produced the first white poppies to be worn on Armistice Day. They stated that the white poppy was in no way intended as an insult to those who died in the Great War but a challenge to the continuing drive to war. In 1934, the Peace Pledge Union was formed and they, together with the Co-operative Women's Guild, have continued to organise the distribution of white poppies ever since.

The white poppy is a symbol of peace. It shows a distaste for the military and it remembers the people, increasingly civilians, who have their lives wrecked by wars which, increasingly, have limited legal and moral justification and can be avoided.


War is a crime against humanity.



More must be done to strive for peace. It is not about long haired hippies singing protest songs. War affects us all. 

I will continue to shun the militaristic red poppy and wear a white poppy, no matter what the knuckle-draggers say.


Click here for information about how and where to get hold of a white poppy.