Sunday, 28 October 2007

Support the Poppy Appeal

This year’s Poppy Appeal has been described as one of the most political appeal’s ever. Good. For the past six months, the Royal British Legion has run an amazing campaign on the broken covenant between Government and those who go to war in a British military uniform.

Unlike the soldiers who went to war in the first and second world wars to defend the UK and its empire from conquest, today’s soldiers go into war zones arguably less sure what they are fighting for and certainly less well thought about when they return. Never mind the lack of parades, the bunting, the slap on the back for a job well done, our forces are fighting with inadequate equipment, they are offered sub-standard treatment if they return injured, and often their spouses are left to fight for compensation or pensions through the courts.

The Royal British Legion do a fantastic job supporting those who deserve more from our Government, and in memory of my grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather as well as those who do their bit in today’s wars I shall be giving generously to this year’s appeal.

1 comment:

Cllr John Ward said…

There is a video we should all watch today (Remembrance Sunday).

In response to my mentioning Neil Innes’ powerful and evocative song “Time to Kill” on the Strood Conservatives website, the ever-resourceful Cllr Jane Etheridge found a YouTube video of the original version of this item on the “Innes Book of Records” series. I have posted the URL below, but not as a link, as I think that will cause my comment to be rejected automatically:

www.stroodconservatives.com/video/video/show?id=961292%3AVideo%3A2002

Ever since watching this when it was broadcast some twenty-something years ago, I have never forgotten it, and the words are engraved on my memory for all time.