In Britain…..there is Remembrance Sunday. And now we seem to have Armistice Day.

There has always been Remembrance Sunday where the Queen of England laid a wreath on behalf of British citizens. Followed by the British Prime Minister, Opposition Leaders and prominent politicins. And a grand march past of veterans.

But Remembrance Sunday is a bit like Christmas…..it seems to start a few weeks before the actual day. Poppy Season starts ain October. It is a sign of respectability to wear one. They are now often made of metal rather than flimsy cardboard and while metal poppies do not disintegrate or blow away, real enthusiasts for Remembrance buy a new one every year. The money goes to the “Royal” British Legion and to support veterans.

As an aside, there now seems to be a second ex-service charity called Help for Heroes, very much the new kid on the block.

There is much rhetoric about the “going down of the Sun” and “we will remember them” but the Remembrance Sunday thing had been going on for years and the British population barely noticed.

Essentially it is associated with the aftermath of the First World War and the myth/legend of “lions led by donkeys” and regiments of old pals from the shires and cities joining up en masse at recruiting offices and duly getting slaughtered en masse shortly afterwards.

In reality it always had a Saturday Night, Sunday morning feel to it. When I was a child and we only had two TV channels and the BBC would duly show the Festival of Remembrance live from the Albert Hall on the Saturday night and at 11am next morning show the wreath laying at the Cenotaph.Of course, natonalists like myself were never much bothered by the TV showing Remembrance. We could happily stay in bed unaware it was taking place and few of us would have been bothered by ceremonies in town squares in Dungannon, Newry, Banbridge or wherever.

I don’t mind being offended by British militaristic commemorations but I draw the line at getting up early just to be offended.

The whole tradition was happily dying out. Veterans of World War One marched past first. They were old but in many cases still sprightly. And then the World War Two veterans, in middle age, then the Palestine Mandate people, and the Korean War, Kenyan, Cypriot and Malayan veterans of anti “terror” conflicts. And of course the veterans of Norn Iron Troubles.

It was all very generational. In 2023, there are no surviving veterans of the First World War and very few from the Second World War. Veterans from Norn Iron are now at least middle aged and there are new veterans from Iraq and Afghan wars.

I blame John Major. As a humble backbench MP, he stood on the platform at Huntingdon Station and was irritated that there was no little or no information about delays to th train service. So he invented citizen “charters” which wasall part of back to basics.

And he re-instated Armistice Day into British national life.

The first such “new” Armistice Day was 11th November 1993…a Saturday.. I know this because I was working on assignment in London.

I took the short “Tube” journey to Covent Garden and frankly not many people, Londoners or tourists bothered to stop and stay silent for two minutes.

In 2023, it is better established. It is an odd thing. There are no World War One veterans or not many World War Two veterans so the oldest are Korean and the unpopular late colonial wars in Malaya, Cyprus and Kenya….where good and bad is more problematic.

And the Troubles in Norn Iron were of course an embarrassment. And with Iraq and Afghanistan, bodies were repatriated to an RAF base near London and the British Legion turned up along the road and flower petals showered on the hearses as they drove thru the nearest village to the air base.

THis courtesy was never extended to military deaths in Norn Iron or for that matter the Falklands/Malvinas war.

I do not much care for Britain but certainly up to thirty years ago, it was relatively free of grotesque military spectacle.

The takeover …hijacking of what should be a solemn occasion by the “Far Right” yesterday in London. By any standards a basket of “deplorables” is entirely predictable.

I am already looking forward to 11th November 2024…a Monday.