Quite sensitive, I'd say, given the death of his child – a point that has now been widely acknowledged. Realpolitik dictates that this be so – and has done since late 1941.īut we have now had three days of lurid discussion of Gordon Brown's spelling, handwriting and sensitivity to grief. It's right that we should all talk about it, irritating though it is to have to wait for Washington to decide its best course of action. Of course, Afghanistan heightens public concerns for the lives of our servicemen and women, as well as the fragile strategy which puts them in harm's way far from home. Conformity squeezes meaning out of a small poignant gesture. But do you notice how everyone is expected to conform – the entire Kelly committee was poppied up to discuss MPs' expenses last week. It's years since I was first 'required' to wear one on TV, though it happened again this year. Not any longer, not since it became compulsory. I used to be quite keen to sport a poppy. It only feels that way because of the intensity and conformity. So I was wrong about the season being longer. Only in 1968 did no British soldier die on active service.

This year's theme was the 'Afghanistan generation' and the Legion hopes that – amid the heightened public awareness of the current casualty rate – it will have equalled its £31m record collection this year, money that will also help older veterans. After I spotted a cabinet minister sporting one on 20 October (a few days after Nick Griffin), I rang the Royal British Legion, which runs the show - and, incidentally, asks Nick Griffin not to wear his poppy broach all year round.Ī nice young woman explained that the annual launch date is usually between 20 and 26 October. A bit like Christmas – which starts soon after Easter – the poppy season seems to get longer every year. In theory the frenzy will now ease off – at 11 o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month, 91 years after the guns finally fell silent on the western front in 1918. And those identical fit-for-TV Mercedes hearses looked as if they might have bought half a helicopter for the frontline. Ghoulish Nick Griffin was photographed in yesterday's crowd looking more cheerful than he managed on Question Time. Thus the wholesome human impulse – sympathy – which prompted the citizens of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire to pause as military coffins passed through the town from nearby RAF Lyneham started out well enough, decent to the core.īut it becomes larger and sleeker with every passing day, the coverage growing too. It's all become another media circus, masquerading as something profound – though profound emotions are still at work below the exploitative razzmatazz.

A Pornography of Grief by Philip Huang