Annie Lennox proves my point about the poppy

What a kerfuffle going on about Annie Lennox and her appearance last night on 'Strictly' when she appeared with  the red twisted  aids symbol on her lapel instead of the ubiquitous poppy.  She's a pacifist, I'm a pacifist, but I'm darned if I'm going to wear the same symbol as Mr. Blair, Mr.Brown. Mr. Cameron, and  co. who voted for the illegal war v Iraq. The poppy represents the dead from the 1st world war,  the 2nd, and all wars when men were conscripted to fight in defense of their country.   These 'leaders' degrade the symbol,  turning the fragile poppy and their laying of wreaths at the cenotaph into part of their  propaganda machine.  For instance, they have absolutely no intention of stopping the war in Afghanistan.
The poppy is sold to raise funds for the servicemen from those earlier wars who were damaged in mind or body. One can give money to this fund without wearing  a poppy. I can still remember a time when only a few people bought poppies, now it's de rigueure, and one can expect to be castigated if   one doesn't wear one. Ah me! thanks to newlabour we have   a new phenomenon  -   the politically correct police.

Common poppy - papaver rhoeas

This fragile annual has become the symbol of deaths in the first world war. It's bright red flower lasts a day. The vast fields of France and Belgium became the battlefields where war machinery, bombs, and trenches churned and undermined the ground, turning the landscape into a horrific wet muddy treeless  quagmire.  Thousands of young male conscripts died in this landscape, youths from all aspects of life, all social strata, a whole generation was wiped out. Britain still suffers from the trauma.
The poppy, almost certainly introduced by neolithic man and later farmers,  benefits from a disturbed habitat.  It's seeds can lie inactive for  hundreds of years then will germinate after disturbance. As the landscape healed so the poppies covered the fields with blood red flowers, and it is easy to see how they came to represent the dead soldiers. The war to end all wars!  That was the cry that went up after the bloodbath of the 1st world war.    Today, political leaders, military leaders, establishment leaders, and a whole mishmash of worthies lay wreaths at the cenotaph. This year it is almost politically incorrect not to wear a poppy on your lapel.  Do our 'leaders' feel guilty about  the wars they have recklessly started?  Is  that the reason they turn out every year looking pompous in their long expensive black coats?  When will they really  remember why they wear the poppy? It is to remind us to stop war forthwith.