In memory of those who gave

[sasguru]

...no Iron Curtain...no American dominance... no Israel,

I rest my case.

[Troll]

You really are an ignorant and stupid little cretin, aren't you?

eat tulip dickwad... and try and answer questions without resorting to insults...

[Troll]

No Britain....

I thought he wanted to preserve the Empire

[sasguru]

I thought he wanted to preserve the Empire

Ah I see you're just trolling. No one can be that thick.

[Troll]

Ah I see you're just trolling. No one can be that thick.

I see you're still a dickwad

[Spacecadet]

From what I see, the main point of Rememberance sunday should be to make sure we never end up in that situation again.

It seems to be a message which countries which have undergone occupation are a lot better at putting forward

[KathyWoolfe]

Unless you're a traffic nazi...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/7090758.stm

I understand that the residents whose places were taken have a point about non-residents illegal parking, but on this day - of all days - couldn't some common-sense have taken precedence.
Yes, apparently there were a lot of parking spaces available elsewhere (no doubt at a charge) and there was no guarantee that the parked vehicles belonged to people attending the ceremony but the ceremony should have taken only a short time and then all cars still there afterwards could still have been ticketed.

The article says that this took place "during the two-minute silence". Now I am not someone who insists that people are respectful of others but issuing tickets during a solemn ceremony is getting a bit low - even for traffic wardens.
No doubt they are on patrol around the town on normal sundays looking for church services to target.

[Joe Black]

From what I see, the main point of Rememberance sunday should be to make sure we never end up in that situation again.

It seems to be a message which countries which have undergone occupation are a lot better at putting forward

Strangely enough, in Belgium though - one of those occupied countries - Armistice/Remembrance day, for most, appears to be simply just another bank holiday. Though there were some decent articles in the press explaining why lots of Brits come here at this time of year.

Antwerp apparently has something going on at the moment with pictures of people who were shipped off to Auschwitz. The only city which rounded up the Jews before the Germans even arrived apparently. So I guess that's also something to remember...


Edit: sorry, couldn't help having a dig at the Flemish.

[wendigo100]

Strangely enough, in Belgium though - one of those occupied countries - Armistice/Remembrance day, for most, appears to be simply just another bank holiday.

That's because Belgians don't fight in wars ... they host them.

[Cowboy Bob]

That was my point really - is it? The language is about pride, and bravery and nobility and people "giving" their lives, not about rememberance. I've no problem with paying respects to those who died, but what should be forefront in our minds is that those lives were wasted. We shouldn't feel pride, we should feel shame that our leaders (and I'm counting both sides) engaged in the wholesale slaughter of young men and that we let them.

I do sound like a peacenick.

Interesting that those that are so opposed to political correctness on the one hand, suddenly jump up and down when someone else has an opposing view regarding Armistice Day because it is "correct" to go with the majority viewpoint.

Personally I also think in the same manner as VectraMan. Yes I had family in the wars, as most English people did. However, my Grandad, who is a WW2 vet was staunchly anti any celebration of the victory of the war - because that is how he, and I, view Armistice Day. It is a victory parade by any other name.

The reason he had his view is because he was a POW for the last 2 years of the war and he got to know a lot of the German soldiers personally. Many of them became lifelong friends. Why? Because they were just like him. Ordinary soldiers doing their jobs. And that is why he found Armistice Day distasteful. He felt it disrespected his German friends who got killed in the war. And that is how I feel as well. There's nothing wrong with quiet reflection, but the way that Armistice Day is presented nowadays I think disrespects those who died on the other side. They are not even given a second thought in all the build up or the parade. After all, a human life is a human life, regardless of which side they happen to have had the misfortune to be born on.