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Remembrance Day angst is 2003 all over again

Poppy sellers during a pro-Palestine protest inside Charing Cross station this month. Credit: Getty

November 8, 2023 - 1:30pm

The Y2K era is apparently fashionable again, in politics as well as clothes and music. As the British commentariat works itself into a fever of anticipation over the prospect of disorder at the Cenotaph this weekend, it’s hard to shake off the feeling that the war in Gaza has brought about a strange revival of 2000s discourse. While in London poppies are now rarely beheld on anyone neither on television nor in uniform, and the passage of time has removed the quietly dignified war-veteran poppy sellers from Britain’s streets, today’s expanded cultural salience of “the “Festival of Remembrance” is arguably a product of the War on Terror era. 

Like Help for Heroes and Gordon Brown’s sudden and unconvincing creation of Armed Forces Day, the explosion of poppy imagery was, back then, spurred by popular discontent over British soldiers being sent under-equipped to fight pointless wars in the greater Middle East, against a backdrop of insufficient respect at home. Without Osama bin Laden, we can say, there would have been no Captain Tom

Then as now, anxieties over immigration and integration circled around Remembrance imagery: it was the Islamist provocateur Anjem Choudary’s al-Muhajiroun group’s poppy-burning on Remembrance Sunday, and its heckling of Royal Anglian troops returning home, that gave birth to the EDL. Similarly, the current wave of anxious Armistice Day discourse was sparked by a vague threat from Dilly Hussain, Deputy Editor of the Muslim website 5 Pillars, encouraging a “resounding rejection” of the two minutes’ silence “this year and for many years to come”.

In response, as if by magic, pro-Israel activist and ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson was unbanned by Twitter, announcing a gathering of his faithful followers to confront the presumed sacrilegious hordes at the Cenotaph. Even the muscular liberals of the War on Terror era, like Douglas Murray — now more muscular, if less liberal — have insisted that “the people of Britain must come out and stop these barbarians.” The Metropolitan Police, in its own inimitable style, has simultaneously urged the protest not to go ahead while insisting it has no cause to ban it, setting off a media cycle of its own.

Whether or not the proposed pro-Palestine march at the centre of this angst is a worthy object of all this cultural baggage is disputable: the event is not planned to pass anywhere near the Cenotaph, and will start hours after the moment of silence itself. Yet somehow this year’s Armistice Day has found itself inextricably interwoven with the current conflict, and Britain’s divided response to a distant war whose outcome it is powerless to influence in any way. Conservatives who anticipate, more in hope than fear, that disorder on the day will shock Middle England into a rejection of multiculturalism may be disappointed: previous protests have been largely peaceful and in any case a majority of Britain’s population supports a ceasefire.

Yet what is most interesting, perhaps, is the response to the planned counter-protests from Britain’s younger Right-wing cohort, no friends to either multiculturalism or mass immigration. Instead of demanding counter-protests, the overwhelming Twitter reaction to Robinson’s rallying cry from Right-wing activists was an insistence such activity would be an optics own goal, or even a trap to reset the media narrative away from pro-Hamas radicals towards a focus on shaven-headed ethnic British louts (citing the outcome of the 2020 George Floyd protests).

Where the Rightists of the New Labour era see the weekend’s protests as an opportunity to defend the British state and its institutions, those of the 2020s are accelerationists, convinced the current order is doomed to failure and happy to let its untenable contradictions reveal themselves without their input. The seeming revival of War on Terror discourse is, then, only an illusory media artefact: the radicalisation of British politics is proceeding in quite another direction.


Aris Roussinos is an UnHerd columnist and a former war reporter.

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Robbie K
Robbie K
1 year ago

Maybe he lives in the London metropolitan bubble, because the author has severely underestimated the level of national pride there is for Remembrance Day and Armistice. Wherever I have lived it is always well attended by the public and local organisations in uniform and regalia.
We will never forget.

Matt M
Matt M
1 year ago
Reply to  Robbie K

Poppies are regularly worn wear I live in Hampshire. No less so than in 2003, I’d say.

Albert McGloan
Albert McGloan
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt M

In London, too. Aris likely mistakes his old mates at Vice for the public.

Jane Watson
Jane Watson
1 year ago
Reply to  Albert McGloan

Mmm… “shaven-headed ethnic British louts”…

How does “scarf-wearing ethnic minority louts” grab you Aris?

Thought not.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane Watson

We have a Tommy Robinson fan among us!

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago

Pretty sure he has killed less people than Marx.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

LOL – don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get a fan on here as well some day. Maybe you could buy your mum a subscription for Christmas?

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Robbie K

I am heading to a ceremony in Canada with my family shortly. Progressives make the same mistake we all do by thinking other people are mostly like them.

Walter Marvell
Walter Marvell
1 year ago

I think you are wrong Aris. The most telling and important response will not by any political group of left or right. And you will never hear it. It will be an unspoken revulsion on the part of the vast majority of British people at the disrespectful provocative and near immoral behaviour and attitudes of the young progressives and Muslims who have marched in the shadow of, within hours of, an Einstazgruppen pogrom with only only flag; that of the Palestinians. They do seem to be marching for peace; the majority are plainly river to sea hostiles. Not a pretty sight on a sacred Armistice weekend. Unspoken too will be a deepening public alarm. Set aside the noisy self promoting always ineffective barks of Suella. It really does appear that our multicultural State and Elite seems intent on selling out, traducing or denying traditional values and beliefs – no rule by diktat, genuine free speech, communal bonds, a love of our history etc. It has not defended free speech, suffocating it in the name of its Equality Cult and Victim Pyramid. Muslim radicals and their spineless vote grabbing allies in the Labour Party are leading the drive to censor any criticism of their religion and ideology. It invites pro Hamas commanders into the Met Ops Room. It has appeased radicals since the first book was burnt and is letting the poison of radical religious and tribal hatred flourish by choking London streets week after week, keeping the Jews away. This is what the majority will feel, think but never say.

Aphrodite Rises
Aphrodite Rises
1 year ago
Reply to  Walter Marvell

The Church of England has been infiltrated: prayers for Gaza and equity but none for Israel or the hostages.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Walter Marvell

“This is what the majority will feel, think but never say.”
Ah, the famous “silent majority”! Of course, they are neither but that doesn’t prevent the likes of Wally thinking that the desiccated opinions of his OAP group are somehow relevant to rest of the world.
They aren’t.

Caradog Wiliams
Caradog Wiliams
1 year ago

Yes, the discussion on UnHerd always reminds of groups of old men gathering in Italian cafés and putting the world to rights. I always believed that they didn’t really understand the world – they didn’t watch YouTube presentations, didn’t play computer games, their views of good and bad were all wrong, they were brainwashed by their teachers, they could even write essays and proper sentences, thereby wasting everybody’s time. To cap it all, they were all goggle-eyed.
Better to disenfranchise them all and let the young people get on with their mental problems.

Last edited 1 year ago by Caradog Wiliams
Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago

You need to pay a bit attention to the silent part of silent majority, gramps, instead of yelling at the clouds about how young ‘uns don’t know anything these days.

Jane Watson
Jane Watson
1 year ago

Are you trying to make a point or just be vile for the sake of it?

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane Watson

The point, as you seem to have missed it despite it being spelled out for you, is that the “silent majority” is actually neither of those things, just a highly vocal minority who are seemingly unable to shut up for 5 minutes about whatever it is that is making them furious today.
Got it now, dearie?

Rocky Martiano
Rocky Martiano
1 year ago

You really are a repulsive toad. You have nothing to offer but insults and ad hominem attacks, so why don’t you ‘fade away’ to The Beano or another publication more appropriate to your level of intellectual ability.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Rocky Martiano

Case in point!

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

So, IF it is all going swimmingly the way you want it to, what’s the cause of all your anger?

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Bailey

I’m interested to know why you mistake my obvious wit and humour for anger? You must be a very dark person to go there.
Oh well – not my problem!

Last edited 1 year ago by Champagne Socialist
Caradog Wiliams
Caradog Wiliams
1 year ago

Let us suppose that you are correct. To keep returning to this site must mean that you are in general agreement with what is posted – but you feel bad about agreeing. Yes?

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago

“To keep returning to this site must mean that you are in general agreement with what is posted”
Why must it mean that, gramps?

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

I agree, with you there, I suspect its because you haven’t anywhere else to go and even if you did, no one willing to go there with you.
Anger is so off putting. Try smiling, you never know, you may find a like minded friend. (I know, one of you is sad enough, but two …..) 😉

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

Is that a confession on your part, or have you missed your unintentional irony?

Susan Grabston
Susan Grabston
1 year ago

I suggest you get your emotional regulation back on course. Debates are won through substantive intellect, not belittling women.

laurence scaduto
laurence scaduto
1 year ago

“Dearie”? Ya’gotta be kidding me!

nigel roberts
nigel roberts
1 year ago

Hmmm. “Highly vocal minority (…) unable to shut up for five minutes.”

Self-awareness not your strong suit, cs.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

When all is said and done, you are doing the saying, and the IDF are getting things done.

Kieran P
Kieran P
1 year ago

Unherd does seem to have become a version of ‘Speakers Corner’.
Much less fun though!!

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

I stand corrected CS, you do have one fan on here. Yourself. 😉

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Bill Bailey

Au contraire, cherie! You are following me around like a lovestruck puppy!
Quite understandable really!

nigel roberts
nigel roberts
1 year ago

Fifty quid says you have a “tolerance” or “coexist” bumper sticker on your Subaru.

Wilfred Davis
Wilfred Davis
1 year ago
Reply to  Walter Marvell

This is what the majority will feel, think but never say.

Let’s start saying it.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Wilfred Davis

Start?
You never shut up about it!

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

You can never have too much of a good thing. Though given your attitude, I suspect you wouldn’t know much about that. 😉

Katharine Eyre
Katharine Eyre
1 year ago

I’m at a wedding on Saturday but shall be wearing my little M&S poppy brooch (which happily goes with my intended outfit, but I would have found a way to incorporate it anyway).

AC Harper
AC Harper
1 year ago

The YouGov poll question “From what you’ve read and heard, do you think there should or should not be an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine?” received a 76% affirmative (likely or probable) answer.
But the question “Do you think it is likely or unlikely that the Israel/Palestine issue will be resolved within the next 10 years?” received a 73% unlikely answer.
And there you have it. Very few want war or suffering but similarly very few see an end to suffering of some sort.
I think it is very disingenuous to report the results of one poll question and not the other.

David Mayes
David Mayes
1 year ago
Reply to  AC Harper

And to the question:
From everything you’ve seen and heard, do you think that Hamas are or are not a terrorist organisation?
66% think they are and 6% think they are not. And on:
Which side in the Israeli‑Palestinian conflict do you sympathise with more?
It’s a 50/50 split with 28% supporting both sides. So, the UK public think that Hamas are terrorists but there should be an immediate ceasefire, they support both sides and anyway the problem won’t be solved after ten years. In other words, not our problem and why can’t everyone just be nice.

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  David Mayes

According to the YouGov poll “Sympathies for the Israelis Palestinian conflict” in the UK it breaks down as
10% Israeli
24% Palestinians
32% Neither
34% Don’t Know.
While Britons accept Hamas is a terrorist organisation, they don’t believe killing 10,000 people (and nearly 4000 children, Hamas murdered 30 Israeli children for comparison) in a bombing campaign is a justified response, hence the call for a ceasefire. If those 10,000 were all Hamas fighters there would be no calls for a ceasefire but they’re not, unfortunately they’re almost exclusively civilians

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

Gosh, it’s a good thing we disnt think that in
Ww2. British bomving casualties 39 to 45, 36000. Gernan civilian bombing casualties, several hundred thousand.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

The next bombing of young girls at a pop concert in the UK will change those percentages.

David McKee
David McKee
1 year ago
Reply to  David Mayes

Very well summarised, David. It’s not an issue the British people care much about, so it’s hardly surprising their responses are wildly inconsistent.

Jane Watson
Jane Watson
1 year ago
Reply to  David McKee

Speak for yourself. Some of us care very much, both about the welfare of Jews in this country and in Israel.

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  David McKee

Why should we care? What has a Middle Eastern country with which we have never had any historical or religious ties got to do with Britain?

j watson
j watson
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

Err BB that’s quite a misguided point. The Balfour agreement first gave a commitment to a Jewish state; we administered the Protectorate prior to 48; we got ourselves back involved in 56 with Suez; we had a role in current middle east problems with the intervention in Iraq; we are part of a containment alliance against Iran; we’ve bombed elements in Syria; we’ve always committed to supporting the right to exist of Israel and the importance of stability in this world region etc etc. And that’s just a smattering.
We then also have significant minorities in our Country either Jewish or Muslim with a range of perspectives and feelings about this.

Billy Bob
Billy Bob
1 year ago
Reply to  j watson

We also changed our mind on the Balfour agreement and tried to limit Jewish immigration to the area. Israel came into being by the Jewish terrorist groups murdering British citizens, and they also armed the Argentinians during the Falklands.
Our involvement in the quagmire ended the day the mandate finished, I wouldn’t want to see Britain sink another penny into the place.
Also less than 0.5% of British citizens are Jewish. I don’t really class that as a significant minority

R Wright
R Wright
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

There’s at least one sane person on here it seems. Most Unherd commentators are either baying for blood like neocons.

Paul Devlin
Paul Devlin
1 year ago
Reply to  R Wright

Exactly Billy Bob. The UK should’ve stopped having any thing to do with zionism/Israel when they treacherously launched a terrorist campaign against the British forces in Palestine. Or when Israel murdered the PLO rep in the UK in 1984. See also USS Liberty. Israel has no respect for any country

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul Devlin

So what does the Manchester Arena bombing mean we should stop having anything to do with? Immigration? Islam?

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy Bob

What has Manchester’s Ariane Grande concert to do with anything Islamic?

El Uro
El Uro
1 year ago

“previous protests have been largely peaceful” – Good try. Remind me “fiery but mostly peaceful protests”

Last edited 1 year ago by El Uro
Paul T
Paul T
1 year ago

Why bother coming back. Don’t.

Doug Pingel
Doug Pingel
1 year ago
Reply to  Paul T

Don’t ‘cancel’ DL – lest the down-tick button will wither and die.

William Amos
William Amos
1 year ago

The Poppy and the Act of Remembrance has become strangely distorted. Or perhaps I should say predictibly distorted. If you were to consult the objections raised to it’s institution in the 1920s you would see that all this was forewarned.
The first alteration to the Prayer Book came about because of a rift between those who wished to honour the dead and those who warned, in the words of the 1662 prayer book that extraneous ceremonies although ‘of godly intent and purpose devised … at length turned to vanity and superstition”
Remembrance is about a pyramid of public service which culminates in the ‘ultimate sacrifice’. It cannot be ‘defended’ by force of arms or an act of will. It can only be sustained by a society that gives the ultimate honour to those who serve others. Which is why our King is pledged to be servant of all. Why the ‘unnamed warrior’ is unnamed. It is service that is honoured and in honouring it we perpetuate it in our own lives.
It was always feared that prayers and ceremonies for the dead would breed superstition, and that a distortion of this understanding would degrade into mere ancestor worship or worship of the state.
The expression, ‘Lest we forget’ is one of those, like ‘WInter of Discontent’ which have been extracted from their original context and had their meaning completely inverted.
It now means ‘Remember the fallen’ whereas, in Kipling’s poem it explicitly meant ‘Remember God’ in humility offering a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
“The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!”

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  William Amos

Para 1: its, not it’s

3rd to last line: A humble not “An humble…”

Proselytising on behalf of your god is in my opinion pretty distasteful in the context of the subject under discussion.

Caradog Wiliams
Caradog Wiliams
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

Sorry but you’re wrong again. It is in fact ‘An humble’. Look up the poem. This is Kipling’s way of being a common man of the time.

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago

In that case, Kipling’s wrong – not for the grammar, but for his attempt at “being a common man of the time”.
And… again? You’re trying too hard there, CW.

Aphrodite Rises
Aphrodite Rises
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

It was traditionally an. I don’t know when an in front of h changed to a, but it was relatively recently.

Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago

Fair enough, a sensible response that i can take on board.

Caradog Wiliams
Caradog Wiliams
1 year ago

I remember people saying ‘an hotel’ quite recently. The ‘h’ was not aspirated in Kipling’s time generally. Language changes in time and (as you know) these changes happen in just a few years. Kipling was certainly not wrong because that was how people spoke.

Caradog Wiliams
Caradog Wiliams
1 year ago

A pamphlet was written and circulated in 1854 called ‘Poor Letter H’. This pointed out the error of saying words like hotel as ‘otel’, like the French. Very slowly in Britain people started to try to seem educated by aspirating the ‘h’ and this led to the error of saying haitch for the letter instead of aitch.
American English continued for longer to not aspirate and even today they have (h)erbs rather than herbs.

Aphrodite Rises
Aphrodite Rises
1 year ago

‘After the Norman Conquest in 1066 French quickly replaced English in all domains associated with power. French was used at the royal court, by the clergy, the aristocracy, in law courts. But the vast majority of the population continued to speak English.’
French was the language of the elites and diplomacy. To speak French was to be cultured. This is reflected in the English language. Often there are two versions of a word in English (or more, there are four words for a half: semi – Latin; demi – French; hemi – Greek and half – English), the French is the ‘posh’ word and the English the common word, for example smell and odour, smell is the English version and has negative connotations, odour is the French version and has positive connotations. Hotel is a French word, the English version is Inn.

Last edited 1 year ago by Aphrodite Rises
Russell Sharpe
Russell Sharpe
1 year ago

I don’t think ‘odour’ has positive connotations; most of all it brings to mind the term ‘body odour’.
‘Aroma’, perhaps.

Aphrodite Rises
Aphrodite Rises
1 year ago
Reply to  Russell Sharpe

The term body odour is formal English. Would body smell have more positive connotations?

Last edited 1 year ago by Aphrodite Rises
Steve Murray
Steve Murray
1 year ago

And further to that: with Wales being a colony, you’d be the last person i’d have thought would be a fan of Kipling, by jingo!
Quote by George Orwell: “Kipling is a jingo imperialist, he is morally i…” (goodreads.com)

Caradog Wiliams
Caradog Wiliams
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

Don’t really understand this. You seem to be emphasising Englishness, rather than Britishness. So, do you think we’ve never heard of Shakespeare over here?

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

Hmm, so CS was plagiarizing Orwell some topics ago, or did he give credit where it was due?

William Amos
William Amos
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Murray

Thank you for your corrections. I’m sorry that you found my observations distasteful but I hope it has given you pause to read Kipling’s poem more closely.
The passage you mention as being misspelt is actually a direct quotation by Kipling from the 1662 Prayer Book (a theme which runs through the poem) and is thus germane to my initial point – how our understanding of the words and meaning of Remembrance have altered with the decline in Christianity.
The passage quoted is from the opening of The Order For Morning Prayer and Psalm 51
“Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness, and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father, but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Kipling’s initial readers would have recognised this immediately. It is largely lost on our generation.

Last edited 1 year ago by William Amos
Caractacus Potts
Caractacus Potts
1 year ago

I’m the last direct family member left to lay a wreath in remembrance of my Uncle and his mates killed in the already forgotten war in Korea.

The author might understand that there are still plenty of people for whom this is not a fashion choice, or virtue signalling, or a political football.

If anyone in authority or otherwise attempted to interfere with our 70 year old family tradition on the day then I would not be held responsible for the consequences.

Alex Swift
Alex Swift
1 year ago

Its only proper that before we go into the festival of Christmas, we have a Festival of Rememberance to remember those who gave up there future Christmases so that we could have ours.

Dylan Blackhurst
Dylan Blackhurst
1 year ago

There are 365 days a year. On one day in that year you do not get to march in support of Hamas and anti Jewish sentiments. I don’t think that’s too much to ask is it?

And this obsession with the far right is laughable. It exists as a counter balance to the far left. Which for some reason gets a free pass on the ‘politics and atrocities index’.

Andy White
Andy White
11 months ago

Very perceptive article. But to me it all shows just how deep-rooted those Armistice poppies are. And how flexible the Remembrance Day symbolism is. Now it links back to WW1 and the cessation of hostilities after a long and bloody stalemate. Big echoes with Ukraine and Israel/Palestine.

In 2003 (I always think of the silent vigils in Wootton Bassett) yes, it was about expressing a deep respect for the troops, with the implication that their sacrifice had better mean something, and it wasn’t clear that it did.

What the early 2000s and the Armistice commemorations we have just had shared was the expression of a view of ongoing wars independent of the government of the day.

Andy White
Andy White
11 months ago

Very perceptive article. But to me it all shows just how deep-rooted those Armistice poppies are. And how flexible the Remembrance Day symbolism is. Now it links back to WW1 and the cessation of hostilities after a long and bloody stalemate. Big echoes with Ukraine and Israel/Palestine.
In 2003 (I always think of the silent vigils in Wootton Bassett) yes, it was about expressing a deep respect for the troops, with the implication that their sacrifice had better mean something, and it wasn’t clear that it did.
What the early 2000s and the Armistice commemorations we have just had shared was the expression of a view of ongoing wars independent of the government of the day.

David Lindsay
David Lindsay
1 year ago

There will be five Premier League fixtures on Armistice Day, and five on Remembrance Sunday. The idea that this is an established weekend of “solemn national contemplation” is balls. Will the pubs be shut? Will the betting shops? Will the lap-dancing clubs? At 11am on Saturday, will most people stop shopping for two minutes?

This is a march for an armistice, an armistice that three quarters of the population supports, and it will begin, hours after the two minutes’ silence, nearly two miles from the Cenotaph, from which it will then proceed even further away. In any case, there will be no one at the Cenotaph on Saturday apart from “Tommy Robinson” and a handful of his fanboys, either wondering where everyone was, or thinking that they had frightened them off.

Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman will believe that anything is traditional if the Daily Telegraph says so, that anything is the view of Middle England if the Daily Mail says so, and that anything is the view of the white working class if The Sun says so.

Mark Goodhand
Mark Goodhand
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lindsay

There are no good solutions to the Hamas-Israel conflict, but I have very little sympathy with people characterising these as marches for peace.
If “Pro-Palestinian” protesters denounced Hamas, and demanded the release of hostages taken on 7 October, they’d have a much stronger case. Instead they call for Jihad, and chant “from the river to the sea”. It’s an Islamist show of strength.

David Lindsay
David Lindsay
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Goodhand

Do you honestly that there are a million Islamists in Britain? Imagine what Britain would be like if that were true. The march is for a ceasefire, so according to YouGov, 76 per cent of people agree with the marchers, 58 per cent strongly so. Strong disagreement is confined to three per cent, one person in 33. Are there well over 50 million Hamas sympathisers in Britain? Are there 40 million staunch supporters of Hamas? Or, my dear three percenters, could it be that you are the ones who are out of step? And which other opinion that was held by only about two million people should be aggressively promoted by both main political parties and by the entire news media?

Graham Willis
Graham Willis
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lindsay

Muhammad Kathem Sawalha, a former Hamas commander is the leader of Muslim Association of Britain, one of the groups organizing the ‘March for Peace’. Other groups involved have direct links and funding from Hamas.

The same Hamas who’s covenant has as its central goal the destruction of the state of Israel through Jihad.

Suella Braverman’s description of the March as a ‘hate march’ is reasonable.

Martin Goodfellow
Martin Goodfellow
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lindsay

If the marchers are so respectful of everyone, why can’t they hold their demonstration on another day? The meaning of their cause would still be the same. Having the march on November 11th attracts attention for them, but the 1918 Armistice has no real relation to it. The demonstration itself will make no difference to the war, but is liable to promote hostility towards people seen as being on both sides of the conflict, whether they are directly involved or not. The demonstrators should stand down if their intention is to promote peace.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago

Let them do it, they’ll have the same effect on observers as Champagne Charlie’s posts do on here if they behave as they have previously. i.e make one wonder what’s wrong with them.

Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lindsay

Where did the numbers come into it?
MG is right, ‘from the river to the sea’ is no cry for peace.
Those words remind me of Calgacus,
“they make a desert, they call it peace.”
Anyone yet had the stomach to see if the videos of what Hamas did on the 7th are still available on the internet? I’ve not, but one day they will be looked at in the same way we look at the Nazi Death Camps.
I doubt even the SS, had they had mobile phones, would have called up their mums and sent videos of what they had done for parental approval.
Quite frankly anyone who supports that march needs their moral compass examining.
I read, fascinated, the BBC (even then clearly pro-Hamas) report on how the Israelis rang up residents in a target block and told them to get out, even waited for the Arab contact to tell them it was clear, saying we don’t want to kill civilians, but we see things you can’t. They even dropped ‘bangers’ to prove they weren’t a hoax call.
Hamas on the other hand only phoned home after slaughtering, defiling, decapitating and kidnapping civilians. What is it with Islam and young girls?