Another voice

I hate badges and ribbons, but this year I have decided to wear a poppy for the first time

Matthew Parris

10 November 2007

For the horror of it all, wear a poppy.

Some months ago I described in a Times column a war diary by a young girl in Germany, Hilke, which had come into my hands, and I’m pleased to learn that this is now to be published next February by Templus Publishing. In simple, unaffected prose we follow the war through the eyes of a patriotic but unpolitical teenager, who joins the Nazi youth movement, as do all her friends, never questioning the war though never really understanding it. Feeling for this girl as a reader — hoping after every British bombing raid that the bombs had missed Hilke’s family — seems to conflict in no way with support for the Royal British Legion’s annual campaign.

For me it added to it, contributing to an overwhelming sense not only of the tragedy but also of the momentousness — socially and emotionally as well as politically — of those great convulsions. As I carefully buttonholed my poppy at Marylebone Station I thought about the sixth-form political conference at Warwick School where I was heading, to speak; and felt very sure that by way of example, wearing a poppy was a better thing to do than going without. The poppy will stay on my suit until Sunday. I shall never again reject it.

Matthew Parris is a columnist for the Times.

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stephen Deaves

November 8th, 2007 5:32pm Report this comment

I too was born long after WWII ended but likewise feel moved by it as well. I also wear it for the brave but I fear pointless deaths of service men in Irak and Afghanistan.

One of the scarred.

November 10th, 2007 11:12pm Report this comment

Thank you Matthew.

G. A. SPENCER

November 14th, 2007 8:12pm Report this comment

I never have, and never will, buy a poppy for these reasons: 1. I don't need a symbol of anything to remind me of the sacrifice of those who died in war. I know, because I was there, and served six years. 2. The poppy industry (for that is what it is) is an insult to those who were wounded and for whom the fund is supposed to buy comforts they would not otherwise get. THERE IS NO CONCEIVABLE COMFORT that should not be provided by the government; 3. The poppy industry exists largely for its own ends. I have yet to see a believable figure of how much of the money collected finishes up actually paying for "comforts" of ex-service men. I remember my fallen comrades in my own way in my own home.

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