Simon Jenkins

Don’t mention the war

Collective commemoration, far from ensuring justice, is a formula for unending grievance – and bad art

issue 10 November 2018

A cascade of poppies falls from ‘weeping windows’ across Britain. A 50-metre drawing of Wilfred Owen appears in the sand, and is washed away by the sea in which he swam. A silhouetted soldier stands on the white cliffs of Dover. A thousand pumpkins ‘recall’ an antisubmarine airship. You can pretend you are in no-man’s-land in Dorset, or ‘clearing up the immense horrors of trench warfare’ in Dulwich.

We have Great War proms, Great War bake-ins, Great War fashion shows, even Great War Countryfile. Blackadder has been summoned back to the colours. The Royal Mail issues a ‘classic, prestige and presentation’ pack of stamps.

In 2012 David Cameron committed an enormous £50 million to commemorate the first world war, with millions more promised from the Lottery, all of which has been funnelled into the never-ending 14–18 NOW programme. The purpose, he said, was ‘to honour those who served, to remember those who died, and to ensure that the lessons learned live with us for ever’.

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