Much of the changes in British society that are lamented in this thread, resonate elsewhere too. This would suggest the blame can not be put on Thatcher, or on any specific British policy.

Quote Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla View Post
I could say some very rude things here.
Do speak your mind.



I dislike poppies. With a passion. I hate 'In Flanders Fields' with a vengeance - the most shameless, obscene, murderous poem ever written. Moral bankruptcy in verse. The poem does not respect the death, rather it exhumes the fallen and parades their rotting corpses around, using them to blackmail others to follow them to their doom. It is the work of the devil, granting neither the living nor indeed the fallen any peace, even in death.
I could not think of a graver sign of disrespect than a poppy.

(I do however, understand that the intention behind wearing a poppy is for most people rather more innocent, or merely the result of social pressure)

Likewise, I consider a militaristic remembrance of the dead by civilian society a continuation of what caused their deaths in the first place.
Lastly, I mistrust militaristic politicians and politics. I find it a comforting sign if a politician is disinterested in precise miltary/istic protocol.

We've seen across the Atlantic in recent years how clouded the judgment of politicians and the electorate can become once in the grip of overt militarism. And all of that fades into insignificance compared to the same thing happening on a far larger scale in Europe a century ago.

A democracy respects its military death, because the democratic process is ultimately responsible for their death. But beyond that kind of respect and remembrance, madness lies.