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There were plenty of poppies on view in Oxford last week, but most of them weren’t being worn.
There was a themed display in the Oxfam bookshop, a tasteful display in a very posh shop in Turl Street, and an astonishingly tasteless display in a newsagent’s window (“supporting Jack FM and Glide FM’s Giant Poppy appeal”). Even the newspaper in the dentist’s waiting room sported a poppy.
I did a survey by walking the length of Queen Street and Cornmarket and spotted twenty people (no more than 10%) wearing poppies. Even allowing for foreign visitors and the poppy-unfriendly design of modern coats, the contrast between real people and anyone who’s appeared on a TV screen since the middle of October was, to say the least, striking.
Yesterday (Sunday), I attended a Remembrance Day service. Here, there were eight poppies, but three of them were attached to candles on the table at the front. Even the speaker, a former soldier, used the word “ambivalence” and reminded us that all armies commit atrocities.
It seems that I’m not the only one not signing up to the establishment’s version of history.
After Work 
I caught a snipet (Radio 4) whilst driving of a similar discussion in respect of the “compulsion” people feel to wear a poppy, that if one doesn’t, then one lacks compassion.
I personally see no glorification of war in wearing one. To all intents and purposes (and I know there were conciensous objectors) those who died in two world wars had no real choice and are deserving of being rememembered as are their widows and children.
If I could make one adjustment to the wearing of poppies it would be to add a petal or leaf which symbolised remembering the civilian dead and wounded who I understand always outnumber the military casualties.
However I can see your argument and were I a public figure (or a public servant) I would not want to be told when & where to wear the poppy.
Like Christmas gifts appearing in Sainsbury’s earlier every year, the life expectancy of the poppy is similarly extended, they pop up earlier each year and have to survive beyond Remembrance Sunday. I think the answer is to purchase at least two.
This year for the first time ever I watched the Saturday Evening festival of remembrance from the Albert Hall. Aside from the fact that one who took part ( CEO of the British Legion – Peter Wilkinson) is a friend (which added interest) I found most of it intensely moving. If nothing else, no one does ceremony like the British.