What those poppies mean…
I hugely enjoy my constituency and the events that take place there. One of those is Remembrance Sunday. Enjoyment is not the right word, but I greatly look forward to it. Of course the nation’s concentration tends to be on the service in Whitehall, but up and down the country in our cities, towns and villages there are services of commemoration too. Yesterday there were record crowds at the wreath-laying ceremonies. The Suffolk Regiment had a particularly terrible tour of duty in the Far East in the Second World War. The same local surnames read out from the roll of honour indicate the appalling tragedy of so many being killed from the same family in the First World War especially. It is incredible to think that my children’s great grandfather was the ninth son and thirteenth child, but inherited the family’s farm in Suffolk.
Today our troops are engaged in extremely harsh conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. We think of them. We also remember with pride and humility those who went before them, to give us the extraordinarily open, free and tolerant country we live in. In 2006 we do not face an enemy as previous generations did, but disaffected fellow citizens who despise the very open, free and tolerant country we inhabit and the way of life we have chosen to lead.
In the end, it is imperative that these characteristics which so many fought and died for, are never ultimately compromised, whatever the pressures to do so may be.