There are many good reasons to attend your local war memorial tomorrow.
Not the least of them will be to avoid that which is set out masterfully by John Wight, namely the stomach-turning hypocrisy at the Cenotaph.
That will feature an entire generation of well-rewarded war criminals and of amoral arms salesmen, none of whom cared tuppence about the people whom the Royal British Legion existed to help and support.
Or does it? After all, the military charities are sitting on reserves of half a billion pounds while veterans sleep on the streets.
During his time as the worst Prime Minister in living memory, David Cameron once stated publicly that looking after veterans was not the job of the State, since that was what the Legion was for.
But they were not sent to war by charity, so it should not fall to charity to look after them once they come back. And in any case, charity does not seem to be doing much of a job of it.
Instead, it sits on giant reserves while lobbying for the pro-war foreign policy line and for the arms industry, with which it has a scandalously cosy relationship. The arms companies even sponsor the Invictus Games. Give that a moment to sink in.
All of this is the precise opposite of the original meaning of the Poppy Appeal. Tomorrow's centenary of the Armistice might have marked the natural end of that, anyway.
The white poppy is a statement of absolute pacifism, and the money goes to an organisation that campaigns in that cause, so I do not wear it.
But if things are still like this next year, then what good reason could there possibly be for continuing to wear the red poppy, either?
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