A Son of the Rock

It’s a very worthwhile endeavour. Of course it is. I buy and wear one every year as do my family members. But….

I caught a bit of the American Football from Wembley on BBC 1 on Sunday. They had two Americans pundits giving expert opinion. Fair enough. Except…

They were both wearing poppies (as was the British presenter.)

As far as I was aware the Poppy Appeal is a British undertaking. Do ordinary Americans even know of its existence? The two may of course have been perfectly happy to wear their poppies and presumably the reason for the practice was explained to them.

This sudden rash of media poppy wearing towards the end of October always strikes me as a bit sanctimonious. This is especially so since the poppy wearers on the TV – and in Parliament – have them way in advance of Remembrance Day (before the general public has much of a chance to buy one) and always have the green leafed version. These are not generally available to the public so there is an element of showing off about them that is more than a little distasteful.

There is also a hint of compulsion. I get the impression that in the run up to Remembrance Day no-one would be allowed on TV without one – with the possible exception of babes in arms. Is it someone’s job to press poppies on people about to appear in front of camera?

I know the BBC every year gives a substantial donation to the Earl Haig Fund for the poppies it uses. I assume ITV (and all the other TV companies) do too. Is it faintly possible that some TV employees don’t buy one themselves because they’ve got a BBC (or whatever) one? If so, the Fund will lose out.

As I recall it wasn’t always like this. Not everyone on the TV at this time of year used to have a poppy. You can’t say that now.

So, if everyone on the TV wears a poppy how much does it actually mean? It becomes merely a gesture and not an affirmative act. Weren’t the First and Second World Wars fought (on our part) so that people were not dragooned into doing things they might not want to?

Wearing a poppy ought to be a matter of individual choice, not of coercion – whether that coercion be by the TV companies or by those writing/phoning/texting/emailing in to complain if someone in the public eye doesn’t have a poppy on.