1. The Great War was the stupidest- most monstrous thing- we (meaning us Brits) have ever got mixed up in. Wearing a little red flower doesn't begin to deal with it.
2. Wearing a poppy has become a badge of social conformity- of fitting in- and so very largely meaningless. Fisk gets cross about everyone on TV wearing one- and so do I.
3. The people who sell poppies usually wear berets and I don't feel happy about supporting anything that smacks of militarism. The Great War was a crime of militarism- a failure of that whole way of thinking- and I'd rather our commemoration of it was kept clean of flags, medals, hymns, royal personages, politicians, berets, marching feet and any talk of heroism.