The cringe and the fury: Remembrance Sunday.
Posted: November 8, 2026 Filed under: Matters that Matter | Tags: history, Remembrance, Remembrance Day, Remembrance Sunday, war, World War One, World War Two, WW1, WW2 Leave a commentI feel an odd sensation, somewhere between fury and cringe, as each Remembrance Sunday comes around.
Like Diwali, Black History Month and Bring Your Dog to Work Day, it has become an instance for companies and organisations to demonstrate that whatever the cause is – they’re close to it – and thus, hence and therefore – you should buy what they’re selling.
In 2025 and today, a former workplace has used the equipment of said-workplace to portray a poppy.
To make the commemoration of the dead a bit more fun.
And that’s where the emotion comes in, the cringe and the fury.
This day, isn’t there for Sainsbury’s to sell chocolate.
It isn’t for the Cookie Monster to show he can wear a poppy too.
It is to remember the poor bloke choking on his blood, entirely alone, freezing in terrified agony and suddenly forever alone, dying on a battlefield that has always been distant, far away from whatever happiness there may have been in his childhood, sent there by bastards who would have shot him if he hadn’t gone, and someone’s future wiped-out like a village of pals.
That’s why we’re here.
That’s why this day exists.
That’s why we remember.
But I am increasingly of the perception that this is not just commemoration for those who have gone.
Having committed the respect since a child, and seen the world throughout, I am now understanding this is about forgiveness.
We’re asking for forgiveness.
Because we’re going to do it again.
Poor young souls will be brief.
The battlefield will come again, and only our babies, our finest will do.
And I am terrified, of a bayonet and my boy’s body.
Of some savage deciding my daughters are his spoils.
We cannot let it happen.
Not again.
We must remember them.
