Poppies, Pedestrians and Remembrance Day

Here's a novel way of marking Remembrance Day - a zebra crossing in London painted with bright red poppies.

I imagine they must give lots of people pause for thought as they cross the street which is a very good thing if you ask me, especially for the younger generation who have never met a D-Day soldier like Harry Billinge.

   

Lest We Forget (10/11/20)

A humbling and moving interview with Harry Billinge who took part in the D-Day landings.

   

Lest We Forget (08/11/20)

'In Flanders Fields' by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae - a Canadian who was inspired to write the poem after presiding over the funeral of his friend and fellow soldier, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died at the battle of Ypres.  

 

Bams Booed at Celtic Park (12/11/20)  

I said I would write to Celtic about the shameful antics of  the self-styled 'Green Brigade ultras' at Sunday's match against Motherwell.

Here's what I had to say to the Club who responded very quickly to confirm that my comments have indeed been brought to the attention of the Celtic Board.

I hope other supporters will raise their voices too - in the same spirit which led to the 'bampots' being booed and quickly silenced on Sunday.    


Dear Celtic FC 

I would like to register a complaint about the behaviour of some of the Celtic fans at the match against Motherwell yesterday.

Specifically, my complaint is about a small group of supporters in the safe standing area who style themselves as 'ultras' or the Green Brigade.

During the second half of the match the fans in question began singing 'You can stick your poppy up your arse' led on by cheerleaders who did their level best to amplify this ugly, divisive message via their loudhailers and drums.

I have written about this shameful incident on my blog site and what I find incredible is that Celtic FC help to facilitate this nonsense by continuing to allow the 'ultras' in the Green Brigade to bring their drums, loudhailers and banners into the stadium - without demanding guarantees about their future conduct.

In my opinion their behaviour on Remembrance Sunday crossed the line and the club should take action to deal with these morons who regularly bring Celtic's good name into disrepute.

I enclose a copy of the article which has been posted to my blog site and would be grateful if you could bring my comments to the attention of the Celtic Board.

Kind regards

Mark Irvine 

  

Bams Booed at Celtic Park (11/11/19)

The start of yesterday's home match between Celtic and Motherwell was marked by a respectful minute's silence for Remembrance Day.

But the occasion was spoiled somewhat in the second half by the moronic behaviour of a small group of fans in the safe standing area - the self-styled 'ultras' in the Green Brigade - whose cheerleaders decided to sing: "you can stick your poppy up your arse".

The rest of the Celtic support responded quickly by roundly booing the bampots, but the real problem is that these clowns think they are a law unto themselves - answerable to no one and bigger than the club itself.

What's incredible to me is that Celtic FC help to facilitate this nonsense by allowing the 'ultras' in the Green Brigade to bring drums, loudhailers and banners into the stadium - without any guarantees about their future behaviour.

Celtic has been fined regularly by UEFA, the European football authority, over the infantile behaviour of this group of fans whose antics hit the club in the pocket, as well as damaging its hard won reputation for being fair-minded and tolerant.

I will be writing to the club to make my voice heard and hope other supporters will do the same. 

   

Lest He Got Wet (05/09/20)

I shared Morten Morland's great cartoon (Nov 2018) in which he mocked Donald Trump's refusal to attend an Armistice Day event in France - in case Trump got his bouffant hair wet. 

Little did we know at the time that draft dodger Trump also made disparaging remarks in which he described America's wounded, captured and fallen soldiers as 'suckers' and 'losers'.

 

Lest He Got Wet...(13/11/18)

Morten Morland hits the nail on the head with this cartoon in The Times which calls out Donald Trump for his contemptible 'no show' at an important Armistice Day memorial event in France at the weekend.

Now the President of the United States pulled out because of the weather, yet somehow or other the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, was able to make an even longer 118 mile journey to attend a rain-soaked ceremony at a cemetery in Vimy, outside Paris.