N.B. It's me, The P-G
Right. it's a while since I have had to come out of hiding to tell everyone what's what, but seeing as it is Armistice Day today and it's been in the news, it's time I did so.
Here is your important P-G corrective for today. Repeat after me:
FIFA is right, but for the wrong reasons.The right reason is that wearing a poppy is and must be a voluntary act of remembrance and thanksgiving to those who gave their lives in the defence of our freedom.
Jon Snow is wrong, but for the right reasons.
UPDATE
And just for the record, completeness and rather pleasing symettry,
Theresa May is wrong for the wrong reasons.
Thus, FIFA is right to object to a poppy being embroidered on the England players shirts - it destroys the voluntary nature of the act. They are wrong however to suggest that the wearing of a poppy is a political act.
Conversely Jon Snow expounds on the right reasons. Here he is in the linked article:
"Additionally there is a rather unpleasant breed of poppy fascism out there - 'He damned well must wear a poppy!'.He is right to point this out. Those who declare that you MUST wear a poppy are wrong.
However, he is a tosspot for then refusing to wear the poppy. It is as though he thinks the "poppy fascists" have thereby tainted the poppy and he must rise above it. In this he is wrong.
So here's what should have happened:
- Once FIFA kicked up a stink, the FA - and for good measure the Duke of Cambridge - should have confirmed that the wearing of the poppy is voluntary and run up a batch of shirts without it.
- The players then make their own choice of shirt. If they choose the one with the poppy, it's clearly their own choice
- Wait for FIFA to try to take action against any player that does so choose...
For good measure, just imagine the value of those original shirts with poppies: if players do stick their necks out, those shirts become extremely powerful symbols in support of the whole thing. Auction them off in aid of the Poppy Appeal and everyone really does win.
