Remembrance Sunday 2022 - Whitehall Cenotaph

[WildRosie]

There will be a somewhat different lineup of Royals and VIPs at this year's ceremony. Although King Charles has substituted for the Queen in recent years, 2022 will be the first time he has attended as our Monarch. I'm not sure if Princes Andrew and Harry will be there - probably not given their withdrawal from public life. Rishi Sunak will make his debut as Prime Minister with seven former PMs also in attendance; Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson and Truss. That's quite a lot. I don't remember if the Foreign Secretary attends the ceremony; if so, it will also be a first for James Cleverly.

I think it would have been insulting if she'd decided not to turn up. It's one day the politics is put aside.

Agree, this is about respect for the office, not opinions on any particular incumbent

I'd actually prefer that politicians didn't participate - give that it's usually them who get countries into wars in the first place.

I’m in London this weekend and we got to Tower Bridge just before 11am. The sight of the cabbies all lined up on the bridge was beautiful. Saddened though by the number of people that didn’t observe the 2 minute silence and kept walking, chatting and generally going about their business.

A child was having an almighty screaming tantrum during the whole time and their parents were performance parenting loudly to attempt to stop her. They carried her right through the people who did stop. 😡

That's precisely why I think they should be there!

I agree.

I do stand for the 2 minute silence and think of my grandfathers who both were in WW2. And I have huge respect for those who are in the parade representing all the forces.

Politicians, not so much.

I’m in London this weekend and we got to Tower Bridge just before 11am. The sight of the cabbies all lined up on the bridge was beautiful

Black cabbies are lovely!

Every year a swarm of them takes Chelsea Pensioners through a drive through of the London Christmas lights.

And even on ordinary days, they nearly always waive the fare for Pensioners

(and just as I'm typing about them, it was their turn to march past the Cenotaph)

I knew that bus drivers had driven soldiers to the front. I didn't know that George V had insisted that because of that they should be represented at the ceremony.

What did you want them to do?

It's a somber occasion of course, but I'm enjoying the music very much as it all reminds me of my own childhood. My Dad was a great singer and used to sing me many of these songs when I was little. He served in WW2 and his Dad was a WW1 veteran who had taught him the songs of his youth, and Dad in turn sang them to us, so I know all the words.
I like that they keep the old songs alive on this day despite the fact that there are very few WW2 and obviously no WW1 veterans left now.

Not the poster who saw this, but what I think would be better would be
a) cut the performance parenting, and
b) move as far away as possible, rather than continuing to move through the people who were observing the silence

This precisely

@RoseAndRose the poster did not provide context on where they were. If they were in the middle of the bridge when they kicked off they'd have to walk past to leave!
Even in a silence I'd expect a parent to give a warning/try and calm DC down

I was thinking of the "carried her right through the people" bit.

So they needed to get to the edge, or as far away as possible. Not going right through a group of still, silent people.

After all, everyone knows how brief the commemoration is, so even retracing footsteps to put a bit of distance between the noisy child and those paying their respects would have been better.

People are, rightly, free to join in or not. But I don't think people should interrupt those who are taking part. So that means removing or distancing the child by best possible route, without performance parenting commentary. Or if in the unlikely event of there being really no route, then standing still and parents saying nothing (if one 'shhhhh' doesn't work)

After the War many cabbies were ex-RAF.

My uncle flew nearly 40 missions in bomber command and, at 99, is the last of Sqdn 51. However, in peace-time, he wanted to stay but they refused. Why? His df, ex RA, was a gardener working for the imperial war graves in the Somme as he didn't want to return to jobless England. So, despite having a British passport the RAF told him he wasn't British.

They were initially stood down the steps off the bridge, we passed them and child was screeching blue murder.

they actually carried her up the steps and onto the bridge in full meltdown during the 2 minutes silence, smiling and eye rolling at everyone stood around. There were others strolling by on phones and talking too. So disrespectful