Very few people wearing poppies this year?

[YippieKayakOtherBuckets]

Anyone else noticed this?

I was in some very busy parts of London today and saw maybe half a dozen people wearing poppies in total. I’m watching Question Time now; the panel are all wearing poppies (the Plaid Cymru representative is wearing a red and a white poppy side-by-side) and at a glance I’d say less than a quarter of people are wearing them.

Is this primarily because of Gaza or did the trend start a while ago? Are people who used to wear poppies now choosing not to? I know this probably sounds very journalisty but I’m not, I promise. I’m really struck by what feels like a dramatic cultural shift in the last ten years or so.

The school must have granted permission otherwise they’d get done for not being in uniform. I was a secondary school teacher for 27 years. No way would any schools l worked in have allowed this.

I was at school in the 70’s too. No one wore them in my school. I’ve never heard of it until now.

It gives me the creeps. Absolutely makes my flesh crawl.

We had 2 people collecting on our village high Street. no card machine. I tried to get change from local supermarket as only had £10 & they weren't allowed to do that. Had to get change from a different shop in order to buy 2 poppies. I can see why some people don't bother tbh.

I donated this year but opted not to take a poppy - I’m sure I’m not the only one. I just can’t work the pins and I hate wastage!

It's completely normal for schools with CCFs to have members wear that uniform every week on CCF days and on whichever day the school marks Remembrance.

Those other kids are appalling. It might be perceived as having militaristic overtones, but it does not represent genocide.

Remind me again what we went into WW2 to stop? The Holocaust.

I’m amazed by the ‘does it matter’ posts and the seemingly proud declarations of never having worn one. Lest we forget. That we wear our poppies and remember our fallen, and be grateful for their sacrifice, is about more than ‘does it matter’ and ‘they need to get with the times’.

It defeats the point if it's compulsory, turns from being "thanks to my late grandfather for his service" to "this thing someone told me to do".

Like a PP I have one on one coat. But it's a faff to move from coat to coat, so if I need a warmer/lighter/more waterproof coat than the one it's on I won't be wearing it.

I will try to wear the right coat on Sunday, though.

How odd. I’ve taught for 35 years and I think every school I’ve ever worked in has ‘allowed’ it. Not sure how they would stop it really. I mean, giving detentions would look quite bad.
You know they are children who wear uniform weekly for cadets? Why is wearing it to school so creepy?

I could count on one hand how many times I've bought and worn a poppy (I'm in my 40s) If I see a seller and its convenient, I'll buy one. I haven't seen a seller this year.

We have 2 supermarkets in our town and neither are selling poppies. I have asked about poppy sellers in town but it seems that there are none this year, which is a bit shocking. I bought from the poppy shop online in the end. I have been carrying coins for a good fortnight, in the hope of spotting a seller.

Both my local Asda and Tesco have sellers inside their stores and thanks to this thread I've been out and bought an enamel pin. Those paper ones this year look naff which (I think) has been holding me back. I know it's paper for environmental reasons but that green stem could look a lot better than it does.

I don’t think a school is the place to be wearing militaristic uniform. It’s horrible. Ugh.

But @ArseInTheCoOpWindow they are wearing it despite school, not because of it. If it was a Saturday they would still wear it. I find your faux disgust (ugh? How old are you?) rather odd.
And for the record I’m a pacifist by inclination. Remembrance isn’t inconsistent with that.

It’s not faux, it’s bloody real. I’m 59. Yuk

I hate the militaristic aspect of it being shoved down other kids throats. Glorifying war in a school full of young people🤮it’s just horrible. Repugnant. I’d be proper complaining if my children were in that school.

Fortunately they weren’t, nor did it happen in any of the 5 schools I’ve taught in. I’ve never ever heard of it. I’d be horrified if l found out if taken a job somewhere like that unknowingly.

Most of the teachers l worked with in various schools would also have been cringing at it.

Let’s dress someone up like a soldier and put them in a school full of impressionable teens. Let’s put someone who will be trained to kill:carry weapons in a school. Yuk, l’d consider it a safeguarding issue.

I think you have misunderstood what I was trying to say. I was simply trying to understand why some people have such a negative view of wearing a poppy.

I do actually agree that it is important not to forget the sacrifices made and the further we get away from those wars the easier it is to forget. My grandpa was at Ypres in WW1 and he never spoke about it. He was in the medical corps and I imagine saw some awful things. I just wish that the poppy could be seen as a symbol of remembrance instead of being politicised as it is today.

I donated but wasn’t given a poppy. Don’t know why but maybe others aren’t being given one either

If your nan/grandpa/friend of was selling youd get chatting and be obliged.

Yes, that's a big problem with it: you're not buying one because of the cause but to make your nan happy (or maybe to stop her from moaning at you if you don't).

Considering that there are (virtually) no veterans left alive from the World Wars, we aren't actively honouring them in any way that they can know anymore.

In fact, a great many of the men who were forced to fight in the wars took no pride or honour in it at all, and only did so because they were given no alternative; so it isn't as much a case of remembering a 'sacrifice' that they made as of remembering that they were forcibly sent to die, along with so many ordinary young German men and those from other countries.

And we obviously don't wear poppies as a reminder and warning that the WWs were to end all war, as the leaders of our nation (and other western nations that 'should' know better) are just as proactively war-hungry as they ever have been, so that idea is clearly not appropriate.

So what is the purpose of wearing them, then?

There are sellers in the tesco and the primary and secondary schools are selling them to kids and parents here.

In.my previous school all teachers were told they must wear a poppy which did not go down well with the teachers from NI

I don't see many where I am... in a part of Liverpool that has a lot of Catholics of Irish origin. I've just now joined the dots between my location and what a couple of posters and my Irish cousin have said about Irish people not wearing them.

@feellikeanalien

I just wish that the poppy could be seen as a symbol of remembrance instead of being politicised as it is today.

Ok... agree

In.my previous school all teachers were told they must wear a poppy which did not go down well with the teachers from NI

I presume they didn't have any history teachers at the school, then?! How ironic to abuse a celebration of winning freedoms in order to take people's freedoms away.

It would be like me making a massive performance about what a gentle, caring, peace-loving soul I am and then threatening to punch anybody who dares to disagree!

Round my way people are wearing them as usual.