What fresh hell is this? National VE day

[wetpants]

This has popped up on my local FB page, villagers are all up for it too. Apparently it’s a nationwide incentive??

The thing is, most front gardens are tiny or non existent here. There’s no way you could be 2m away from your next door. Also these villagers who are up for this are the same people who few weeks ago cried about a lone bloke sitting on a crass verge, well away from any pedestrians. How is this any different?

I’m not British (have lived here a long time though) so maybe I’m just not getting the fervent VE day misty eyeness

And don’t get me started on 9pm nationwide singalong WHO comes up with these things???

It sounds toe curlingly shite. No way.

Very pleased to see the poll result. Maybe I’m not such a miserable old cow after all.

It is not about glorification of war 🙄. It is about remembrance, respect and the relief felt by millions when the slaughter stopped. My mother was 10 at the time and remembers VE day well. I wont be doing garden parties, but a little respect is in order, I feel. Many will no doubt disagree.

I have nothing but respect for that generation but I’ll keep it quietly, at a distance. Don’t feel the need to do it publicly.

I'm with Dollywilde too.
It does feel a bit jingoistic and I feel like it plays into Boris Johnson's Churchill fantasy and the idea of Blitz spirit that never really existed.

Ugh. They are on about doing this where I live. One person said they hoped there would be dance music. Yeah, just like the 1940s 🙄.

Britain does have a rather unhealthy obsession with the World Wars, especially WW2. It was the last unambiguous victory in an Empire that was rapidly crumbling and would soon all but disappear. It was the last little glimmer of glory that Britain can grab on to.

But Britain didn't even win the war, the Allies won the war. British forces were thoroughly routed from Europe fairly early on. It was only with the help of the US, Canada, Australia, and numerous European countries half way through 1944 that Britain got back into Europe.

Britain was engaged in a struggle for survival that it barely won, and then only with help.

And yet somehow this is always presented as the plucky Brits going over there to give Jerry a good drubbing and weren't we wonderful in the war years, it was a golden time and all the children loved being on the farms in the country side, and Churchill was the best leader we ever had etc.

We should remember the war dead. We should not glorify the war.

Our village is doing something but not as proscriptive as this. The vicar is organising white paper doves to symbolise peace and we’re doing origami and putting them in front windows, trees and outside the church, which is a lovely way to mark it without focusing on the victory aspect. There’s talk of front garden picnics and there’s space enough to maintain social distancing but our garden is behind a hedge so not terribly sociable.

Nothing wrong with anyone which lifts people’s spirits at a time when many are feeling lonely, disconnected or stressed. I’m not a fan of enforced jollity but that’s not what’s happening here. It’s there if you want it and no pressure if you don’t.

I don't know any old people who are nostalgic for WW2. I might stick some EU flags up in solidarity with them (universally, they credit the EU for bringing 50 years of peace and prosperity)

I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve got bunting and everything 🇬🇧

I doubt anything much will happen where I live. Of course I appreciate the victory, etc, but it was over before I was born and we cant live in the past forever. I was brought up in an era where it was never far away, our dads, uncles etc, had been in the forces in WW2 and mums at home had lived through the blitz.

I had an uncle, older, who had fought in WW1 (to which Armistice Day refers), and been gassed in the trenches.

Bomb sites were everywhere and so many people were poor compared to now.

Remembrance concert in London every year is enough. I buy a poppy and that's my lot.

I asked DH if we were going to celebrate and he just rolled his eyes. He’s a serving officer in the armed forces.

@BogRollBOGOF yy until the 25th anniversary, there wasn't a silence on the day itself and actually the silence on the Sunday wasn't widely observed or organised prior to that. Ie it wasn't enforced/expected during the decades where there were more people who had lived during the war. Then suddenly it was the 50th anniversary and the whole thing got massive and gradually more and more silences have been added for various events over the last 25 years. It's interestingly modern.

It's all getting a bit much, all this doorstep socially enforced activity

Amen to that.

I’m not a fan of enforced jollity but that’s not what’s happening here. It’s there if you want it and no pressure if you don’t.

In a lot of places there is pressure, though. People have been calling out their neighbours on Facebook and other community groups because they've not been "joining in".

@Lockheart great post.

Normally I would probably agree with you but our street are doing this and I am actually quite looking forward to it. The dcs are really excited about making bunting and having a picnic in the front garden! Some of our elderly neighbours are looking forward to seeing everyone and having some music etc going on even if it is all from a distance. They are alone in their homes, unable to see grandchildren. We are going to make the best of it although I don't really want the 9pm sing along to keep the dcs awake!

Good to remember the war and commemorate the deaths.

Shame we haven't learnt the lessons of what happened.

Who designed this VE Day agenda?

We will be decorating our houses and having some socially distanced drinks on our front drives.
We live in a cul de sac and could easily do this.
We are quite a social neighbourhood though and would have been doing something if lock down wasn’t happening.
I am sure this is something people can easily ignore if it’s not there thing.

I hate this kind of thing - as a PP said, 'enforced jollity'; however we have a neighbour who always wants to organise stuff like this and in the current situation, I am not sure how we can avoid it. Definitely will be inside with the blinds drawn for the 9pm sing-a-long though! Cringe, cringe!

I live in a terraced house that has been converted into three flats, as have almost all other houses on the street. The shared front yard is about 1m deep, and it's certainly not wide enough to accommodate all three households with a 2m distance between us.

Mind you, thankfully I'm in Wales, which tends not to go in for waving the British flag in quite the way some parts of England do, so I suspect I'll escape the worst of this enforced jollity.

I’m an older person, remember rationing, parents were lucky to live through WW2 (Navy, nurse in cities that were bombed), and I wish they’d stop this shit.
Always looking back to “our finest hour” is preventing us from seeing that we have to work on the future and make life in this country fair and equitable for all its citizens.