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Original poster

This clap for Captain Tom idea

776 replies

User133847 · 02/02/2021 20:44

I've just seen a lot on social media about this clap for Tom on Thursday at 8, similar to the clap for the NHS.

I'm a bit ambivalent about this. The one organised the other week was a damp squib and nobody got involved. The weather is still dark and cold (it wasn't in the summer when the pots and pans were out for the NHS). However, for a nation in mourning at Tom's passing, perhaps this could help really bring the country together on Thursday.

OP posts:
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15
NorbertMeubles · 03/02/2021 18:51

@Impatiens yes!!!! You have nailed it.

FuzzyPuffling · 03/02/2021 18:52

My beloved late dad was also in India and Burma like Cpt Tom.

He never wore his medals, never used his rank title and would never wear a poppy either. He helped to repatriate people who has been POWs of the Japanese. He would have been mortified to have been called a war hero. Everyone's different, but I know who my personal hero is.

CaptainSirTomMooreismyhero · 03/02/2021 18:53

There was clapping for Captain Sir Tom Moore tonight in my street and in the two adjacent streets.

joystir59 · 03/02/2021 19:00

@Puzzledandpissedoff
Thank goodness I will be at work when the national clap happens
Depending on what the job is that might not save you ... what are the chances of someone suggesting a "group clap" to show just how caring the organisation is?? wink
I am a cleaner. All we do is moan. Grin

joystir59 · 03/02/2021 19:03

@Puzzledandpissedoff
Thank goodness I will be at work when the national clap happens
Depending on what the job is that might not save you ... what are the chances of someone suggesting a "group clap" to show just how caring the organisation is??

No chance, I am a cleaner. All we do is moan.

Impatiens · 03/02/2021 19:06

Apparently Tom's family specifically requested not to have his passing marked in this way, but seem to have been ignored by Johnson.

He really doesn't care who he tramples over Angry

bellagogosdead · 03/02/2021 19:07

@CaptainSirTomMooreismyhero

I'm hoping the poppy and remembrance day will fade away over the next 20 years. Time to move on. It isn't up to you to decide it is time to move on. You move on all you like and leave those of us who like to show our respect to war veterans to do what we want. Remembrance Day isn't just about The Great War and WWII. It is also about more recent wars such as in The Falklands and Afghanistan.
In fact I would argue that it isn't really about The Great War or the Second World War at all anymore.
squishedblueberry · 03/02/2021 19:08

I think the point that a lot of people who are accusing us of being mean spirited are missing is that it’s no longer about him.
It’s about competitive grief and who can outdo each other with the biggest gesture.
I felt a little sad when he died, he reminded me of my grandad. But I didn’t clap tonight, I won’t be tomorrow.
That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what he did.

It means I won’t support this politically driven claptrap lead by a PM who heads a party that has left our NHS chronically underfunded.
And I’m willing to bet this big fundraising effort will be the start of pushing for the NHS to be privatised. I genuinely wouldn’t be shocked if we see the use of Captain Tom in some kind of campaign to show how it’s all our duty to fund the NHS.
Nothing would shock me anymore

joystir59 · 03/02/2021 19:10

We already do fund the NHS through NI and taxation

squishedblueberry · 03/02/2021 19:19

I mean in a much larger capacity - that funding isn’t enough, clearly.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/02/2021 19:20

No chance, I am a cleaner. All we do is moan

Grin Grin

In other news, the media have picture's of Tom's family joining in the clapping
I really, really hope they did that voluntarily, and weren't harrassed by doorstepping journalists on the hunt for an image to suit

icecreamgirl94 · 03/02/2021 19:21

@Impatiens his family were shown clapping on the news this evening. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I also heard they were against it, but they did join in in the end.

Frodont · 03/02/2021 19:22

It isn't up to you to decide it is time to move on. You move on all you like and leave those of us who like to show our respect to war veterans to do what we want. Remembrance Day isn't just about The Great War and WWII. It is also about more recent wars such as in The Falklands and Afghanistan

You go ahead. I don't wish to romanticise war. I think our absurd obsession with the world wars has led to this country's awful Little Englander mentality.

Impatiens · 03/02/2021 19:23

Yes, I'm only repeating what I had heard and was apparently posted on the family FB page. Like @Puzzledandpissedoff I really hope they didn't feel railroaded into doing that because Johnson had gone ahead with it anyway and they didn't feel they could refuse. Sad

redsquirrelfan · 03/02/2021 19:25

@Frodont

It isn't up to you to decide it is time to move on. You move on all you like and leave those of us who like to show our respect to war veterans to do what we want. Remembrance Day isn't just about The Great War and WWII. It is also about more recent wars such as in The Falklands and Afghanistan

You go ahead. I don't wish to romanticise war. I think our absurd obsession with the world wars has led to this country's awful Little Englander mentality.

I agree with both these viewpoints!

I don't think Remembrance Sunday does romanticise war. But I wish we'd stop having 2 minutes' silence on the 11th AND the nearest Sunday. One or the other, please.

Suzi888 · 03/02/2021 19:26

@CaptainSirTomMooreismyhero

There was clapping for Captain Sir Tom Moore tonight in my street and in the two adjacent streets.
Good, he achieved more in his final year of life than most posters on mn that’s for sure. Smile
redsquirrelfan · 03/02/2021 19:27

@OliveTree75

There was a few in my street, clapping extra loud to make sure we all heard!
Probably videoed themselves clapping to put it in social media, too. Seen a couple of people do that during the first lockdown. Twonks.
Frodont · 03/02/2021 19:29

I don't think Remembrance Sunday does romanticise war. But I wish we'd stop having 2 minutes' silence on the 11th AND the nearest Sunday. One or the other, please

Yes. Happy for Remembrance Sunday to be a thing. No more poppies, no more black soldier silhouettes, no more huge plastic poppies on lampposts.

Quaagars · 03/02/2021 19:30

@Impatiens

Apparently Tom's family specifically requested not to have his passing marked in this way, but seem to have been ignored by Johnson

So why is the Mail's leading story "Clap For Captain Tom" and Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the national round of applause at 6pm from Downing Street, with the veteran's family also taking part.

Images showed his emotional daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore leaning on her son Benjie as they marked the applause alongside her daughter Georgia and husband Colin Ingram outside Captain Tom's home in Marston Moretaine near Milton Keynes

Then a couple of pictures of them doing so?
Just shows you can't believe everything you read on social media here by randomers, so you don't need to angry face any more.

HattyHat · 03/02/2021 19:30

@CaptainSirTomMooreismyhero

There was clapping for Captain Sir Tom Moore tonight in my street and in the two adjacent streets.
The wonderful power of peer pressure street what's app groups.
SomeoneInTheLaaaaaounge · 03/02/2021 19:32

Clapping, it’s a no from me, and clearly my neighbours too. Not a peep round here.

Quaagars · 03/02/2021 19:32

Aaaand in the time it took to post that, I notice that already insinuating they must have been forced into it, like that's the only explanation.
It really is a little ray of sunshine on here lately, isn't it?! Grin
The collective pessimism, competitive moaning, it must be exhausting

christmasathomeagain · 03/02/2021 19:35

Just saw one of my friends post on Facebook how disappointed she was there was only two of them on her street clapping for him tonight. I had heard nothing about it till her post then just saw this.

Personally, Sir Tom seemed a lovely bloke and had a fantastic last year of his life and did an awful lot. However, he was 100! Nobody can say his life was cut short or its sad etc. He had a great long life.

When we clapped for the NHS we know they would have seen it and I'm sure appreciated it. Is Sir Tom? No, unlikely so what is the point?

derxa · 03/02/2021 19:35

Got to feel people have gone hard too early on this. If you are in tears about Captain Tom, then what the fuck happens when David Attenborough pops his clogs?
I'm not a fan of DA so not much I hope.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/02/2021 19:36

Apparently Tom's family specifically requested not to have his passing marked in this way, but seem to have been ignored by Johnson

So why is the Mail's leading story "Clap For Captain Tom" and Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the national round of applause at 6pm from Downing Street, with the veteran's family also taking part

The reason for Boris doing it is obvious - he's a politician and there's nothing they won't co-opt for a photo opportunity

With the family, in light of what they said, it's less clear. Maybe they changed their minds, or maybe as said they were doorstepped by a pack of braying journalists and gave in