73 thoughts on “Meanwhile, In The Dáil

      1. Clampers Outside!

        I have three blood relatives who fought in WWI. 2 uncles and a hand uncle of my Dad. All from Donegal. Fair play to them.

        And fair play to those who will honor and remember the 9m soldiers (and 7m civilians) who died in it, lest we forget.

          1. bertie blenkinsop

            It wasn’t intended as a sleight Clampers, I just meant you can be a tad eh…. dogged.
            No disrespect to your ancestors intended.
            Love always x

          2. Nigel

            Well how do you do do
            Young Clampers and Nige
            Do you mind if I comment
            Down by your feud-side
            And chat for a while
            About Broadsheet’s content
            I’ve been workin’ all day
            I need a LJG vid laugh at
            I see by the time stamps
            You been at it since one
            Would you give it a rest
            You spoil everyone’s fun

            Did you beat the horse deadly
            Did you shake your head sadly
            At the wrongness of the other
            That must be dispelled?
            DID YOU TYPE ALL IN CAPS FOR EMPHASIS?
            Did you each call the other a ra-a-a-cist?

          3. Naoml

            Fabulous Nigel, yourself and Clampers are most entertaining when you go at it, nice to see you both so good humoured about it

          1. Spaghetti Hoop

            Correct in that it honours the British retired forces, but it does aid civilians – the widows and families of British troops killed in current conflicts as well as previous ones. A very respected charity over yonder, but the Irish should distance themselves from the poppy if it is neutral. Plus the French, Germans, Dutch and Belgians do not poppy-up at Armistice time. There is a Remembrance Day every July for Irish troops killed in wars; WW1 and WW2 included with the Civil and Independence Wars. That should be given more credence and reflection by the Irish Government.

  1. Eamonn Clancy

    The greatest trick the English ever played in Ireland was to convince young Irishmen it was better to kill young German Soldiers for Irish freedom and not British. Suckers.

  2. Nigel

    I can understand British people having reservations about the poppy since it seems to have become a reflexive symbol of unthinking patriotic nationalistic grandstanding, which is a pity, but you can’t really accuse an Irish poppy-wearer of that, can you?

      1. Nigel

        You mean the people who attack and criticise people for not wearing the poppy in public? That’s being going on for a while. No idea who they are. I know there were people who ciriticsed the idea of the poppy from the left but I never particularly agreed with them, and I don’t think they ever went after anyone for wearing it the way some now go after people for not wearing it. Unfortunately they have validated those old criticisms.

      2. bad@memes

        I sniggered at ;far-left Nigel’.
        Sorry.

        No reflection on our Nigel. It’s just…

        …it doesn’t matter.
        Sorry.

  3. bad@memes

    Leo likes badges.
    He doesn’t only wear them like a 17yr old in the late 70s, he has one for anyone who’s not in his audience.

  4. bad@memes

    This is a perfect example of Social Media swimming up it’s own oriface.
    – Getting so indignated that they feel they MUST post a comment to fix things.

    Meanwhile, back in the ‘real’ World…

      1. bad@memes

        The rules keep changing.
        We (I) have them on the defence fence.

        I’m drunk and I approve this message..

  5. H

    For a long time after I moved to London I didn’t wear a poppy because I saw it as a Loyalist emblem and that didn’t sit well with my world view at the time. I started wearing one about 20 years ago and that did not impress my Irish friends but I persevered because I want to remember those who fought in the two world wars and I am proud to count a number of relatives among them. Those who think Ireland would have benefited from a different outcome are sadly misguided.
    I also wear a poppy and give to the appeal to support the living veterans of all wars and conflicts who, until recently, got very little support from the British government.

    1. paddy apathy

      If and when the British prosecute war well let them fund the poor maimed and broken soldiers that return. It’s they’re own doing.

  6. Charger Salmons

    As a Brit living in Ireland I’m glad that Varadkar chose to recognise the sacrifices of tens of thousands of Irish soldiers who died fighting alongside soldiers from all over the world in defeating the Nazis.
    Equally I support that young scamp James McClean’s stance in not wearing the poppy on his match jersey.
    The whole point of the servicemen who died fighting for the Allies in the 2nd World War was to give people like McClean the freedom to choose whether to wear the poppy of not.

    1. BobbyJ

      But the Remembrance Sunday poppy stems from WW1, nowt to do with fighting Nazis.

      Empire fighting Empire with the working class used as cannon-fodder. Barbaric.

  7. bad@memes

    The Poppy has become a gateway badge to Nationalism, which in turn is a gateway to Racism and other mind-altering idealogies.
    It’s symbolism is distorted, misused and out-dated.

    #Dropthepoppy

  8. realPolithicks

    It’s hardly surprising from this mug, he pledges allegiance to the queen first thing every morning.

    1. Sheik Yahbouti

      I was brought up in England until the age of ten, and I think the poppy thing is now seriously overdone. The poppies used to be sold in the week before Remembrance Sunday, were proudly worn on that day – and that was it. Now there’s about six months of nonsense over poppy wearing – and bigger and bigger poppies. Clever morkeshing to sell more and stoke up nationalism.

      1. realPolithicks

        I couldn’t agree more, I grew up in Ireland in the 70’s and watched a lot of british tv. I recall that the poppy would be worn on the couple of days before the remembrance day and that was it. Now they seem to be required to wear the poppy for the entire month of November, and woe betide if you don’t. I live in the US and NBCSports broadcasts the premier league games each weekend. The hosts on this show who are mostly english have been wearing poppies for the past two weeks. This is on a show that is only seen here in the US. It’s madness.

  9. Kolmo

    Unfortunate cannonfodder, from all the colonies, mindlessly flung at the machine guns of another (related) empire with the temerity to try and emulate what the British did for centuries all over the world – no amount of wrapping the long dead with contemporaious jingoistic nonsense will make their deaths glorious. Nothing glorious about it. WW1 was a crime against all. We are a seperate nation now (mostly), most of us are proud of the stand that was made against those who saw our antecedents as nothing more than sub-human apes, kept as illiterate backward, sometimes useful cretins at the edge of existence. Wear a British legion poppy all you like, look at the shiny brass and elaborate flags – but don’t pretend they gave a damn about those they fooled into protecting their huge empire.

      1. Sheik Yahbouti

        kolmo, I take all of your points – but little has changed and there’s the rub. Trump dodged service because of “heel spurs’, the children of the poor went in his stead. The only change is that my great grandpa and great uncles went out of misguided patriotism, now the young Americans go for scholarships and University fees. The result doesn’t change – the children of the poor fighting the battles FOR the rich.

    1. The Dude

      +1.

      My great grandfather was an Englishman who fought in WW1. It should not have ever occurred, and was a slaughter of innocents on all sides because of government failures. The poppy today is used as a recruiting tool for an army that continues to be responsible for much bloodshed of innocent civilians, ie Iraq, etc. What military intervention by the UK over the last 17 years has been legitimate? And yet it continues.

      No to poppies, no to cannon fodder.

  10. OiOi

    Where can poppies be picked up – been meaning to buy one for myself and my mothers uncle but haven’t seen them being sold

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      There’s a wagon selling them outside the Dáil with ‘B A N D’ written on the side of it. Joke.
      There is a branch of the British Legion in Ireland who distribute poppies for Armistice Day: http://counties.britishlegion.org.uk/counties/ireland
      If you are British, I can fully understand you wearing the poppy….if you are Irish, I kindly ask you think again.
      Still, all those young lads (15+) killed in Europe deserve huge respect, the poor wee pawns.

    2. Rugbyfan

      Likewise, I would like to buy one. Watched a programme on the Somme last night. Was a focus on Irish soldiers. Least we can do is remember them.

  11. Djin Genie

    Commemoration is warranted but a speech in the Dáil or the laying of a wreath would have been appropriate. The proceeds from this pin do not just go towards maintaining WW1 graveyards and memorials: they fund the Irish branch of the British Royal Legion in providing support to veterans and those in active service with the British military. This proceeds from this pin support Irish people who chose to fight for the British Army in its latter wars, such as in the Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is wholly unacceptable for the leader of a neutral country to wear an emblem that supports involvement in those military actions.

    Sad to see people so blasé about this profound disrespect for our neutrality.

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