Remembrance and the BBC...

[deptfordmarmoset]

Was she not? I thought I saw a clip of her going into the church there, or was that old footage? I only have it on as my parents are staying and they are watching it.

She'll be killing deer and stuff elsewhere then.

Oi, leave the deer out of this for now. I meant that she wasn't killing deer and stuff today. She was in church. Well, not all day obviously. She probably had a healthy breakfast too. But she kept out of the high profile stuff and I don't believe that was because she was on holiday. Not that I'd begrudge her a holiday at her age.

 

[Ern1e]

War what is it good for absolutly nothing ! so we should remember all the poor souls who gave everything in all wars and other conflicts so that we may live in peace should that ever happen.

 

[Mattonsea]

The letters recently aired between the Kaiser and the king show they did not care for the carnage ,and viewed the war as a chivalrous pursuit. The rewriting of the true futility of the war
by the BBC and the right wing press in the last months rubbishing the pointlessness of the conflict just shows the stupidity of the ruling classes of this country. It was hell, no great adventure and just a muddy shitty mess .

 

[Vapin' Joe]

The in your face hand wringing by the media robs the occasion of any dignity. They're Dianafying the whole thing and putting many people off taking any interest at all.

 

[laurence]

Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark is a very good read on the events of the summer of 1914. it is horribly frustrating though, you can see the sense fading from the continent as the politicians and leaders decide they can't be seen to back down and that it is better to go to war than try and avoid it (which was very easy). no one comes out of the book with any honour, although the Kaiser did seem to be the only one who had any idea of the carnage unleashed.

meanwhile, a ceasefire in Gaza and Russia and Ukraine still sabre rattling. nothing learned.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Just wait until 2039/45, they might be allowed to actually w*nk on the news by then!!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

SERIOUSLY THOUGH, I have been studiously avoiding all the programmes about it, but I did end up seeing one about the pipers who played in the battles.

They recreated what the soldiers would have heard at the Somme using recordings of all the different weapons being used in a typical pattern, all supper imposed over the noise of explosions, the whistles, the cracks, the pings, the noise of bullets hitting metal and flesh, the men shouting and screaming and all the rest..... And then they added bagpipe music, which was totally drowned out except for the occasional note or two being heard, which just seemed to illustrate how utterly crass the entire thing was!

I know it was artificial, but all I can say is that the recording was utterly harrowing, I mean, it was truly awful and not something I want to hear again in a hurry.

They showed them playing it to families of the pipers, and you could see their reactions, everyone looked utterly horrified at it, and quite honestly, I now have a much better understanding as to why people suffered from shell shock, it really was quite offensive!

I now don't need to watch anything else, I just think of how it all would have sounded never mind how it all must have looked and that is enough for me!

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Camilla seems to have been promoted to Royal-in-Chief of turning lights off

 

[MikeG]

Why pick out the BBC? It's everywhere. ITV are doing just as corny a coverage as the Beeb, with journalists asking journalists what the mood is like, in the way they do when there is nothing much to talk about.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Why pick out the BBC? It's everywhere. ITV are doing just as corny a coverage as the Beeb, with journalists asking journalists what the mood is like, in the way they do when there is nothing much to talk about.

'Cos its the Beeb, they always do these things, its their Forte!!

 

[growingvegetables]

The wall-to-wall element - ach, that's what the off-button is for. But I have been enjoying some of the radio 4 stuff - there's a lot I just didn't understand about the actual history of it, and SOME of the programming is superb. But then .... I am a dweeble for history. Real history. Where I actually learn something new, not just have my varied prejudices reinforced

 

[slowmotion]

I'm not a big fan of TV pomp and ceremony, but I suppose it tries to add some kind of gravitas to various events. Sometimes it does it well, sometimes not so well. Never mind. WW1 was a long time ago, or was it?
My father in law never got to see his father. He was just a foetus at the time. His father and uncle were both in the army in India and sailed for France in 1914. They went from the ship to the Western Front. In December 1914, they were both killed on the same day, miles apart on different parts of the line. The letters written by his young widow seem hopelessly jingoistic when read today but they are heart-breaking. They were just young men doing what they believed to be right and honourable, that's all. The people who sent them there probably thought so too. Cynicism was in shorter supply back then.

 

[swee'pea99]

I would be interested to know how other countries in Europe are marking the occasion. Less, would be my guess.

The wall to wall coverage seems to me all of a piece with this country's resolute determination to constantly hark back to, almost to inhabit, some supposedly - I was going to say 'wonderful', but I suspect the more appropriate word is significant - past. Ever looking back, to when 'we' (whatever that means) supposedly 'mattered'...

 

[growingvegetables]

Something I started last year found I didn't really want to finish was mapping the 'Thankful Villages'.
There's not enough of them. (link)

And none in Scotland or Ireland! No - it's not just your map; it's here too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thankful_Villages

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I had seriously been considering going to Germany today.... Yesterday.

I bet that would have been interesting to say the least!!