Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day also brings us back to identity; it is the day on which we think about our past, our debts to the past and how we can take those debts and make them of real value to the future. 

My concern is that as the last few soldiers that had any contact with Great War die out, the memories, rehearsed on Remembrance Day, as it is now practiced, on the 11^th day of the 11^th month as was struck after 1918, will fade and people will not take on the debts of the past and not take them on into the future. 

I believe the Government should get a grip in this area, and say that it is such an important day, that we ought to have a public holiday, when most of our business stops.  This will renegotiate the celebration of those past victories, and of the huge sacrifices made. 

This will involve a total change on the traditional Remembrance Day service.  It will be a day’s activity, built up through schools, clubs and voluntary associations. There is bound to be resistance in the first instance, but I believe, in time, as we become aware just what a dangerous world we live in, this will be one of those campaigns that will result in reform.