http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24552194

Hopefully it won‘t be the celebration David cameron is reported to have wanted last week.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24440923

Mark it, respect it, remember it: yes. Turn it into an excuse for flag waving and street parties: absolutely not.

So that'll be a procession of tax dodgers in limousines led by a carriage full of Bullingdon club members being dragged along by four people ATOS have passed fit for work, who get replaced as they die? Followed by a band of zero hours contract workers playing "Things Can Only Get better"?

It could culminate in 2018 a celebration

He said he wanted it to have a thing in common with the Jubilee, not to be identical to it. He specified the thing he wanted them to hold in common, which was not flags or street parties.

I know you hate the man, but you shouldn't allow your disdain to lead you into blatant misrepresentation. His desire is vacuous enough that you can show contempt for the idea itself without any need to lie about what it is.

I can see people celebrating the end of WW2 as it marked the end of a major evil.
WW1 on the other hand was a complete waste of time that many people just aren't interested in.

I'm from the Somme and WW1 has always been around me day to day.
I think the ceremonies will be good. It's important to remember so that you don't have 250,000 names war memorials anymore.

True but it set up the all the key drivers that culminated in WW2. It was the onerous payments that destabilised Germany that allowed the far right to rise to power. In some ways the same onerous payments imposed on the Greeks has also allowed the far right there to gain popularity. It seems we have learned nothing.

Just to add - I didn’t put words into his mouth. I did point out that it should not be some jolly knees-up of an affair. I believe I was careful enough to make that clear. My concerns reflect those of Paxman and others:


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One of my personal hopes is that the BBC Re-runs Wings - a story of an RFC pilot during WWI. It seems slowly paced compared to modern dramas, but holds its own pretty well after all these years. It was on DVD for a while - you can find it on YouTube if you are feeling naughty. I’d recommend a viewing.

Did you get that from a Ladybird book?

The rise of Nazism isn't explicable in a single sentence, nor is it reducible to a single factor. Comparison between war reparations and sovereign debt is dubious at best, and the implicit comparison between the humiliation of a mighty nation defeated in a brutal war and anything involving Greece is absurd.

You are just indulging yet another of your risible catastrophe fantasies.

Where did you get the bit about street parties from?

Those who forget the lesson of the past etc. I'm all for celebrating the end of war or indeed the centenary of doing so. I think any ceremony around the anniversary of the opening of war has got to be very carefully handled indeed.

I don't know about 'good', I'm hoping for 'tasteful'.

The phrase “Diamond Jubilee Celebrations”. I did not say that David Cameron wanted street parties. What I said was “Mark it, respect it, remember it: yes. Turn it into an excuse for flag waving and street parties: absolutely not.” This was not intended to put words into Cameron’s mouth. Did I do that? I think not. It was my opinion, which reflects those from Paxman and others who are urging caution and a more sombre approach.

That's a bit mealy mouthed isn't it? You had the quote from Cameron, it says "he wanted to see a "commemoration that, like the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, says something about who we are as a people"."

If I say a horse and a zebra are a lot alike, I am not saying that horses have stripes. Likewise Cameron obviously wasn't saying that the war should be memorialized as a jubilee celebration. Paxman, and thoughtful musician Brian Eno might be idiots who can't spot that distinction, but I expect better from you.