“Five million men fought in the British armed forces in the first world war. Today about 160 are still alive, the youngest of them 101.” Stephen Moss interviews three of the survivors. A wonderful reminder of what the war to end all wars (since we’re in the midst of a war to end all terrorism) was like.
Incidentally, I suspect that quite a few US viewers may have wondered why UK prime minister Tony Blair had an odd red paper flower in his lapel when he met president Bush on Wednesday. Like a significant percentage of people in the UK, he was wearing a poppy for Remembrarnce Day, which is always on the 11th of November. The Armistice for the first world war was signed at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month.
The poppy has briefly become an issue this week, because BBC World, the international television channel of the BBC, apparently bans its presenters from wearing the poppy, in the belief (I’m sure accurate) that global audiences will not know what it means and may misinterpret the symbol.
Nate Lewis, a chemist from CalTech who has been in Davos for the last two years, reckons “not all with white badges will be created equal in New York”. He’s right that the New York culture is antithetical to that kind of egalitarianism, but I’m reasonably confident that the Forum itself will fight the good fight in this regard.