A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans’ associations, which exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to give financial and practical support to members and veterans of the armed forces. Inspired by the war poem “In Flanders Fields” and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first used near the end of World War I to commemorate British Empire and United States military casualties of the war. Anna Guérin established the first “Poppy Days” to raise funds for veterans, widows, orphans and liberty bonds, as well as charities such as the Red Cross.
I consider myself a huge F1 fan, I’m used to the UK presenters wearing their poppies.
But yeah as an American, yep I totally needed it pointed out / explained…
Thank you.
does F1 not have US presenters?
Not as far as I know.
I’ve just always watched the UK feeds BBC / Sky. The Chain will always be tied to F1 for me
The additional missing context is that in recent years the poppy has been co-opted by right wing flag-shaggers to the point where people not visibly wearing a poppy become a target for abuse. For anyone in the public eye it’s become literally mandatory if they don’t want to risk their job.
What was supposed to be a way to honour the war dead has been turned into a gross nationalist purity test.
That’s generally calmed down in recent years.
Worth pointing out that wearing the poppy doesn’t make you right wing at all, it’s just you get daily mail readers online fuming about someone forgetting to bring their poppy to work
I don’t think it has. There has been outrage in certain area of the press with David Lammy not wearing one recently, as well as various guests on news shows, and sports people.
David Lammy definitely should be wearing one as Deputy Prime Minister. But your average bloke on the street doesn’t necessarily have to. News guests - it would depend who they are.
If anyone asks where your poppy is, just say its on your uniform.
And then make a donation to a worthy charity.
