My father was proud to fight in the war, have we forgotten the values he fought for?

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I will be thinking of him on Sunday and wondering why his values no longer matter to so many people in politics (PA)

Looking at all the various articles about the march at the weekend, and the poisonous confected outrage and attempt to whip up hatred and division by the likes of Suella Braverman and the pro-Tory media ecosystem, I can’t help but think of my dad, who died 10 years ago. He was a pilot in the RAF from 1939 through to 1945, the first six years of his twenties.

He was also a Catholic, although he believed more in generic Christian values like compassion, tolerance and treating everyone as a fellow human being, regardless of who they were. He felt this was what the war was ultimately all about, and what he had proudly fought for. He also hated the pomp and ceremony around Remembrance Sunday, as he felt it had been hijacked by politicians for their own glorification, politicians who would send young men to war to suit their purpose, but treat them with neglect and contempt in peacetime.

When we discussed the intractable problem of Israel and Palestine, it was to understand the complexity of the issue, and deplore the extremists on both sides. I know, because I knew him, that he would think the march should go ahead, not because he would necessarily have chosen to go on it, but because freedom of speech is what he fought for.