Poppy chatter is a distraction from remembrance of the living

Whatever one’s stance on poppy-wearing, let us also not forget the ex-servicemen who survive – but only just

Once a year, the footballing fraternity is excused its position as grossly paid, sexually incontinent, firework-toting harbinger of our nation’s systemic breakdown and redeployed as the people’s – and, if one is being accurate, the Daily Mail’s – ethical barometer. This November, the seemingly annual row over Remembrance poppies on the football pitch has escalated due to England’s friendly against Spain on Saturday and Fifa’s ban of political symbols on national shirts. The association has finally conceded the England team may wear black armbands embroidered with the symbol following a number of high-level interventions, including a letter from Prince William.

To deny that the poppy exists in a political context, as well as a historical and cultural one, is to exhibit quite baffling levels of wilful ignorance. It’s also insulting to the armed services themselves, given how eager politicians of various stripes are to co-opt them to their particular agendas. Nevertheless, David Cameron decried Fifa’s initial prohibition as “appalling” at prime minister’s questions, while Ed Miliband, condemned by opposition to speak his truth via social networking sites, tweeted his outrage. Though how he managed to focus on anything beyond the ginormous red splodge attached to his Twitter avatar remains a mystery.

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