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ME on BBC news this morning

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
@deleder2k Thank you so much for posting the interview! And I never knew what Dr. Shepherd looked like before and can now put a face to his posts on PR.

I am totally confused what the red pin means. I had thought it was an apple until I read this thread and someone said it was a poppy and relates to fascism:bang-head:?! Poppies are my state flower but they are a golden/yellow color. Does it relate to ME/CFS since Jen was wearing it? It was not part of the film "Unrest" (unless I totally missed it)!
 

NelliePledge

Senior Member
Messages
807
@Gingergrrl in the run up to Armistice Day November 11th or Remembrance Sunday as we have in the UK on the Sunday closest to 11 November the Royal British Legion which is the armed forces veterans organisation sell poppies in return for donations. Which is then used to support veterans and their families. The poppy is the symbol of the fallen of world war 1 due to the poppies that flowered on the churned up battle fields. The remembrance ceremony with the march past of the last WW1 veterans used to be obligatory viewing in my childhood and now of course practically all of the WW2 veterans have died also. So the event is less directly tied to its original purpose.

There are people who don't agree with the way some in politics and the media nowadays push the expectation that everyone will wear a poppy to demonstrate more in a broader show of patriotism and support for current UK Foreces. Some feel the focus should be entirely on remembrance of the loss of life of the many many individuals in the wars.

There are also different groups in society who don't support some of the specific military actions taken at various times by UK governments as well as people who are against military action for moral reasons.

Anyone in the public eye who doesn't conform to wearing a poppy can quickly be picked up for it by the press as unpatriotic. BBC are always being accused of left wing bias so tend to be quite concerned to not being open to criticism as unpatriotic.

That's my take on it hope that helps.
 

Mel9

Senior Member
Messages
995
Location
NSW Australia
@Gingergrrl in the run up to Armistice Day November 11th or Remembrance Sunday as we have in the UK on the Sunday closest to 11 November the Royal British Legion which is the armed forces veterans organisation sell poppies in return for donations. Which is then used to support veterans and their families. The poppy is the symbol of the fallen of world war 1 due to the poppies that flowered on the churned up battle fields. The remembrance ceremony with the march past of the last WW1 veterans used to be obligatory viewing in my childhood and now of course practically all of the WW2 veterans have died also. So the event is less directly tied to its original purpose.

There are people who don't agree with the way some in politics and the media nowadays push the expectation that everyone will wear a poppy to demonstrate more in a broader show of patriotism and support for current UK Foreces. Some feel the focus should be entirely on remembrance of the loss of life of the many many individuals in the wars.

There are also different groups in society who don't support some of the specific military actions taken at various times by UK governments as well as people who are against military action for moral reasons.

Anyone in the public eye who doesn't conform to wearing a poppy can quickly be picked up for it by the press as unpatriotic. BBC are always being accused of left wing bias so tend to be quite concerned to not being open to criticism as unpatriotic.

That's my take on it hope that helps.



It is a reminder of the poppy fields of Flanders and the so many soldiers who died there and in other European battle grounds.

I always think of the oh so sad scene in 'Oh oh oh what a lovely war'. Well done to Jen and Charles. You were marvellous.
 

Yogi

Senior Member
Messages
1,132
BBC World Service is brilliant. 150 million listeners. That's not bad.

Here is the interview which aired on BBC this morning. It is accessible for those outside The United Kingdom, i.e everyone:


Thanks for doing that.:thumbsup:

It is a good video on BBC to show people and use on social media as some people only trust and start to believe the issue if they see it on mainstream national TV like BBC

It has been removed and not everyone had seen it.


Unrest have tweeted it out. Job well done.

 

Yogi

Senior Member
Messages
1,132
@deleder2k
I am totally confused what the red pin means. I had thought it was an apple until I read this thread and someone said it was a poppy and relates to fascism:bang-head:?! Poppies are my state flower but they are a golden/yellow color. Does it relate to ME/CFS since Jen was wearing it? It was not part of the film "Unrest" (unless I totally missed it)!

LOL!! :rofl:

Nothing to do with fascism. :p

The perils of going off topic!

That a sarcastic term coined by a news reporter John Snow who felt there was a pressure to comply with wearing the poppy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_poppy
 

charles shepherd

Senior Member
Messages
2,239
I actually started downloading the video but stopped for a few reasons:
1. The interview was so short that it was bordering on taking the piss
2. You generally can't put bbc stuff up on youtube - they have algorithms to recognize their copyright. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't.
3. Its that time of the year again where everyone going on the bbc has to wear a poppy, or else. I refuse to bow to poppy fascism. They should have been wearing some kind of symbol for ME awareness. WTF has ME got to do with poppies???? (I don't blame the participants, I blame the BBC, it being the state-propaganda arm of this country).
4. All of the above mean not worth saving IMHO.

Re time allowed:

The two co-presenters were genuinely interested in the film (one had watched the entire film the night before and had been quite moved by the content) and as it was the last item we spoke about it once the credits had rolled. I also accepted a kind invite from Naga to have a lift to the station in her BBC car. You don't normally get more than 5 minutes on one of these BBC news programme slots and a deliberate decision was made to put this on towards the end of the programme - when viewing figures were at their highest. 'Taking the piss' is a very silly and inaccurate interpretation of what happened.


Re You Tube:

Lots of people are obviously looking at the YT clip. We have placed it on the MEA website. I suppose we wait and see if the BBC somehow take it down. But it is there if anyone wants to view it.


Re Poppies:

There was no pressure on us whatsoever to wear a poppy

As we left the Green Room one of the production team said that if anyone wanted to wear a poppy they could do so and there was a box of poppies to buy and take one

It was stressed that it was purely our decision

I always wear a poppy at this time of year (a small brooch type display) but still stuck one of the bigger ones on as well

So if you look closely I had two poppies on!

CS
 

Solstice

Senior Member
Messages
641
You don't normally get more than 5 minutes on one of these BBC news programme slots and a deliberate decision was made to put this on towards the end of the programme - when viewing figures were at their highest. 'Taking the piss' is a very silly and inaccurate interpretation of what happened.

CS

The first thing I thought when I saw you were at the end of the show is "this is gonna stick with people the longest" mainly because it was at the end. One of the first things I learned in giving presentations is you stick the most important information at the beginning and at the end.
 

mermaid

Senior Member
Messages
714
Location
UK
My 95 years old mother was so excited for me that this item came on (the breakfast show one) that she rang me up straight after to tell me about it. Her memory and hearing are bad but she was so pleased for me and said that this was the first time she had ever seen it mentioned on TV. By chance someone else messaged me about it too, and I had just looked it up on Iplayer.