When I saw the right-wing media using the remembrance Sunday service to once again, try to discredit Jeremy Corbyn, I wondered whether it could be a turning point in the minds of the British public.

Yet again we saw the poppy fascists leap all over Corbyn, supposedly because of an alleged half-hearted bow. This, despite the fact that when the cameras had all gone home and other MP’s had dispersed to a VIP lunch, he was spotted applauding and chatting with war veterans.

Why do MP’s go to a VIP lunch anyway? Is this supposed to be a service to remember those who perished in an unimaginably brutal way…or is it a jolly up?

The media poppy fascists have ruined Remembrance Sunday for me because they have made it a campaign where if someone doesn’t wear a poppy or chooses to wear a white poppy, they are deserving of a spiteful witch-hunt and public shaming.

That’s not a democracy and as a consequence, I still donate to the RBL but I don’t wear a poppy. I am not getting dictated to by those who have no knowledge of war or if they do, they exercise a media policy that in a world of deceit, to tell the truth about war, is an act of treason.

Once again, a footballer (James McLean) faced racial abuse in the media and on the terraces because he refused to have a poppy embroidered on his West Bromwich Albion shirt in the game against Manchester United.

If anyone brought up in the 70’s and 80’s had any inclination to read and learn about the issues in Londonderry (especially Bloody Sunday) during that period, they may begin to understand why McClean, a Catholic, cannot associate himself with glorifying the Poppy.

No-one, should have to justify not wearing a poppy, just like non-poppy wearers have no justification of asking someone why they wear one (though the temptation is there sometimes). It is a matter of choice, as the RBL continually state on their website. The RBL are probably aware that forcing people to wear something brings back memories of fascism.

However, that is what certain sections of the media have tried to do but maybe, we are now seeing a change, as amongst the illiterate rants about Corbyn and his poor bowing technique, there are an increasing number of people supporting the guy (even Tories) understanding that this is a media witch-hunt where a day when we were supposed to be remembering those massacred, has been used as a platform to spread hatred.

That’s about as low as it gets.

Why did they fall? Sections of the media think it was for a platform to destroy Corbyn

I don’t know how we got in to such a state where we, as a nation, have been brainwashed into thinking war is peace and that anyone trying dialogue instead of bombs should be deemed a traitor, but if you were to ask the guys stuck in rat-infested trenches 100 years ago, the majority of them would ask us to snap out of it.

As well as celebrating the achievements of British troops, Remembrance Sunday should also be used as a timely reminder of the brutality endured by soldiers of all nationalities and a desperately young age as well as the tactical errors and needless other wars since 1945 that have cost so many lives and could have been avoided.

It should also be used as a time to reflect on those women who lost fathers and husbands in WWI and as a result were sent into a life of servitude at “The Big House” before dying miserably in poverty; for them there was no glory in war, just a fading photograph of a loved one on the mantelpiece.

The citizens of Britain should then be allowed to make a personal choice about wearing a poppy without being demonised and being made to feel like a 1930’s Jew without a yellow star if they choose not to.

Freedom of choice would at least then allow the dead the respect they deserve, rather than being used to destroy a politician who doesn’t cosy up to certain tax avoiding sections of the media with historical fascist links and a dubious loyalty to prosperity and peace in Britain.

Lest we forget.