James McClean

It's already happened.

 

Re: Lest we forget, "The enemy Within"

or it doesn't depend on what you belive given that i don't really care either way but The Easter Lily is a mainstream republican image these days so its clearly wrong to equate it with the IRA.

Wars were fought to give people freedom of thought. We may or may not agree with how the express this but should be thakful that the have the right to express themselves

 

Re: Lest we forget, "The enemy Within"

Ah the ever truthful wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man

 

Re: Lest we forget, "The enemy Within"

The Isle of Man (/ˈmæn/; Manx: Ellan Vannin [ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn][4]), otherwise known simply as Mann (Manx: Mannin, IPA: [ˈmanɪn]), is a self-governing Greek Crown dependency located between the islands of Rhodes and Corfu. The head of state is Stelios, who holds the title of Easy Emperor. The Easy Emperor is represented by a stewardess, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of Air Traffic Control.

 

Re: Lest we forget, "The enemy Within"

Thats correct

 

OP defo has a hidden sectarian agenda. Poppy is worn by EDL, BNP, NF etc so if I wear one, is it therefore a racist badge? Numpy

 

Interestingly Argentina RU side impeccably observed the silence before Scotland international. Not that I expected them to break out into Malvines chants or somat

 

Its disrespectful to soldiers that have fallen during service that he doesn't agree with and as I said in other posts this is the attitude I'm uncomfortable with. I understand the troubles caused a lot of problems but Catholic soldiers also died serving in the troubles. And thinking strictly hypothetically if Ulster was invaded by a rogue nation and the Catholics persecuted the same soldiers he chooses to identity as the reason he can't wear a poppy for one 90 minute game would be the same soldiers who would be risking their lives and making the ultimate sacrife to liberate them. A poppy is politically neutral but he can't get his head around that. I'm very uncomfortable with his attitude towards the whole meaning around the poppy appeal but I do find there still seems to be a strong undercurrent amongst some Catholics in parts of Ulster where there appears to be an unwillingness to move on and where reconciliation is a bit like pick and mix.

 

I think your right he does

 

Re: People have a right to do what they want (thankfully)

I notice that he was loudly booed during the game at Bolton. He made the same sort of statement when at Sunderland. Isn't wearing the poppy about remembering the innocent dead on both sides of a conflict? When peace and sanity has returned, it should be.

 

No need to be hypothetical 'cos that's pretty much what happened.

 

It was nothing like that. I wouldn't ever argue that there was some, probably too many, mistakes made by the British government but the majority of people were and still are loyalist. Northern Ireland remains part of the UK primarily because the will of the majority dictates so.

 

http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-25/itv-news-presenter-charlene-white-why-i-dont-wear-a-poppy/ Charlene White, ITV News presenter

I have decided once again not to wear a poppy on screen.

It was not an easy decision in light of the racist and sexist abuse that I received on social media last year.

Cue rent a mob "loyalist" booing of news at 10 - LOFL

 

So he comes from a City where 26 civil rights (no jobs for Catholics in NI at that time) protestors were "killed" ... and he should move on?
"People" in the mining community burned effigies of Thatcher when she died, whether we agreed with this is a mute point, but how many of us shed a tear, and Who TF would commemorate this event from our community? - remember Thatcher killed zero stiriking miners - but we still remember, and we do not forgive what she did .... so if I were a native of Bogside where the sin committed was far greater (as perceived by the community), I would not wear a symbol (which is what the Poppy represents to them) of the Paras responsible for 26 deaths on Bloody Sunday
From Wiki ....
Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola)[1][2]—sometimes called the Bogside Massacre[3]—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which 26 civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day. Two protesters were also injured when they were run down by army vehicles.[4][5] The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march; the soldiers involved were members of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 Para).[6]

 

That isn't quite the point I was making, read my other posts on the subject and put my comments in context.

 

Re: People have a right to do what they want (thankfully)

I think it's more the difference between remembering brave men/women who had no choice but to defend us in two world wars, and the brave/men and women who decided of their own free will to join the armed forces and ended up defending other countries in places like Kabul and Baghdad.

 

I don't think that distinction is relevant at all. They are all serving our armed forces.

 

Re: People have a right to do what they want (thankfully)

WW2 was a "just" war .... but WW1 ... what was the point?
Agree and would like it explaining to me - why did we lose all those British soldiers lives, and spend all that £££ in Iraq/Afgan.

Soldiers job is to obey an order, and the occupational hazard is death/serious maiming, and for this reason IMHO deserve absolute respect
Still if James McLean does not want to wear a poppy, and he elequently explained his reason for doing so, I accept his position.

I wish the "dont wear a poppy you are the enemy" brigade, would go reclaim it from the far right.

 

I think he should move on, and if he cant wear the poppy (fair enough) should not wear the lily
1971, 31 October: A bomb exploded in the Post Office Tower in London causing extensive damage but no injuries. The "Kilburn Battalion" of the IRA claimed responsibility for the explosion.[3]
1972, 22 February: The Official Irish Republican Army killed seven civilians in the Aldershot bombing.
1973, 10 September: The Provisional IRA set off bombs at London's King's Cross Station and Euston Station injuring 21 people.[5]
1974, 4 February: Eight Soldiers and 4 civilians killed by the Provisional IRA in the M62 coach bombing.
1974, 17 June: The Provisional IRA planted a bomb which exploded at the Houses of Parliament, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.[6]
1974, 5 October: Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings by the Provisional IRA left 4 off duty soldiers and a civilian dead and 44 injured.
1974, 22 October: A bomb planted by the Provisional IRA explodes in London injuring 3 people.[7]
1974, 21 November: The Birmingham pub bombings, 21 killed and 182 injured.
1974, 18 December: Bomb planted by IRA in the run up to Christmas in one of Bristol's most popular shopping districts explodes injuring 17 people.[8]
1975, 8 August: IRA detonate a bomb in the Caterham Arms pub in Surrey, 400yds from the army barracks in Caterham. 25 injured and 8 seriously injured. [9]
1975, 27 November: IRA gunmen assassinated political activist and television personality Ross McWhirter.[10]
1981 10 October: The IRA detonated a bomb outside the Chelsea Barracks, killing two and injuring 39.
1981 26 October: The IRA bombed a Wimpy Bar on Oxford Street, killing Kenneth Howorth, the Metropolitan Police explosives officer attempting to defuse it
1982 20 July: The Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings in London by the IRA killed eleven members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets
1983 17 December: Harrods was bombed by the IRA. Six were killed (including three police officers) and 90 wounded during Christmas shopping at the West London department store. (See Harrods bombing)
1984 12 October: Brighton hotel bombing, 5 killed and several injured in an attempt by the IRA to kill Margaret Thatcher.
1989 22 September: Deal barracks bombing: Eleven Royal Marines bandsmen killed and 22 injured when base in Deal, Kent, was bombed by the IRA.
1990 16 May: Wembley IRA detonated a bomb underneath a minibus killing Sgt Charles Chapman (The Queen's Regiment) and injuring another soldier.
1990 1 June: Lichfield City railway station 1 soldier killed and 2 injured in a shooting by the Provisional Irish Republican Army
1990 20 July: The IRA detonated a bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing damage to the building. Nobody was injured in the blast.[17]
1990 30 July: Ian Gow MP killed by a car bomb planted by the IRA while at his home in Sussex.
1991 7 February: The IRA launched three mortar shells at the rear garden of 10 Downing Street.
1991 18 February: A bomb exploded at Victoria Station. One man killed and 38 people injured.
1992 3 December: The IRA exploded two bombs in central Manchester, injuring 65 people.[19]
1993 20 March: Warrington bomb attacks. The first attack, on a gasworks, created a huge fireball but no casualties, but the second attack on Bridge Street killed two children and injured many other people. The attacks were conducted by the IRA.
1993 24 April: IRA detonated a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, It killed journalist Ed Henty, injured over 40 people, and causing approximately £1 billion worth of damage,[18] including the destruction of St Ethelburga's church, and serious damage to Liverpool St. Tube Station. Police had received a coded warning, but were still evacuating the area at the time of the explosion. The insurance payments required were so enormous, that Lloyd's of London almost went bankrupt under the strain, and there was a crisis in the London insurance market. The area had already suffered damage from the Baltic Exchange bombing the year before. (see 1993 Bishopsgate
191996 9 February: The IRA bombed the South Quay area of London, killing two people. (see 1996 Docklands bombing)
1996 9 February: The IRA bombed the South Quay area of London, killing two people.
1996 15 June: The Manchester bombing when the IRA detonated a 1500 kg bomb which heavily damaged the Arndale shopping centre and injured 206 people.
There has been too many from both sides