Yesterday on Whitehall the memorial service for war dead took place. It is held each year at the Cenotaph on the nearest Sunday to 11th November, the date in 1918 when the First World War ended.
Why at the Cenotaph? It’s because of what a cenotaph is – an empty tomb that honours those whose remains are buried elsewhere or were never recovered.
Those dead are buried in cemeteries from Belgium to Rangoon. And some aren’t buried anywhere – blown up, vaporised, nothing left.
The service was held in the morning but I went in the afternoon, walking from Westminster Tube Station, along Whitehall, the road that leads from Parliament to Trafalgar Square. I stopped at the Cenotaph and took some pictures. A public address system with a loudspeaker hung from cables on one of the buildings told people they could make their way to the Cenotaph if they wished. It kept giving out the message, which was slightly surreal given that people were already there and didn’t need a recorded message to tell them they could do so.
Then a line of people walked up carrying big Union Jack flags and one by one came forward to add a wreath to those at the Cenotaph.
I wondered about the recent and continuing controversy over people hanging Union Jack flags on their properties or on lampposts or public buildings and being seen by Councils and the police as provocative anti-immigration Far Right supporters. At the same time they are seen by others as middle-of-the-road normal people showing pride in an England that in their eyes is disappearing.
This is especially sensitive given the protest marches by pro-Palestinian supporters holding and waving Palestine flags, who are not stopped or complained about.
Commenters have said that the two-tier policing is a reflection of reluctance to anger immigrant communities because of their voluble reaction, as evidenced from past occasions.
And then as I walked towards Trafalgar Square, I saw a small group holding Union Jacks and one man holding a pieced-together Ukrainian and British flag.
I remember being in the States before and after 9/11 and the huge number of flags that were everywhere – in front gardens, on shop fronts – everywhere.
Pubs
Before today I never really thought about the pubs on Whitehall. The very fact they are there, in the heart of London on a street filled with Government and Crown buildings, says a lot about Britain. There are four pubs directly on Whitehall – seven if you count those just a few feet down side streets leading off Whitehall.
I noticed them today because of the ex-soldiers with their medals, standing and talking outside the pubs.
And how well I saw the man standing on his own amidst the people standing there outside The Red Lion.
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