Fake Poppies and the 

English Defence League

EDL poppy badge

Oh Dear! I was never intending this blog to get political. OK, I may take a pop at the local council from time to time, that's what they are here for after all. But I am going to make an exception for the English Defence League. (EDL).

In the couple of weeks leading up to Remembrance Day you will generally find me out and about with my tray of poppies and other knick-knacks raising money for the Royal British Legion (RBL). This year however, I have found a number of people sporting metal poppy badges with various slogans on them. It seems that others have jumped onto the bandwagon, deciding this is a good little earner and are producing their own fake variety.

Fake poppy badge

As far as I can see the English Defence League are one of the main offenders with a number of products for sale including metal badges, t-shirts and other stuff. I am not aware of them passing the profits form the sale of these items on to the Royal British Legion, if this is not the case, perhaps they will enlighten me.

All the profit from the badges I was selling goes towards RBL projects.

Genuine RBL poppy badge

Ebay is also full of sellers offering such treats along with others carrying slogans which I do not intend to display here. I have spoken to many of those wearing fake badges who genuinely believed that the money they paid was going to the RBL and were surprised to discover that the sellers were either keeping the money for themselves or passing it on to what can sometimes be extremist political groups. I can understand why some people would be attracted to buying these, the messages are highly emotive and they might think they are making a valid protest but they should also consider where their donation is going to finish up.

I have always argued that fanatics on opposite sides of any debate, be it political, religious or other, often have more in common with each other that either of them have with 'normal people'. At least, the swivel eyed Islamist nut jobs buy genuine poppy wreaths to burn, thereby donating their money to a good cause. This is more than can be said for organisations like the  EDL who con people into believing their donation will somehow help our armed forces but keep the money themselves.

Many of the sellers on Ebay are genuine and selling products for local groups with the money going where it should but you should be very careful before buying and take the time to check the credentials of those selling. The best way to avoid being mislead is to only buy RBL products from their own website here.

Joined up Government

While we are on the subject of politics, I have just read an article on the BBC News Website about how HMRC are going to be targeting employers who use internships as a way of paying employees below the minimum wage or even nothing at all.

The best way for employers to get around the tiresome bother of having to pay staff wages is to sign up for the DWP Mandatory Work Activity Scheme. The local Jobcentre will then send them people who will have to work up to 30 hours a week and the employer doesn't have to pay them anything at all. The DWP tries to claim that most of these jobs are working in some sort of community project. It also says that  'However the work can also include activity that generates a profit for the employer, as long as there is a clear community benefit'. Stacking shelves in Poundland is of course one of those activities.

The Grassy Knoll

We are coming up to the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy which occurred on the 22nd of November 1963.

I can remember exactly when I heard about it so, as I am told, can everyone of my generation. I was 14 years old and waiting for friends to come knocking and we would all head off to our school for what was called 'Radio Class'.

John F Kennedy 1917 - 1963

This was an evening class where we were taught the basics of radio and electronic construction. Lots of excitement as they arrived with the story that Kennedy had been shot. Later in the evening we heard the news of his death on an old wireless we had been reconstructing. 

I suppose my first feeling was one of disbelief. It was perhaps my first real introduction to the grown-up world where I realised that I could be affected by world events. Only a year earlier, the Cuban missile crisis had largely passed me by.

Over the years, the conspiracy theorists have had a field day where it has been claimed that he was killed by the CIA, the Mafia, Trade Unionists, the Russians, the Cubans, Drug Gangs and the Flying Saucer People. It has even been suggested that he was shot by a lunatic lone gunman with a mail order rifle but that idea is too ridiculous for words.

Exterminate! Exterminate!

Proper Daleks, not multi-coloured ones

Which leads me on the next 50th anniversary - Doctor Who. Now I can remember exactly where I was when this first came on the TV.

I was sitting on the floor of our living room with my little brother; we were sitting in front of the fire on a rug that we had made ourselves from a mesh frame and little balls of wool cut to size. I can't remember the programme that preceded it but I remember the announcer saying, "and now, Doctor Who. 

'What could this be about?' we both thought, then that amazing music and the electronic images started. Of course nowadays, something like this would have been trailered to death for weeks before being broadcast but in those days nothing like that happened. It has always seemed really strange to me because I can clearly remember the Kennedy assassination and the first episode of Doctor Who which was just 2 days later but I have never been able to associate the two. Funny how the mind works. 

Monday morning at school and the world was divided between those who had seen it and those who hadn't. Those who had couldn't stop talking about it and it seemed this was repeated all over the country as the BBC repeated the first episode again the following week, such was the demand. No 'On Demand' or video recorders in those days; if you missed it, you missed it. Since then there have been science fiction films with warp drives, death rays, transporters and deadly aliens but no-one, absolutely no-one has ever had a box that was bigger on the inside than the outside and the first time I saw it, I was totally gobsmacked. 

Carol Ann Ford & William Hartnell
Susan Foreman & The Doctor

William Hartnell was my Doctor Who and was easily the best. Sinister and genuinely alien. I have never been very comfortable with the Messianic style of the latest ones. I prefer the original Daleks, too, proper scary; these multi-coloured ones look like they just fell out of a Christmas Cracker. And whatever happened to Susan? It would be nice to see how she fared after she was left on Earth.

Another Political Statement

For all of those poppy burning bigots and their equally fanatical opponents, here is another chance for you to show your hatred of Britain.

Forget poppy burning, now is your opportunity to show your utter contempt for Britain with this offering from Sainsbury's. 

Take the Union Jack, our National flag and the principal symbol of our country, then throw it on the floor where you and your friends can show your contempt by wiping your feet on it. To be fair, you can also buy the same thing from Tesco, where it will 'clean the dirt off the soles of your shoes' and Debenham's who apparently think it will 'add a touch of charm to your room' Invading armies the world over use captured enemy flags in this way so why not do the same with ours? Perhaps they will bring out a toilet roll as well. Actually, one with a picture of Lord Sainsbury's face on it would be good.

p.s. yes I know that it can also be called the 'Union Flag' but either can be used or none at all, just calling it the 'British Flag'. See here if you don't believe me.

I'm not going to have much time to update this blog for the next couple of weeks as this is the time of year I go out and sell poppies for the Royal British Legion. You will find me most days standing in my usual patch, outside the Tesco Express in Picardy Street, Lower Belvedere; or, if the weather is bad, sheltering under their entrance. It's not to protect me, the poppies are made of paper, if they get wet, they tend to shrivel up - come to think of it, so do I but it's the poppies I'm thinking about.

This isn't a part of the world I usually visit, so it's interesting to see how it has changed from this time last year. I was keen to find out how much the new ASDA down the road has affected business for the other shops. To be honest, I couldn't really tell; there did seem to be plenty of people still shopping locally and everyone was a generous as ever if the weight of my collection tin is anything to go by. Most of the shops are still there, the cafe is still open, there is a chemist and a dry cleaners which has been there since the time of Moses.

Someone is confident enough to start a new business  here as well as there is a new DIY store which opened yesterday (Saturday). They seem to sell all those things you cannot get anywhere else - think Wilkinson's before they decided to become a regular supermarket or Robert Dyas without the expensive price tags. Hope they do well.

One shop I was surprised to see has closed is Davis of Belvedere, the electrical goods store. I imagine its demise is more to do with competition from the internet rather than any local supermarket. I am informed that it will be opening soon as a charity shop for the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice; it will be one big shop if they use it all. They seem to have outlets all over the place so perhaps they will merge some of them into this one.

This is interesting, the unlimited free parking places along the shops parade in Picardy Street have been turned into a 1 hour time limit. Now I know that Bexley Council's parking policies are controversial at best and apparently in some cases downright illegal but in this case, I think they may have got it right. Now that all the parking spaces are not taken up by commuters using Belvedere Station, it means that local shoppers no longer have to risk parking on yellow lines while they do their shopping and that must be great help for the local businesses. Amazingly though, some drivers still park on the yellow line outside Tesco Express rather on the unrestricted kerb opposite in order to save the extra ten foot walk.

I couldn't possibly end this blog without a reference to at least one bird. This is a Little Egret in case you didn't already know and they come and fish regularly down by the Crossness Outfall. If this had turned up just a few years ago, every twitcher in the country would be clamouring for a view but now they are a common sight. Here is one in the air