8th November 2017 Vienna, Austria
Several Austrian friends have asked me recently why I am wearing a small, red flower – a poppy – on my jacket lapel. It’s because the United Kingdom together with other Commonwealth nations will commemorate Remembrance Day on November 11th, the day in 1918 which marked the end of hostilities in the First World War. […]
12th November 2014 Paris, France
I had the great good fortune to participate in two very different ceremonies to commemorate this 11th of November a hundred years after the start of the First World War.
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25th June 2012
Nestling amidst the verdant farmlands of northern Tasmania, I saw British companies engaged in fascinating high tech businesses linked to agriculture. Around half the world’s legitimate opiates are produced in Tasmania, half of them by UK pharma giant GSK. They process poppies grown by some 400 farms around the island, which go on to become […]
9th November 2011
Once again, as November begins and temperatures dip towards freezing in Kyiv, Ukrainian friends and contacts are asking why I am wearing a small, red flower on my jacket lapel. I can do no better than refer to the blog I published this time last year, “Why I wear a poppy“. As in previous years […]