Tackle the arms trade for sake of world peace

From: Liam McParland, William Street, Crosland Moor, Huddersfield.

THIS week’s Remembrance services gave us all the opportunity to reflect on what this occasion means to us personally. There is always a debate about whether poppies should be worn.

This is a matter of individual choice and people will have their own reasons for wearing or not wearing a poppy.

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It is a sad occasion that reminds us of man’s folly and how disastrous war is as a way of settling human affairs.

The late Harry Patch described war as organised slaughter and no war typifies this more than the First World War.

While the majority of 
ordinary people no doubt 
think of relatives lost in older or more contemporary conflicts 
or generally remember the 
fallen there are those who use 
the occasion to glorify/justify 
war for their own political 
ends.

The only people who glorify war are those who have never fought and are never likely to.

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I am not a pacifist. My grandfather fought in the First World War and was taken prisoner by the Germans. My late father served during the Second World War. However, they both strongly believed, as I do, that war/conflict should be the last resort and only then when we are directly under threat.

We will never achieve peace when we are constantly preparing for war.

If politicians and the powers that be are serious about world peace, they should do more to tackle the arms trade. Our own country makes a killing out of this shadowy trade.

Otherwise come Remembrance Sunday next year, and in future years, how many more mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters will be mourning the loss of their loved ones?

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