Monday was a swathe of emotion. Watching the VE Day commemorations, I was struck by the faces of those who fought and sacrificed – so many of them who, 80 years ago were bound by courage and a moral clarity that feels almost alien today. They gave up futures, families, and memories so others could live in freedom.
And then my thoughts turned – unavoidably – to today’s protest culture.
To the masked marchers condemning Israel, many of them the same age as those who stormed beaches and liberated camps, yet driven not by courage, but by ideological posturing. They scoff at Churchill, branding him a villain, while showing sympathy for regimes whose ideology more closely mirrors Hitler’s.
These self-declared activists claim the moral high ground but stand on quicksand. They speak of oppression while defending terrorists who would persecute or kill anyone who isn’t like them. They parade their cause, but it’s hollow – they serve nothing but themselves. To imagine them walking in the shoes of those who fought fascism? They aren’t even fit to clean those shoes.
The veterans we heard today spoke not of division but of unity – “We were united irrespective of background or belief,” said Ruth Klauber, now 101 who in the war served as a flight mechanic. That unity was forged in horror and heroism. Today, the freedoms those soldiers died for are taken for granted – even weaponised against the very values they secured. VE Day is a reminder of a hideous war, yes – but also a loss of national memory. A loss of unity. And a sobering question: who would fight now, if they had to?
