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Poppy Ban in West Midlands

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Poppy Ban in West Midlands

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Old 26th Oct 2004, 14:19
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Poppy Ban in West Midlands

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...ds/3953729.stm


Somehow they can cope in the Royal Albert Hall.....'health and safety' rules again


SBG
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Old 26th Oct 2004, 14:43
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So the problem isn't the poppies, it the workers up in the rafters dropping them? Theatres have been dropping things from the flyers for years - surely designing something to release the poppies without having anyone up there can't be that difficult!
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Old 26th Oct 2004, 15:17
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You're not taking this seriously enough. You can get a nasty paper cut from a poppy. Sharp little buggers those poppies. And what about safety glasses for the audience in case one of them catches them in the eye on the way down!
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Old 26th Oct 2004, 21:58
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Quote from article ...

The issue arose after fire inspectors said they were unhappy with the way in which the poppies were distributed from the roof space of the town hall.
Fire inspectors???? - I think they're just having a poke at the armed services for doing thier jobs while they were on strike
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Old 27th Oct 2004, 10:09
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In HMFC it would have been so easy... get the Security inspectors in - you could always rely on them to come up with the opposite recommendation to the firemen! As I recall, the Fire Jobsworths would come round annually, telling us how all these entrances etc needed to be easily openable and not lockable; the following week, the Security Jobsworths would come round telling us that everything had to be as locked as a locked thing in locked land... how I loved that trivia!
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Old 28th Oct 2004, 19:17
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Just heard on the news that the poppies can be dropped...

...as long as there is a fire tender sat in the carpark!!!

Hmmm, why not get the fire crews more involved - as they say it's too dangerous to be in the rafters - why not let them go up and drop the poppies
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Old 29th Oct 2004, 16:48
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Just to dampen all this a wee bit. The reason the fire inspectors were concerned (according to reports on the local tv) is, that to release the poppies the 'releasers' have to crawl into a small roof space between the exterior and interior wall/roof/ceiling. The fire inspectors feel that in the unlikely event of a fire there would be very little chance of escape for those individuals.

However, when did the dropping of poppies in the Royal Albert Hall manner become a necessity rather than just a nice touch?
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Old 30th Oct 2004, 01:53
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Quite. It is a bit of a non-story. If the thread title had been, "Council Workers Die in Poppy Drop Inferno", I suspect most of the posts on here (after the predictable, "Very sad, but what has this got to do with military aviation?") would have gone something like,"Why the hell were they allowed to go up there in the first place? Has H&S bypassed the Brummies?" .
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Old 30th Oct 2004, 18:55
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Allow me to get of the fence here, but isn't the West Midlands an area which has a high population of non-British, non ex military personnel? What if we asked for one of their festivals or acts of rememberance to be cancelled because of the same concerns? Political correctness disguised as safety concerns I think. Surprised the Albert Hall had not gone up in flames yet.........
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Old 30th Oct 2004, 20:37
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Stupid boy, I take it that the fence you are getting off is erected on some far flung planet. The Service of Remembrance is not being cancelled, in fact I believe the poppy drop is not being cancelled, it is just being carried out in a different manner. This is nothing to do with political correctness, thus your point, like your post, is irrelevant!
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Old 30th Oct 2004, 21:37
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Handy, I think SB had a sort of relevant point actually. As much as we hate to agree that sometimes our history is being eroded due to a new 'openness' of multi cultural ideas. I.e. not being racist!! (That word, I know).
A catchall to incriminate anyone who doesn’t agree to allow their own values and background to be flushed down the drain at the expense of a vote winning ideal.

When will Britain stop being embarrassed or ashamed of its rich history? A history, BTW that has encouraged half the planet to drag its bottom out of the dark ages and allow it too, to have a voice.

I’m off to raise the Union Flag outside Eagle towers and by God, be proud of it!!
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Old 30th Oct 2004, 22:01
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Health and Safety has been hijacked (worldwide, not just in Britain) as the new vehicle by which anal-retentive control freaks impose their twisted obsessions on the rest of us. Time was, they resided mostly within various religious organisations, local Government, political parties of a certain persuasion, and a number of pressure groups wanting peace, veganism, and cetacean rights. Now they have a mania expression forum with statutory authority!

Why not just hang the poppies in a net, if it's too dangerous to go up in the roof space?
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Old 30th Oct 2004, 23:42
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Health and safety has been hijacked by curmudgeons, trying to make mischief out of best practice. (Introducing racial arguments into a subject where they are completely irrelevant is even more telling.) If you care to read the thread properly, it appears the drop is going ahead.

I for one am glad we're a bit more aversed to taking unecessary risks with people's lives and health than we once were . Perhaps those who scoff at H&S would rather we returned to 'the good old days' of widespread industrial diseases and accidents.
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Old 31st Oct 2004, 00:40
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The trouble is the crying wolf syndrome - health and safety gets trivialised by all the over zealous nonsense, then when there are real safety issues they get ignored.........
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Old 31st Oct 2004, 00:41
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Handysnaks, I did not say that our festival or our poppy drop had been cancelled. Thank you for the patronising reply anyway
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Old 31st Oct 2004, 14:34
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Why is it assumed that the Day of Rememberance is for British people Stupid Boy? Surely it is to remember all who have fell in conflict? Did this country in WW2 not have support from non-white and non- british combatants?? or are they excluded ? Does a persons religion make their efforts and lives worth any less??
I fail to see where your coming from
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Old 1st Nov 2004, 06:46
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Wearing of Poppies - at school

Last year my 5 year old lad went off to school wearing a poppy. It was removed by a teacher 'on safety grounds' because of sharp pin (it was a small safety pin!). I spoke with the teacher and I conceded that the safety pin could have been a dangerous weapon in my son's hands. However, it transpired that the teacher had a hazy idea about the origins and purpose of the symbol, and express disquiet about 'rasing money for old men to sit in smoky clubs drinking cheap beer', and although the teacher accepted that these 'old men' were returned serviceman, that was the limit of understanding. I passed the teacher some material from Combat Stress, which outlines more contemporary cases. The teacher was appreciative of this and had 'forgotten' that UK plc had sent large numbers of troops to the Balkans in the 1990s, which inter alia had generated a need for support for troops and their families.

I suppose that the purpose of my ravings is to highlight the lack of understanding of the place of the armed services in the community. There is a lacuna of understanding and some deep prejudices about those who serve; the mawkish behaviour of those surrounding Ken Bigley's family is declamatory of this - what about the 60-odd British troops who have died in Iraq in service of the Crown, rather than an ad eundum statum gentleman of questionable virtue in pursuit of money?
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Old 1st Nov 2004, 20:02
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Stupid boy
Allow me to get of the fence here, but isn't the West Midlands an area which has a high population of non-British, non ex military personnel?
That is correct, you did not say that Remembrance Day had been cancelled. However you did write

What if we asked for one of their festivals or acts of rememberance to be cancelled because of the same concerns?
So I think it was fair to point out that the Service had not been cancelled (only changed). I am assuming that you would intend a like for like approach to cancelling /changing festivals of various cultural groups throughout the Isles.

And thanks, I was in a particularly pompous mood and tried to be as patronising as possible, glad you picked up on it That was because you suggested the issue was about race ('their festivals') when it was nothing to do with it. By all means have a go at health and safety legislation but don't stir up a race issue where none exists
(Eagle 270, same for you, how have you managed to read a race or cultural issue in all this?)

My original point still remains though. Why is it at all an issue if we drop poppies or not? Surely the main aim is to get as many people as possible to think about the sacrifices made, not to ensure that there is a great stage show


Handy
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Old 1st Nov 2004, 20:26
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Handy, having read the BBC article without the benefit of Stella running through my veins I can see that my post was, how shall I put it, less than objective! I'll get me coat.......
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Old 1st Nov 2004, 20:35
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SB, No Probs. I like to play the pompous to$$er every now and then
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