Leading article: Lest we forget

The British do like to get themselves in a lather about dress - whether it is veils or wearing a poppy for Remembrance Sunday. Jon Snow may have been a little perverse in removing his poppy when hosting Channel 4 News, but he is right to say that wearing one (of any hue) should be a matter of personal choice. Regardless of such minor spats, the red poppy, emblem of the British Legion, is both a reminder and a recognition of the sacrifices and suffering of war.

As new generations begin to learn of the horrors of the First World War and the true scale of death in the Second, it is as well to recall that war is not ultimately about weaponry or even heroism. It is the science of killing and the cause of untold misery among combatants and civilians alike. If more people remembered that, whether they wear poppies or not, we would have fewer Iraqs and the world would be a better place.