It's that time of year again. In the run up to Remembrance Day, the white poppy sometimes comes under attack from military figures, some politicians and certain sections of the media. This week a comment piece in The Telegraph accused white poppy wearers of being 'morally bankrupt' and 'hijacking' remembrance - among other inaccuracies. Below you can read the letters we sent to The Telegraph in response.

Before taking this kind of coverage at face value, we urge anyone interested to learn more about the white poppy to read our FAQs page.

Dear Editor,

Re Comment on White Poppies - 3rd November 2025

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon accuses the white poppy of being 'morally bankrupt', hijacking Remembrance Day, insulting armed forces personnel - all, sadly, inaccurate.

The white poppy was created over ninety years ago by women who had lost loved ones in the First World War, and adopted by Canon Dick Sheppard who founded the Peace Pledge Union. Ever since then it has stood for remembrance of all victims of war, of all nationalities, as well as an active commitment to peace.

Rather than insulting members of the armed forces killed in conflict, we want to remember them, as well as civilians, refugees and so many others who are usually forgotten. We believe that the way to properly respect their loss is to recognise the full human cost of war.

Like so many others, I had family killed in the World Wars. My uncle was killed at the Somme and his younger brother lost his legs in the same battle. Does Hamish de Bretton-Gordon not think that I respect them?

Those who wear the white poppies think of the horrific impact of war, which is mainly borne by civilians, and we mourn its victims. This is why we hold on to the central message of Remembrance Day: 'Never Again'. We are not naive about the world. In light of the grave perils facing humanity, we see the need to run the world other than through military might.

On Sunday I will, with a local councillor, be laying a wreath of white poppies at my civic war memorial.

Yours sincerely,
Colin Kerr
Council Member of the Peace Pledge Union

Dear Editor,

Re Comment on White Poppies - 3rd November 2025

Refusing to sink to the level of militarist tyrants like Putin, and refusing to torture, dismember and kill our fellow human beings in the illogical belief that might must be right, is certainly not "appeasement" as alleged by Hamish de Bretton-Gordon in his article yesterday on the Telegraph's website. Rather, it shows a realisation that violence has a long record of failing to solve problems and that a completely different approach is required.

He is also libellously wrong to suggest that pacifists do not equally call for other countries to disarm. The PPU (the main British pacifist organisation, of which I am a member) works with its fellow sections of the War Resisters' International worldwide to oppose and resist all warfare without exception. PPU members and other "western" pacifists were arrested in Eastern Bloc capitals (including Moscow) during the Cold War; pacifists around the world (including PPU members) are frequently imprisoned - and sometimes worse - because of their assertion of the right to refuse to kill.

The PPU currently works to support fellow pacifists in both Russia and Ukraine, in both Israel and Palestine. In every conflict there are voices of hope and sanity to be found calling for a better way forward; those of us who are pacifists know better than to believe that peace and justice can ever be built on mounds of corpses.

Albert Beale
Council Member of the Peace Pledge Union