'Remembrance Sunday...a balm to our troubled soul'

AFTER all the political turmoil of recent days, the heart-rending solemnity and dignity of the Remembrance Sunday ceremony came as balm to the nation's troubled soul.

- Leo McKinstry

In place of bitter strife, a reverential sense of unity pervaded Whitehall yesterday.

Rather than resonating with ugly political chants and anti-Semitic slogans, the walls of the great public buildings around the Cenotaph echoed to the beautiful liturgy and haunting music of this sacred tradition.

Remembrance Sunday is always a special milestone in the national calendar, reminding us of the huge debt we owe to those who made the supreme sacrifice on our behalf.

But this year the event had an even greater emotive power than usual, precisely because political protestors had besmirched the commemorations for Armistice Day on Saturday.

The far right had done so with their reprehensible attempt to storm the Cenotaph, and the antiIsraeli mob by insisting on marching through the capital for the fifth Saturday in a row in an exercise that smacked of virtue-signalling arrogance, given that their demonstration on the streets of London would change nothing in the Middle East.

Thankfully, current self-importance gave way to the legacy of self-sacrifice in Whitehall, as the megaphone and social justice warriors were replaced centre stage by those who had truly been warriors in defence of freedom.