Liege Today

[scooping]

Commemoration of start of WW1 one long advert for the EU. Dreadfully political.

[naomi24]

I don't know why these commemorations are taking place at all. I can understand commemorating the end of war, but not the outbreak of war.

[scooping]

naomi24: Quite agree.

[jno]

the EU was set up to stop wars in free Europe. It's worked well, and that seems like something worth boasting about. European wars were commonplace for centuries and suddenly they're not.

[naomi24]

^Surely even more reason to celebrate peace rather than the commencement of horrendous conflict.

[Gromit]

Naomi, I agree.

It has always struck me as odd that we make more of a fuss about the birth of Christ, when his death was more significant.

[youngmafbog]

Why compare a fairy story with fact?

The EU is the Germans taking over by stealth rather than war.

[anotheoldgit]

It may have been the beginning but it certainly saw the end to an age that we can (for better or worse) never get back.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2715336/Duke-Duchess-Cambridge-meet-king-queen-Belgium-arrive-WWI-centenary-service.html

/// 'We salute those who died to give us our freedom': ///

How ironic is that headline?

[ludwig]

I'm not sure about this notion that without the EU we'd inevitably have to have a war. I'm sure that's what the EU would want us to believe.

The Scottish no campaign should perhaps have gone for the 'The UK has successfully prevented war between Scotland and England for x 100 yrs - vote no unless you want another one' angle.

[jno]

commemoration isn't celebration

[naomi24]

Indeed it isn't - and on this anniversary no reason for either.

[Zeuhl]

/The EU is the Germans taking over by stealth rather than war/

Not so much stealth as economic strength

but then that has been the issue since 1870

the question is which sort of contest we prefer; economic or something that involves high explosives and hundreds of thousands of deaths