THE GREEK GODS (14 Jan 10)

Thursday 14th Jan 2010
York House, Stony Stratford [location]
18.15 for 18.30

Agenda

1  Reflections on Recent News
Have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?

2  Good Riddance…
What would you like to say 'good riddance' to from the year just gone, and perhaps from the Noughties as a whole? Bring it along for a public shredding!

[On Dec 29th hundreds of people flocked to Time Square in New York to destroy publicly mementos and papers representing unpleasant experiences bad memories from 2009. Items included everything from photos of ex-lovers to redundancy letters and newspaper articles chronicling the failings of beloved sports teams. For items that could not be shredded the Time Square Alliance (who organised the ‘Good Riddance Day’ event for the 3rd year running) provided a sledge hammer and a large waste-container. ]

3  Minutes
Agree minutes of the last Meeting (12th November 09)

4  The Greek Gods (contribution from Members)
The Greeks were polytheistic and worshipped (and made sacrifices to) hundreds of gods. The most famous of them included Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Gaia and Hades. Members have been asked to research one particular god. At the meeting they will be championing their god in an imaginary battle / competition to be crowned the supreme god. No prizes, just a well-deserved round of applause! We will no doubt also reflect on what influence the Greek’s Gods and the various Myths that surround them have had on us today.

5  Charitable Work

6  The Programme for 2010

7  End Slot
Something awesome...

6  AOB

WOMEN IN RELIGION (11 Feb 10)

Agenda

1   Reflections on Recent News

Have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?

2   Minutes

Agree minutes of the last Meeting (11th January 2010)

3   Humanism in Africa (Mike Flood)

Short report back on recent discussions in Ghana with two African Humanists, and some of the issues and challenges that they face operating in a country where 95% of the population are devout practicing Christians, and faith provides hope for many who live in poverty ― and protection against juju and bad spells.

4   Women in Religion (Andrea Quayle)

All of the major world religions deprecate women to some degree. In this session we will dig a little deeper into this, and delve into some of the texts which relate specifically to women and religion from a female perspective. Andrea will be quoting extensively from a new book entitled: 'Does God Hate Women?' by Ophelia Benson & Jeremy Stangroom (Continuum 2009). The following provide a flavour of what will be on the menu: “It's a contingent fact but it is a fact that the God we have in the Big Three monotheisms is a God who originated in a period when male superiority was absolutely taken for granted. This God could have changed as human ideas about male superiority and female inferiority changed ― and to some extent and in some sects, this God has changed ― but on the whole, and especially in the more conservative religions, it hasn't."

5   Outreach

Report back on the recent BHA Reception, and discussions with neighbouring Humanist groups about regional meetings, and preparations for Humanist Week in June.

6   The Programme for 2010

Our Programme is almost decided. We still need volunteers to take responsibility for three of the sessions and head up the discussion. Could you do it?

7   AOB

We need to collect Membership fees for 2010, so please come prepared. This does not of course apply to guests, who are always welcome!

Location: York House, London Road, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes
Time: 18.15 for 18.30
 

CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENT – a new Religion? (11 Mar 10)

Agenda

Reflections on Recent News

Have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?<

2 Minutes

Agree minutes of the last Meeting (11th February 2010)

3 Climate Change & the Environment: a new Religion?

Some have argued that the fervour of the ‘climate-change crowd’ is a new kind of religiosity, and modern environmentalism a sort of substitute religion with a highly paid priesthood. Is this justified? The great environmentalist Rene Dubos has written: “Our salvation depends on our ability to create a religion of nature." What do you think?

4 Outreach

At our January meeting we discussed whether MHK should get involved in charitable work. We decided to return to the issue at our March meeting and to temporarily remove reference to our doing charitable works from our website. We will have the discussion in the context of report backs from two recent meetings: a meeting held in Central MK at the Wetherspoon Pub (23 Feb) that explored what kind of local campaigning we might like to start; and a Regional Humanist Meeting at Bedford (7 Mar) attended by eight Humanist groups and Andrew Copson (Chief Exec. BHA).

AOB

Location: York House, London Road, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

Time: 18.15 for 18.30

MORAL BEHAVIOUR (8 April 10)

Thursday 8th April 2010

Agenda

1  Reflections on Recent News

Have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?

2  Minutes

Agree minutes of the last Meeting (11th March 2010)

3  What Role the State in Promoting Moral Behaviour?

Should Government try to control activities such as gambling, prostitution and pornography, or prevent people of sound mind from committing suicide when they are suffering from a debilitating terminal illness or simply no longer want to live? And should the State intervene to protect us from ourselves by clamping down on potentially dangerous activities ― smoking, drinking when pregnant, sexual promiscuity, drug taking, obesity in children, etc. Such behaviour costs society dear. And what about moral relativism ― the view that what is right for one individual or one society may not be right for another. Such relativism can lead to an inability to subscribe to any moral values, or to claims that for example, slavery and the persecution of witches were right at the time.

4  Humanist Book Club

We are looking to set up a Humanist Book Club and publish reviews on our website. It would be good to discuss the issue. I'd like to start with some comments on sex taken from a fascinating recent book by Michael Brooks entitled: "13 Things that Don't Make Sense", Profile Books (2009). Apparently there are far better ways to procreate, but sexual reproduction predominates in most life forms and not asexual reproduction...and no one knows why...

5  Outreach & Campaigning

Over the last few months there have been several initiatives to explore how we might promote ourselves more effectively and increase our membership. We have also discussed initiating some modest charitable activities in the community, possibly starting with some school presentations on Humanism. The forthcoming General Election gives us an opportunity to question the candidates (and get some publicity) and we are signed up to several initiatives in the summer to promote Humanism. It would be good to discuss these at the meeting and see how we can take things forward.

6  AOB

Location York House, London Road, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

Time 18.15 for 18.30

GENERAL ELECTION - Questions for Candidates (May 10)

There are very many questions that we would like to ask local candidates in the forthcoming General Election. However, we will restrict ourselves to just three:

• Do you support the expansion or elimination of faith schools?
• Do you agree with legislation to permit assisted dying?
• Should religions by right have representatives in the House of Lords?

We propose to contact all of the candidates and will publish the results on this page when we have them. This way Humanists and other non-religious people can take Candidates' responses into account when they vote.

Candidates so far confirmed for the 2010 General Election

Please Note: Candidates in brown are ones who have replied. Thank you! Their answers are listed below. 

Electoral Wards

The electoral wards used to create Milton Keynes North are: Bradwell, Campbell Park, Hanslope Park, Linford North, Linford South, Middleton, Newport Pagnell North, Newport Pagnell South, Olney, Sherington, Stantonbury, Wolverton.

The electoral wards used to create Milton Keynes South are: Bletchley and Fenny Stratford, Danesborough, Denbigh, Eaton Manor, Emerson Valley, Furzton, Loughton Park, Stony Stratford, Walton Park, Whaddon and Woughton.

Responses from Candidates

We have started receiving responses to our questions. They are listed in the order in which they were received:

Q1: Do you support the expansion or elimination of faith schools?

Alan Francis (Green): I fully support Green Party policy as follows: No publicly-funded school shall be run by a religious organisation. Schools may teach about religions, comparing examples which originated in each continent, but are prohibited from delivering religious instruction in any form or encouraging adherence to any particular religious belief. Privately-funded schools run by religious organisations must reflect the inclusive nature of British society and become part of the Local authority admissions system. This non-discriminatory approach will be extended to staff who must not be discriminated against in faith schools due to their own faith either in seeking employment or during employment.

Phyllis Starkey (Labour): If we were starting from a blank slate I would prefer there not to be faith schools, but as that is not the case then I do think in a plural society that it is inequitable to say that absolutely no new faith schools can be opened. Pragmatically I support the inclusion of faith schools within the state system so they teach the National Curriculum, are inspected by Ofsted and have to abide by legislation on equal opportunities. I supported moves by Labour to insist on faith schools (like all other schools) teaching PHSE to include discussions of sexuality, responsibility in relationships and contraception etc in an objective and non-judgemental fashion.

Peter Jones (Liberal Democrats): Neither, really. My ideal for education would be that every child would find that the most local school was also the best for his or her education, irrespective of religion. Our Liberal Democrat manifesto does support faith schools, I have attached a copy of the relevant section: "Allow parents to continue to choose faith-based schools within the state-funded sector and allow the establishment of new faith schools. We will ensure that all faith schools develop an inclusive admissions policy and end unfair discrimination on grounds of faith when recruiting staff, except for those principally responsible for optional religious instruction." (p37).

Jill Hope (Liberal Democrats): Liberal Democrats are committed to making our education system fairer, so that all children will get a fair start in life, we will: a) Allow parents to continue to choose faith-based schools within the state funded sector, and allow the establishment of additional faith schools which do not select by ability, aptitude or faith; b) Require all existing state-funded faith schools to come forward within five years with plans to demonstrate the inclusiveness of their intakes, with Local Authorities empowered to oversee and approve the delivery of these plans, and to withdraw state-funded status where inclusiveness cannot be demonstrated; c) End the opt-out from employment and equalities legislation for staff in faith schools, except those principally responsible for religious instruction; d)  Require schools which choose to hold assemblies to ensure that any act of collective worship is optional for pupils who are old enough to decide for themselves and otherwise for parents; e) Local Authorities would be expected to ensure that faith schools either phase out faith selection or ensure that their intake becomes more inclusive. This will allow the faith school ethos to continue, and it will help to protect faith schools whose identity might be undermined if all faith selection was banned. However, it will also ensure that children in the local community have an opportunity to access these schools.

Michael Phillips (UKIP): There should be no place in State education for "faith schools" Private schools, however, are another matter.    If parents want their state educated children to be taught about the supernatural they should send them to learn these things after school hours or at the weekend at their own expense.  Or teach them themselves at home.    Have we learned nothing from the lessons of Northern Ireland? 

Q2: Do you agree with legislation to permit assisted dying?

Alan Francis (Green): Yes, with tight regulation, assisted dying should be permitted

Phyllis Starkey (Labour): I have an open mind on the issue of whether new legislation is required in relation to "assisted dying" or not. There are very serious issues about where the law draws the line without encouraging undue pressure on very vulnerable people.

Peter Jones (Liberal Democrats): It's the word 'assisted' that I find difficult. I might vote for this sort of legislation but only if I was convinced that there were proper safeguards to protect those who were not ready for death.

Jill Hope (Liberal Democrats):   The issue of assisted dying is a conscience issue for the Lib Dems, this means it is up to individual MPs without a Party whip. I do believe that people should be able to end their lives without having to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland. With the appropriate safeguards, I believe that this will relieve people of the fear of their relatives being potentially imprisoned if they help them to commit suicide, if they are too disabled to undertake that act themselves. I do not believe that older people would commit suicide if they thought they were a burden to their families, even if they were pressurized by relatives wanting their money. Most older people I know cling on to life very stubbornly! Although hospices do wonderful work relieving the pain of terminally ill patients, and giving them a comfortable last year or so, people with progressive debilitating conditions may not be in pain, but simply see no point in carrying on with such a wretched life. These people should be able to die with dignity in the UK.

Michael Phillips (UKIP): The saying "whose life is it anyway" comes to mind.   I agree that everyone should be able to decide their end at a time and place of their own choosing, with or without assistance.   I know that if I personally am ever faced with a long agonising death, or intolerable existence, I would want and believe have the right to ease myself painlessly out of this life. 

Q3: Should religions by right have representatives in the House of Lords?

Alan Francis (Green): No, the Bishops should be removed

Phyllis Starkey (Labour): I am in favour of a wholly elected House of Lords

Peter Jones (Liberal Democrats): No. There is an argument that as the Church of England is still the established church then the bishops should retain their seats. Personally I think that is an anachronism. I could go on at more length but I hope that this is sufficient answer to your questions.

Jill Hope (Liberal Democrats): As a Party we believe in a fully elected House of Lords, which might or might not contain representatives from various religions (depends who gets nominated and elected - after all MK could, in principle, have a Monster Raving Loony MP), but no religion would have a place there as a right. Seeing the behaviour of some senior clerics in the House of Lords has convinced me more than ever that we must either abolish completely or  convert to a second elected House. They seem to have been transported into the Chamber from another century. Liberal Democrats will replace the House of Lords with a fully-elected second chamber with considerably fewer members than the current House. We have been the most vocal advocates of reforming the House of Lords - dating back as far as the 1911 Parliament Act. We have consistently called for action to clean up politics and make it more accountable, while Labour and the Conservatives have blocked reform at every turn. Some people ask us why we have put people's names forward for the House of Lords if we oppose it? If we were to prevent Liberal Democrats from joining the House of Lords now we would be even less able to drive reform through during the next Parliament.

Michael Phillips (UKIP): No, I do not believe religions should have unelected representatives in the House of Lords.   If you allow one religion, you should in fairness allow all the others too.   And what a shambles that would be? As you can see, UKIP members give straight answers.    That is why our election campaign slogan is "Straight talking".  

AGM & SUPERHEROES (13 May10)

Agenda

Thursday 13th May

1  Welcome & Introductions

2  Reflections on Recent News

•  have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?

3  Minutes

•  agree Minutes of last Meeting (8th Apr 10)

4  Third Annual General Meeting

•  Chairman’s Report
•  Treasurer’s Report
•  Nomination & Election of Officers

5  Super Heroes  by Dave Patel

Superheroes/heroines are fictional characters of unprece-dented powers dedicated to acts of great daring in the public interest. They will often use their powers to police day-to-day crime while combating threats against humanity by 'supervillains'. So there's a lot of moral teaching in their stories ("with great power comes great responsibility' etc.). The cast list is long. Here's a few to excite your imagination: Asterix, Barbarella, Batman, Bionic Woman, James Bond, Catwoman, Lara Croft, Flash Gordon, Hercules, The Hulk, Jungle Girl, The Lone Ranger, Peter Pan, The Saint, Spiderman, Superman, Venus, Wonder Girl …We hope to have some fun and see if there are any lessons to be drawn...

The bottom photo is of Dave making his presentation -- and very entertaining it was. Many thanks Dave!

6  Future Meetings & Actions

7  AOB

Location: York House, London Road, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes
Time: 18.15 for 18.30
 

DESIGNING A HUMANIST RETREAT (10 Jun 10)

Agenda (Thursday 10th June 2010)

1  Welcome & Introductions

2  Reflections on Recent News

Have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?

3  Minutes

Agree Minutes of last Meeting (13th May 10)

4  Designing a Humanist Retreat

Many people go on retreats to get away from the stress, clutter and distractions of daily life, recharge their batteries, and reflect on their lives and what really matters. Retreats provide the space for people to be alone and find solitude and also to enjoy the company of others of like-mind; they are places to reflect on stimulating thoughts and ideas and see things from a different perspective, to find out more about art, music, literature and poetry, and wonder at natu re and the world around us. But retreats are not holidays: they provide an opportunity to deepen our awareness of ourselves and other people, and re-examine things that we too often take for granted. As such retreats can be challenging and life-changing. In our meeting we would like to design a Retreat for Humanists: what would entice you to take a few days off and go away somewhere? Indeed, where would you like to go, who would you like to invite, and what would you like to do? Please give this some thought and come along and surprise us all — please keep it realistic, decent and legal!

5  The Book Club

Short report on first meeting on Philip Pullman's latest novel: 'The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ'.

6  Humanist Week (21st-27th June)

Humanist Week is a national project run by the BHA to increase awareness of Humanism at local, regional and national level. The week is based around World Humanist Day (21st June) and is supported by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. The theme this year is ‘Humanist Heritage - celebrating humanist contributions across the ages’.

7  Future Meetings & Actions

8  AOB

Location: York House, London Road, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes
Time: 18.15 for 18.30 
 

HUMANIST WEEK EXHIBITION & SOCIAL (Jun 10)

June: WHAT IS A HUMANIST?

Small Exhibition Main Library, Central Milton Keynes

We are mounting a small exhibition in the Central Library throughout the month of June. If you'd like to find out more about Humanism, why not come along? We're upstairs. The stall will be manned 10-12 on Saturdays and intermittently during the week. We will be there to answer your questions. Our thanks to the British Humanist Association for the posters!

Sun 20 June: SUMMER SOLTICE & HUMANIST WEEK PARTY

Andrea held a Summer Soltice Social for regulars. There were lots of interesting party pieces!

21st-27th June: HUMANIST WEEK
Humanist Week is a national project run by the British Humanist Association to increase awareness of Humanism at local, regional and national level. The week is based around World Humanist Day (21st June) and is supported by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. The theme this year is ‘Humanist Heritage - celebrating humanist contributions across the ages’. We will have a stall in the Central Library for most of the month. If you have some questions about Humanism or would like to know more about us do come a long for a chat!.
 

ORIGINS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS (Jul 10)

MK Humanists

Thursday 8^th July

Agenda

1   Welcome & Introductions

2   Reflections on Recent News

Have you seen / read something recently that you think would be of interest to humanists?

3   Minutes

Agree Minutes of last Meeting (10th Jun 10)

4   Michael Lawrence on The Origins of Religious Beliefs

We are delighted to welcome our Guest Speaker, Michael Lawrence, to our meeting. Michael will explore the link between primitive astronomy/astrology and theology. His aim is to demonstrate how theology is inexorably linked with ancient astrological perceptions. Michael’s intention is not to discredit the benefit that many people gain from following theological beliefs but rather to provoke debate on the future role of religion in politics and education.

One of Michael’s central arguments is that Jesus existed as an allegorical character much earlier than the Jesus Christ described in the Gospels, suggesting that the Gospels were reworked stories of an ancient allegorical myth rather than factual biographies. He will also argue that the core of much theology is steeped in “simple naked-eye astronomy and primitive ideas; concepts that were then evolved and used to create a recurring theme of ‘God Child’ in different guises, in nearly all ancient cultures”. Michael will conclude by exploring how these early theological ideas subsequently became entrenched in the psyche of humankind.

Expect a lively debate!

5   Events in Milton Keynes

• feedback on our Exhibition in the Library and on Humanist Week (21st-27th June)
• forthcoming International Festival in MK
• other initiatives (Book Group, Schools Talks, Retreat Plans, Next Year’s Programme and more…)

6   Future Meetings & Actions

7   AOB

Location:         York House, London Road, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

Time:                18.15 for 18.30

ABOUT REMEMBERING THE FALLEN ...

The Road Home, by Jay Winter
BBC (11 November 2009)

"The road home from war is always a long one. Some take a lifetime to complete the journey; others finish it in time to take up their lives again. The disabled know the difficulty of the journey home, each in his own way. Anyone with eyes to see can recognize the hardships they and their families face to start their lives once more.

The road home for those who die in war is also not a direct one. Bringing the dead home from Iraq or Afghanistan is something we all understand. The families they leave behind need to mourn them, to take the time we all need to register what has happened to them and to us.

In twentieth century warfare, bringing the bodies of our loved ones home was never easy and sometimes impossible. In the First World War, nearly one million men died in British and Dominion forces. Perhaps half of those men had no known graves. The pulverizing effects of artillery in industrial warfare was to blame; even carefully marked graves had little chance to survive repeated bombardments on a front which did not move much for four long years. During the war, thousands of families received news that a serving soldier was missing in action. But that still left the hope intact that he was a prisoner of war, or hospitalized, or that a bureaucratic error had occurred. The Red Cross did its best to find news, any news, of their whereabouts. Some of these hopes were realized; most were not.

In the vast majority of cases, the missing remained missing in another sense. So many men had no known graves, that it was for many families a kindness that the government decided that the war dead would remain where they had fallen, and their remains would rest together with the men with whom they had served. What an astonishing transformation the architects, and gardeners and masons of the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission accomplished in the 1920s. In desolate fields in which not a single tree stood, in places strewn with unexploded ordnance, in sites which resembled lunar landscapes, small, dignified and beautiful English country garden cemeteries appeared by the hundred. These places were different from the larger, more anonymous French or American war cemeteries; British cemeteries kept the human dimensions of the platoon or the company, and remind the visitor to this day that these were men who joined up together, trained together, fought together, and died together. These, the Lost Generation, could have looked each other in the eye, as it were, with casual recognition, finding that now they would rest together for eternity.

Mourning the Lost Generation meant going abroad. That is where they died; that is where they lay. These unalterable facts led to a different kind of journey, in which the living came to the dead. This is pilgrimage, not tourism; it is a sacred, and not a secular act. Pilgrimage is always difficult; it entails an effort, but how little it is for us to give, compared to what those we come to honour gave. We are in debt to them, and it is a debt that can never be discharged.

I have made that journey to the Lost Generation many times. Each time I am surprised by what I see. I find little of the ugliness of war. Instead, what I see are thousands of British war cemeteries scattered all over the world. They are peaceful places, beautifully cared for, with all the order and symmetry of an English country garden.

These are the resting places of men of all faiths or of none at all. Each grave is not marked by a cross, but by a white stone, on which is carved the man's regiment, his name, his rank, his date of death, if known, and a short, moving epigramme chosen by his family. There is a cross in the rear of these cemeteries, but it is not the Latin cross. It is a cross of sacrifice, a medieval symbol of chivalric honor, which serves as a counterpoint to an altar of remembrance, on which is carved the phrase from Ecclesiasticus, 'Their name shall liveth for evermore'. And that is right, because the names are all there, and they are what matters. So many names; so many individuals, so many civilians who put on a uniform in parenthesis as it were, hoping to take it off again and resume their ordinary lives. That was not to be, so we the living pay them the honor of pausing in our lives to acknowledge what they did and what they gave.

Visiting a war cemetery is different from visiting a war memorial at home. We can find these monuments all over Britain. They are not hard to find or hard to get to. They are in schools, in churches, in public squares, and in out of the way places. There are war memorial water troughs, war memorial cricket pitches, and war memorial hospital wards. It does not take an effort to pass one of the monuments in the middle of villages and towns. What do we see there: above all, we see the names. The names are what matter. So many names, every single one a life truncated, a family diminished, hopes unrealized.

Twenty-five years after the end of the Great War, more names were added to war memorials and to war cemeteries. Those who died in the Second World War were less numerous than in the First, but this time 60,000 civilians were among them. This war brought about civilian suffering on an unprecedented scale. While the Armenian genocide of 1915 was a harbinger of things to come, the Second World War transformed the nature of war. The names Auschwitz and Hiroshima tell us that this is so. Still more of - the victims of war - this time mostly civilians -- vanished completely without trace.

Even after the end of the twentieth century, the way human life can simple disappear through an act of violence was brought home to us. At the world trade center on 11 September 2001, approximately 2,700 people were killed. Half of those who died left no known trace, which is about the same proportion as those who vanished completely in the Great War 90 years before.

That is one reason why the return home of men who have died for their country, from Iraq and Afghanistan, or from other sites of violence, needs to be marked carefully. We live in a world where lethal weapons not only kill; they annihilate, they make bodies vanish without trace. They leave us the living without a grave to visit, or a body to honour, without something to touch. These out of body experiences of mourning are still happening today. They require us to find a way to turn the names - always the names - into faces, into those we will never see again.

Once again, it is apparent that we and the generation of the Great War are not so remote from each other as some may think. There are two Great War sites dedicated to precisely this kind of transformation, the kind required by wars which make bodies disappear. The first is the Cenotaph; the Second is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey. The first site was inaugurated on 19 July 1919, five days after a victory parade in Paris on the first Bastille Day after the Armistice. The French had a cenotaph made for the event, made of plaster of paris. It came down right after the event. In London the Cabinet asked the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to produce a similar monument, an empty tomb. Much to their surprise, the British people voted with their feet as it were, and adopted this temporary monument as their own. Perhaps two million people walked past it, leaving what they could, and making it necessary for Lutyens to turn it into a permanent monument, the one we see in Whitehall today. Here is the place of homecoming, right in the heart of government, between 10 Downing Street and Westminster; here is the place where the country symbolically brought home the dead of the Great War, and provided a place for those millions of men and women who had no body to honour at the end of the war. Here the dead could rest symbolically, here, at the heart of the nation, in sight of those who had taken the terrible decision to go war, and would know the cost if they ever had to do so again.

A year and a half later, on 11 November 1920, the permanent cenotaph was inaugurated, alongside a second site for those who mourned someone who had vanished in the war. That site is the tomb of the unknown warrior, placed right at the entrance to Westminster Abbey. Anyone entering the abbey has to pass around the unknown to get to any of the illustrious men and women honoured there; he - whoever he was - is in our way, and in our minds, and that is right and proper.

These two sites are unique. They tell us what modern war is; it is a vanishing act, a huge and at times unavoidable clash of arms which makes bodies disappear. These two sites also tell us who we are. We are the legatees of ghosts, trying to remember the men who are not here, but whose absence is impossible to miss. Our lives are described by their deaths. We are here in part because they are not.
This is as true today as it was 100 years ago, when the age of total war began. It is important that we tell our children about this strange face of war, its capacity to make living beings disappear in a flash, for the age of total war is with us still. If anyone doubts this, all he or she should do is to make the pilgrimage, visit one of the 23,000 Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries which span the globe, and look around."