The 100th anniversary of Britain's entry into the First World War.
At 11pm in 1914 the world was about to change forever. The utterly avoidable escalation of events that slid the European nations into utter horror.
At 10pm tonight there is a wonderfully simple and effective way to remember and reflect this poignant moment. All we have to do is switch off our lights and light a candle for one hour, until 11pm.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey's famous quote is tonight ringing around the country once more.
"The lamps are going out over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
One last thing...
There is a bitter irony today for the commemorations going on in Westminster Abbey.
As laudable as the proceedings are, wasn't it the leaders, politicians and royalty that started the war in the first place?
Take them away and not one person would have died of shrapnel wounds, machine-gun fire, gas, gangrene, mortar shell, heavy artillery, sniper fire..................
I give you the Siegfried Sassoon poem Great Men...
Great Men
Approve, with smiles and bland salutes, the rage
And monstrous tyranny they have brought to birth.
The great ones of the earth
Are much concerned about the wars they wage,
And quite aware of what those wars are worth.
You Marshals, gilt and red,
You Ministers and Princes, and Great Men,
Why can't you keep your mouthings for the dead?
Go round the simple cemeteries; and then
Talk of our noble sacrifice and losses
To the wooden crosses.
© Siegfried Sassoon, 17 August 1918
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