11th November 2018

Watching the war veterens on the Royal British Legion programme last night, I realised the complexities of war and the varying personalities of whichever leader was in power at the time...
11/11.  100 years since the end of WWI. This week, President Macron and PM May visited the same railway carriage in Compiegne that Hitler and Petain, the Vichy leader, used to sign that infamous WWII armistice. On Wednesday Macron had to backpedal on his idea to award a posthumous medal to Petain on his WWI exploits, due to global outrage. Each war, though, was fought for different reasons. The first could have been avoided, based as it was on the usual clash of nation v nation, but not the second - where (unlike Stalin) an evil madman was committing racial genocide on his own people and pursuing world domination. He had to be stopped.
.....but, having researched Petain’s life, I see it as complicated. That’s why I wrote my controversial book VICHYSSOISE - showing how a nation’s choice of leader at any one time can go catastrophically wrong. Remember and memorialise all those who tragically lost their lives in war, but be very very careful whom you elect into office...