Talking Bollocks

Chipstead War Memorial

Back in October here was a great palaver in the press about a drunken student in sheffield who urinated on a war memorial. The nation was horrified and the student was charged with “outraging public decency”.

The Sun reported last week that another man has committed a similar atrocity, this time also donning a wreath and wearing it as a hat. According to The Sun this is the third time this has happened within the space of a few weeks.

All very awful of course but hold on a minute, Great Britain has been involved in numerous wars and consequently has a war memorial in every town and village in the country. And like most warrior nations Britain’s men have a marked tendency to get drunk on Saturday nights. Put the two together and it is a positive certainty that, on any given Saturday night, someone will be pissing on a war memorial.

What should really worry us about the bit of video on The Sun’s web site is the way this latest guy was followed by the CCTV as he walked down the street. From the video it looks as if he did not urinate on the memorial but merely in the surrounding foliage as thousands, if not millions, of men will have done for centuries. OK, the guy did then put a wreath on his head but give him a break, he was drunk. And if the Sun expects us not to get drunk it might consider removing the advert for Strongbow cider on the front of this bit of video.