C4 anchor Jon Snow cuts down ‘poppy fascists’

The Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow has hit out at "poppy fascists" who demand that public figures wear the symbol of the Royal British Legion in the run-up to Remembrance Day, and accuse those who don't do so of disloyalty.
 
After being criticised by a reader of his Snowblog for apparently dishonouring the war dead by not wearing the emblem on air, Snow retorted that "Hitler lost the war" and said that British soldiers had died "that we might be free to wear a poppy whenever we wish".
 
Snow went on: "I wish to wear mine on Remembrance Sunday. When you wish to wear yours is your business. Compelling people to wear poppies because you think they ought to is precisely the poppy fascism, or intolerance, that I have complained of in the past. On yer bike Stan [the reader's user name], with or without a poppy, it's all your own free choice."
 
The row then spilled over onto micro-blogging site Twitter where Snow was taken to task by a user called HewDunnit, who told him: "People such as you should set an example to the younger generation! Lest we forget."

Snow, who is in America covering the midterm elections, hit back once again, saying he had bought a poppy before he left England and would wear it on November 11, but not before. "I sense you compelling me to wear it, you wont do it!" he tweeted.
 
It is not the first time Snow has become embroiled in a row over public displays of support for charities and causes.
 
After coming under fire for the same reason in 2006, Snow said: "I am begged to wear an Aids Ribbon, a breast cancer ribbon, a Marie Curie flower... You name it, from the Red Cross to the RNIB, they send me stuff to wear to raise awareness, and I don't. And in those terms, and those terms alone, I do not and will not wear a poppy."

Bloggers and online commentators have been quick to jump to Snow's defence, some of them concerned that the poppy is getting too much exposure.

BBC TV presenters including Match of the Day anchor Gary Lineker and politics presenter Andrew Marr were criticised for sporting poppies on air in October, a good fortnight before Remembrance Day.
 
And the row was given a fresh twist by Radio 4 Today presenter Evan Davies last Thursday, when the poppy appeal was officially launched. He revealed that nobody in the Today studio was wearing one that morning. ·