Nod-sense: It is The Sun, not Corbyn, that has shown disrespect

The Sun this morning accuses Jeremy Corbyn of refusing to bow at the Cenotaph for yesterday’s Remembrance Day service.

Even for The Sun, it is an extraordinary front page.

First of all, he did bow – as you can see here:

https://vine.co/v/eluInJVZDz2

But it wasn’t respectful enough for The Sun, who said it was a “slight nod”, rather than a “traditional solemn bow” of the head.

Perhaps they are testing readers with that age-old philosophical question: when does a nod become a bow?

Whether his tilt forward was solemn, traditional or bow-y enough is not as much as a problem as the implication in the front page splash. “Snub”. “Refuse”. “Disrespecting”. The clear suggestion is that Jeremy Corbyn attended yesterday’s remembrance service with the express purpose of refusing to properly honour the war dead.

Does anyone at all believe that for a moment? Do people think that he put on a poppy, went to two remembrance services (preparing a poem to read at one of them), had a wreath to lay, but had planned all along not to bow?

If you live on a planet where that seems even remotely plausible, then I offer you this statement Jeremy Corbyn released over the weekend. Read it, and consider whether this is a man who does not have sufficient respect for those who have lost their lives in war:

“Today we remember the fallen in all wars, both service men and women and civilians. On the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, we honour in particular those who gave their lives to defeat fascism. In their memory, and that of all who have suffered or lost their lives in war, let us resolve to build a world of peace.”

In the end, it is not Jeremy Corbyn who has shown disrespect, but The Sun. So many of us feel so strongly about the time of year, and consider it important to pay our respects to those who gave so much. The Sun has tried to exploit that feeling to further a political agenda and shift papers. There’s an embarrassment here, but it’s not the Labour leader.