General Chat

have got together to record a song out next monday for forces tribute

and vera lynn has voiced her disappointment at artists not entertaining troops

Some artists do go out there, Julie Ann... they just don't advertise it like they used to be able to do, it isn't considered safe. I know that Katherine Jenkins and Nell whatsername have been regulars, and have been reported as doing so... so have others... but it does feel as though there are many of the young stars who couldn't care less, doesn't it?

Love, hugs and fairy dust ~~~~

Daff xxxx

hi daff
yeh i thought stars wen out there too,

its usually down to the forces to arrange it isnt it i think
not necesarily the stars themselves,

love and hugs to you daff,
hope your keeping well and not over excited at xmas
ive been reading where your looking forward to it,
xxxx

Hmmmmm.

I'm a big Vera Lynn fan, but.

Where would the entertainers go? To Afghanistan, to Iraq? Did Vera Lynn go behind the lines, to France or Belgium or Germany, during the war?

In WWII there wasn't much dissent in society, and not much cause for dissent. The military's job was pretty much universally recognized as essential for the safety of their own home countries and the people of the occupied countries.

That is not universally believed when it comes to where troops from the UK or the US or Canada or Australia are being sent today. Many people have very principled objections to where they are sent and what they are doing. Many performers are among that group.

While many of us who do have principled objections to these military ventures have compassion for some of the troops, who are doing their job for lack of any other job, it's pretty understandable that performers who oppose the ventures would not want to participate in them.

Aha - why she's in the news

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/yes-a-lot-of-people-
here-remember-vera-lynn/article1336231/

No 1 on the charts!

And not receiving a penalty in royalties because her songs were recorded over 50 years ago. Now that does seem wrong.

she said how she entertained out of the back of a truck with just a pianist
washed in a bucket of water, slept in a hut and didnt wear make up cos in the heat it slid off her face,
she went to egypt, india, burma,

she is 92, you gotta have some respect for her really , she does look very well for that age,

I understand she performed under difficult conditions.

I just don't think she performed in an actual theatre of war, i.e. she was always behind the lines, even if close to the front.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, there are no lines. The troops are an occuping force, they're not trying to hold back a foreign invasion or oust a foreign invader. The battlefield is the whole country. They are under attack anywhere and everywhere.

There simply was no equivalent in Vera Lynn's time, and frankly, I think she's a little out of order, politics completely aside.