We’ve had a day out in London today – it’s only 35 miles from home and Ian hadn’t been to the city for ages so we took a trip ‘downtown’ to see some sights. We’d all forgotten it was May Day.

After ambling around The South Bank, Westminster, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace we made our way into Trafalgar Square to find the tail end of the May Day celebrations taking place. May Day is a strange celebration here in the UK as the traditional ‘Labour Day’ celebrations have, in recent years, been hi-jacked by anarchists and we’ve had a number of serious problems in recent times with the headquarters buildings of many big corporations being targets for mobs angry at the capitalist culture that exists in most modern societies.

Today, though, there was no sign of violence but the peace protesters were out in force. I saw this sign and knew then it would become my PotD for today. It may be naïve to think that we could ever achieve a society where we don’t see any more wars but I don’t care. It’s something I will strive for as long as I draw breath.

I liked this quote (I’ve never seen it before) partly because it is so old. It breaks my heart that in the more than 200 years since it was uttered that we’ve still not managed to see the simple truth of this message.

We now have a very nasty mess in Iraq – there are terrible, disturbing news reports today about the way some UK and US troops have behaved in the newspapers. I cannot see how we can do anything other than hang our heads in shame that people supposedly working on our behalf could have been allowed to perpetrate these terrible acts of cruelty. I’m no believer in God but I am a firm believer in a strong moral code that says you can’t treat people in this way, there is simply no justification for it.

I am an eternal optimist but I cannot see how the situation in Iraq is ever going to be resolved – more so now that it appears we cannot control our own troops. I have a strong feeling this may yet prove to be the downfall of Mr Blair. Maybe that would be a good thing.

Whatever the outcome, I return to the photo and its simple message. There never was a good war or a bad peace. Surely if enough of us believe that then we can make it come true…..or am I just too naïve to see that we will never achieve it?

Interestingly, this posting sounds depressed and depressing but actually the day has been fantastic. Really good fun. I will be posting more photos a bit later.