After untold years of constant pressure and campaigning, there's not much to say at the moment! This is a good sign.

But let's look closer…

Even though the battle's won, the war is not over. Several WarHeroes members are reporting that local council staff have no idea of the recent council ruling. Of course, we expected this of those in the front line, but some of the central office staff are even quizzing the situation.

The council need to educate their own people on the new rulings as soon as possible. With a bit of education, the message will soon be understood and we won't be faced with blank expressions for much longer.

I had a quizzical look on my own face the other day when I was reading reports about our Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. Apparently, he's undertaken not to mention the war in any of his speeches so as to not offend anyone.

Well excuse me, but my world wasn't turned upside down fifty years ago just so some smug paper pusher can ignore it, frightened of upsetting anyone. And to make matters worse, he seems to have come to this decision after the German Culture Minister, Michael Naumann, made some misinformed comments about the British population being obsessed with the second world war.

I think I speak for many when I say I wish the war had never happened and I'd dearly love to forget all about it. But for us who were personally involved, it's slightly more difficult than those who have only ever read about it or seen it on the telly.

But the fact remains, there was a war, people died, but we have managed to come through it and rebuilt our lives and cities. I'm immensely proud of what we all did. I'm immensely proud of my heritage. And I will never allow this pride to be shot down for the sake of some feeble excuse. Shame on you Mr. Cook.

Don't forget, if you have any information for our Newsletter, you can e-mail it to us at the usual address or click on the "Contribute" link.

Thank you