<P> In recent years, there has been growing controversy over the Poppy Appeal . Some--including British Army veterans--have argued that the Poppy Appeal has become excessive and garish, that it is being used to marshal support behind British military campaigns, and that poppy wearing has become compulsory for public figures . Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow described it as "poppy fascism". Columnist Dan O'Neill wrote that "presenters and politicians seem to compete in a race to be first--poppies start sprouting in mid-October while the absence of a poppy is interpreted as absence of concern for the war dead, almost as an unpatriotic act of treachery". Likewise, Jonathan Bartley of the religious think - tank Ekklesia said "public figures in Britain are urged, indeed in many cases, required, to wear...the red poppy, almost as an article of faith . There is a political correctness about the red poppy". Journalist Robert Fisk complained that the poppy has become a seasonal "fashion accessory" and that people were "ostentatiously wearing a poppy for social or work - related reasons, to look patriotic when it suited them". Some far - right groups have used the poppy as a symbol of militant British nationalism, while some Muslims have begun to reject it as a symbol of Western imperialism . </P> <P> In 1997 and again in 2000 the Royal British Legion registered the Poppy under Intellectual Property Rights (1997 Case EU000557058) and Trade Mark (2000 Trade Mark 2239583). </P> <P> The Royal British Legion also holds a yearly poppy appeal in Northern Ireland and in 2009 raised more than £ 1m . However, the wearing of poppies in Northern Ireland is controversial . It is seen by many as a political symbol and a symbol of Britishness, representing support for the British Army . The poppy has long been the preserve of the unionist / loyalist community . Loyalist paramilitaries (such as the UVF and UDA) have also used poppies to commemorate their own members who were killed in The Troubles . </P> <P> Most Irish nationalists / republicans, and Irish Catholics, choose not to wear poppies; they regard the Poppy Appeal as supporting soldiers who killed Irish civilians (for example on Bloody Sunday) and who colluded with illegal loyalist paramilitaries (for example the Glenanne gang) during The Troubles . Irish nationalist groups, and victims' groups, have urged the BBC to end its policy that all presenters must wear poppies . They argue that it breaches impartiality and point out that political symbols are banned in workplaces in Northern Ireland . They also say that the BBC, as a publicly funded body, should broadly reflect the whole community . Likewise, the director of Relatives for Justice has condemned the wearing of poppies by police officers in Catholic neighbourhoods, calling it "repugnant and offensive to the vast majority of people within our community, given the role of the British Army". In the Irish Independent, it was claimed that "substantial amounts" of money raised from selling poppies are used "to build monuments to insane or inane generals or build old boys' clubs for the war elite". However, on Remembrance Day 2010 the SDLP's Margaret Ritchie was the first leader of a nationalist party to wear one . </P>

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