In this week of all, we hardly need reminders of the terrible price being
paid by men and women in military service.

But here we are at Remembrance time,  and as usual a section of Glasgow's George Square has been reserved to pay tribute to the fallen.

   

All over town, army cadets were offering poppies. But it was striking to see how few were being worn, and fewer still by those under 40. Perhaps it's because war seems so distant - historically, geographically - that remembrance has become something for someone else, somewhere else.

My father was in the Royal Navy during World War II. Like so many of his generation, he never spoke much about it. After the troops returned, there was no counselling, no notion of post-traumatic stress. They just had to get on with it, some of them with terrible injuries and disfigurements. 

So, as well as remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice, perhaps it's worth sparing a thought for the survivors - military and civilian. They're still with us, and their numbers are still growing.