True colours

The Newark appeal got under way on Tuesday and will again be well supported.

It is, therefore, particularly sad that at this time of year the symbol of Nazi Germany, the swastika, should have been used in two incidents of graffiti taken so seriously they have been reported to the police and are being investigated as hate crimes.

One of the victims, Michel Haddi, a Frenchman with a Jewish girlfriend, believes he was deliberately targeted.

He has been given a poor impression of our town but the vast majority of Newarkers would react with the same horror and disgust if a swastika was scrawled on their front door.

What must those think who have fought, and are still fighting, to preserve a free world?

The Newark Poppy Appeal organiser Mr Geoff Meakin says: “I wonder how many of those brave boys would have stormed the Normandy beaches so readily had they known that 65 years on we would be under the cosh of yob culture and the re-emergence of the Far Right and that the swastika would be appearing on our walls.”

The Newark area has repeatedly shown its true colours through its support for the military and will do so again by digging deep for the Poppy Appeal.

Buy your poppy and wear it with pride.