Certainly in the UK we are becoming mawkish. We don't really fly many flags in the UK except perhaps on Royal castles and used car lots.

Holding 'one minute' silences is becoming fashionable in all kinds of places. I work in motorsport and quite often at race circuits I've found myself observing a one minute silence for I know not who. Last week at Oulton Park for instance. I'm sure whoever it was that had died was a nice person, but nobody around me seemed to know who it was.

We are diluting our traditions . In much the same way as we have devalued the word 'hero' by it's overuse.