80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan

Lord Craig of Radley Excerpts

Friday 9th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Craig of Radley (CB)]

My Lords, I too join in all the fulsome expressions of praise for and amazement at the bravery and efforts made by so many, both in and out of uniform, to contribute to victory—victory in Europe and, following the use of nuclear bombs, victory in the Far East.

If I may be permitted a brief personal reflection, I was two weeks short of my 10th birthday when the war started in 1939. I was living in Dublin. The Irish Free State, as it then was, was determined to remain neutral, and did so throughout the conflict—but that did not stop many thousands of my fellow countrymen crossing to the UK to volunteer and join one of the three services. My father had lost all of his right leg in the First World War, otherwise he too might have wished to join up again. But for myself and my sister, life continued much as usual. There was no food rationing. We had recently acquired a family car, but it was on blocks, as petrol was unobtainable. A very few cars had been converted to run, rather reluctantly, on gas, and they required an enormous storage balloon on their roof for fuel. For us and the rest, we depended mostly on trams and bicycles or, in the countryside, ponies and traps to get about.

For many of our age, life continued with but few changes from before the war started. We can contrast that with the destruction to life and, at times, the sheer terror of those exposed to the blitz, and those who lost loved ones. Many children living in the Home Counties were evacuated and separated from their parents and friends—an experience shared by a friend of mine of over 50 years’ standing. Meanwhile, in Ireland, we and our contemporaries seemed by and large distant from defeats and victories as they unfolded. News coverage was by newspaper or radio only, as TV had yet to reach into Ireland. I have no recollection of being encouraged to listen to news bulletins.

I doubt that today’s youth would be able to remain as detached as we and other young people in southern Ireland were in the early 1940s. Media in all its guises today tends to keep one’s undivided attention on what is happening, especially if were of the scale of another world war or major conflict. But it is also true that the direction of the media coverage has so much bearing on what is highlighted or what may be, as it were, left to one side. Media management of coverage has such an important part to play in so much of life today. The real challenge is that the truth it purports to relay is truly the same truth, whether it comes from the front line, a command headquarters or one or more of the nations’ capitals involved in the conflict. Any difference becomes the story of itself, and is ever more difficult to manage as the speed and global nature of information expand. Maybe this is a new challenge for AI. It is all too often a cause of serious, if passing, embarrassment, and more, for those involved.

To finish, today we meet to remember with true admiration those who answered the call of duty—those who were prepared to sacrifice all for the freedom and democracy of future generations. As we, the beneficiaries, honour, salute and thank them, so must we all, as much now after 80 years as we did after a single year, remember them.