Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Not strictly a poppy development, but Paper Monitor wouldn't want people to miss the debate about poppy wearing which is perplexing the Daily Telegraph today.
Alistair Macdonald, from Eastbourne, East Sussex reckons he has the ultimate style guru:
SIR - Ladies wishing guidance on the correct wearing of the poppy (Letters, November 3) need look no further. The Queen wears the poppy on her left side.
However Sandy Pratt, from Lingfield, Surrey, cites Debrett's:
SIR - Debrett's has issued some guidelines on poppies, one of which is that it is customary to wear a poppy on the left lapel, or on the left side of your body, so the poppy is pinned closest to your heart.
Cynthia Milligan, from Banstead, Surrey, takes a more practical stance:
SIR - Most people wear the poppies on the left because most people are right-handed. Have you tried putting one on the right?
While Caroline Capper, from Hyde Heath, Buckinghamshire, thinks another practicality should be taken into consideration:
SIR - Poppies should be worn on the opposite side to your seatbelt. Drivers on the left side; passengers on the right. Otherwise they won't last five minutes.
Brian King, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, makes a further point:
SIR - Surely, the side on which a poppy is worn depends on the fact that men and women button their coats differently. Men flap the left over the right-hand side, leaving the left clear for buttonholes. Women flap the other way, hence the opposite. With the zipped windcheaters now worn, one would need the wisdom of Jeeves to pontificate.
While Chris Petty, from Kerridge, Cheshire, is perplexed by the finer details:
SIR - How should the foliage on a poppy be sported? It points north-east on the Telegraph front page, but I have also seen it pointing straight up north, straight down south, east and west.
Who knew there was such an etiquette to poppy wearing? Paper Monitor finds it hard enough to keep one pinned in place.