Albert Beale and Paul Parker honour the pacifist movement, while other readers say public poppy pressure has gone too far

In Samira Shackle’s “Has poppy mania gone too far?” (The long read, 5 November ), she dwells on the increasing policing of those in public life over their wearing of red poppies at this time of year; she also mentions in passing the white poppies of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU).

But she fails to question the basic premise of the remembrance industry – namely that the military in particular, and even more particularly “our” military, deserve more consideration than do other victims of war.