For most of my life I have been buying poppies once a year from the Royal British Legion without really thinking about why. It has only been the last couple of years that I've really sat down and thought about it.
The Poppy Appeal was originally set up as a way to help the families of those whose lives had been torn apart by the Great War. It was never intended to be something that was continuous as it was hoped, maybe naively, that it wouldn't be needed because the world would see how devastating the war was and would try to avoid it in the future.
But of course more war happened and more war happened and now here we are in 2014 and what has the Poppy Appeal become? Yes it is still raising money to help families but it seems to have lost its other equally important message, that war is dreadful and destroys the lives not just of those fighting but also the civilians who live in the areas invaded .
But it is this picture that has led me to write this message today, the picture of what I saw in Kingston town centre just yesterday. The Poppy Appeal team parading around with a military vehicle, a vehicle designed to kill and cause damage, children going up and having their photograph with it. It's disgusting, this is GLORIFYING war. "Look kids, you could grow up to drive one of these and kill some nasty foreigners"
Why is this glorification of war allowed to happen? Rather than a symbol for death and despair of what has past, I fear the poppy is being used as a symbol of Pride for the British army, of Pride that the Brits keep attacking other countries for little to no reason, at my most cynical it is being used as recruitment for a future generation of killing machines. No war is necessary and in this country nobody is forced to join the army, no one is forced to go out and kill. The military it is a choice made by the individual and drives like this are trying to show war as a glamorous career choice.
I am by no means suggesting that the work carried out by the Royal British Legion is not worth while and you would hope that it is, according to their website the Poppy Appeal raised £36.6 million last year and I imagine this year that amount will be far higher due to the centenary. Once these soldiers have gone to war and assuming they survive, they ruin their own lives from the trauma that they have seen, they NEED psychological help a lot of the time just to get back to living normal lives but you don't see the Poppy Appeal handing out pamphlets on Mental Health Problems.
And now to the Government, in raising money for the Poppy Appeal it relieves the Government from having to deal with the repercussions of the wars that they start. Imagine that £36.6 million for rehabilitation had to come from their budgets, maybe the wars wouldn't look so lucrative after all? 
So anyway this year I have decided that rather than giving my money to a charity that unintentionally, in my eyes, is part of the problem I have donated to the Peace Pledge Union and am wearing a White Poppy this year and showing my support for Peace! A charity that since 1934 has been tirelessly campaigning for a warless world. If you want to do the same you can donate, buy a white poppy or just read about the work they do by clicking this link;
http://www.ppu.org.uk/
Even if you don't agree with anything that I have said here, I hope I have at least made you think about why it is you wear a poppy.
END
10. HAIM - Days Are Gone. This entry by the Californian Family Trio squeezed into the top ten, relegating the likes of Kanye and Laura Marling to the outcast pile. A solid début from the much hyped Haim sisters is fuelled by four top quality singles and a number of album tracks that aren't too shabby either. For me the stand out track is Don't save me which was released as a single towards the end of 2012 but still holds strong into 2014.
9. Frankie & The Heartstrings - The Days Run Away. A favourite of mine since 2011, this Mackem four piece have had a busy year. Not only have the band released their 2nd full length album and toured extensively throughout the UK, they have also opened their own multi-purpose store Pop Recs Ltd. The flamboyant front-man Frankie Francis lays his vocals over tracks which aren't ground breaking (in fact they often sound dangerously close to plagiarism) but provide an easy to listen to fun half hour of indie pop.
8. Death Grips - Government Plates. The Controversial Dance/Rap act released what they call a mixtape but to all extents feels like an album proper as a free download in mid November. Despite being their third album in 2 years it feels like it has been worked on in great detail and is possibly their most fluid sounding to date. This release will by no means be to everyone's taste but it is certainly different to most things that I listened to over the past 12 months, I would recommend This is Violence Now (Don't get me wrong) as a track to ease yourself in to their world but in truth it needs to be listened to in full to provide the desired effect. 
7. The Strokes - Comedown Machine. 2013 was the year of surprise releases and this effort from The Strokes was no different. After releasing comeback single One Way Trigger in early March, the New York bands 5th studio album came shortly after. What was seen by many as a return to form after 2011's Angles is still not their best but is yet very listenable and deserves its place in the top 10. Track 50/50 is one of the highlights despite sounding like something that The Paddingtons (anyone remember them?) would have released in the early 2000s 
6. Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. This 4th Album by the Glasgow four piece unlike the above two was very much expected having not released an album for more than 4 years. Unsurprisingly this did not disappoint, I was lucky enough to see this band twice in a week in August this year which really helped cement the album as one of my favourites of the year. The final track on the album, Goodbye Lovers and Friends, provides a great end not only to this release but most likely every Franz show for the foreseeable future with the last line stating "This really is the End". Either that or they have announced the end of the band which I really hope isn't the case.
5. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories. From the 10 second advert during the Super bowl to the slightly longer advert at Coachella Festival to the rumours of its first full play being at a farmer's festival in Australia the PR team working on Daft Punk's 4th album got everything right. By the time Random Access Memories was released it was the only thing that anyone in the world was talking about and what it provided was a completely new sound from the band, a sound that at first I wasn't too sure about but quickly became accustomed to. Having ditched their previous sample heavy melodies in favour of real instruments they may have lost a couple of their original fans but seemed to have gained an a whole lot of new ones. The stand out track for me is the initial release, Get Lucky featuring Pharrell Williams but again the piece works best for me when listened to in full.
4. M.I.A. - Matangi. 
3. Drenge - Drenge. 
2. David Bowie - The Next Day. Probably the biggest surprise to hit the music world this year was the release of the single Where are we now? on Bowie's 66th Birthday. I had heard rumours of ill health for the ageing star, so to see that he was in fact thriving and writing some of the best music that he'd released in years was an extremely pleasant turn of events. For me this really was the year of Bowie, this released spawned a new found desire for me to listen to all things the Essex wordsmith had made and this coupled with the exhibit in the V&A has enlightened me further to his talent and made him one of my all time favourite artists. Title track The Next Day as well as being one of my favourites on the album became one of the most controversial singles of the year with its video being banned from a number of TV and Internet channels for its less than favourable religious imagery.
1. Palma Violets - 180. So we come to my number 1 and it is the début release from Lambeth Four-Piece Palma Violets. 180 is without doubt one of the shoddiest recordings on this list but in this it tries to keep the raw emotion and energy produced by the bands live performances. Unfortunately for me having seen the band three times this year and once in 2012 I have to say that it doesn't quite catch that but nevertheless it has enough to it to make my number one spot. It is obvious to me why I rate this band so highly as they embody all the good things that make the Libertines my favourite all time band and with that is the worry for me that their shelf life could be as short as my Arcadian heroes. I fear that this album could well be a fleeting moment which will soon be gone to soon which makes it that little bit more special. Unsurprisingly for an album that I have rated as my favourite of the year I like every track even the ones that on first listen I was unsure about but if I had to name a couple Best of Friends and Tom the Drum would probably just about pip it.