Murdo Fraser deserves credit for lodging the motion. He is quite right to concentrate on the excellent work that is being done to commemorate the events this year and to look forward as well as back.

Interest in the first world war has remained steady and, I think, grown in recent years not because people want to glorify it, but because they appreciate that it was the worst war. The conditions under which men fought day after day on both sides were quite incomprehensible to the ordinary person. The fact that the men kept going with such tenacity, loyal comradeship, discipline and good humour shows that the real hero of the war was mankind. It shows that human beings can rise to great heights of behaviour. Arguably, that happened in an unfortunate cause in that they were all killing each other, but their behaviour and the way in which they were loyally committed to their fellow human beings was quite extraordinary. I think that people accept that. That is why they are interested in the vestiges of the first world war and that is why such tourism continues and why people still read up books about it. Passchendaele is the most extreme example of that.

Haig's basic idea was that we needed to break through to capture the channel ports to prevent the German submarines from sinking all our ships. That was a good idea, as we were under extreme pressure from possible starvation. Unfortunately, however, he had not studied the drainage system or the weather forecast for the area, so his unfortunate troops had to fight in a permanent swamp in conditions that were worse than had ever been the case elsewhere. We are quite right to support those who want to commemorate those events.

The Scots made an above-average contribution to the war and all the Scottish regiments that are listed in the motion made a big contribution. It is unfortunate that Scots like my father, who fought in the Royal Artillery in the Ypres Salient and elsewhere, do not get a mention, but we cannot have everything. The commemorations are a good cause and I hope that the Executive will support them. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend, because I will be celebrating my golden wedding and it might be considered a bad thing if I was not present for that.