Does there, I wonder, come a time when we stop harking back to key anniversaries in both world wars?

We are soon to be blanketed in coverage to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. And it wasn’t all that long ago we marked a century since the Great War finally ended its brutal bloodshed.

Before you all scream ‘sacrilege’ at me, I’m not necessarily advocating we do but I do think we need to ponder just what purpose it serves in this day and age.

When I was growing up in the seventies and eighties, those who fought were still among us. Grandparents had fought – and often died – on the battlefield. Those who survived recalled rushing our parents into air-raid shelters, of watching dogfights in the sky or the agony of the destruction of people, homes and landmarks after bombs fell from the skies upon this fine county of ours.

For my generation, we grew up reminded of Winston Churchill’s famous quote: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

They were wise words. Buoyed by the strength of Nato and our support of the military might of the US, we intervened around the world when despots rose to prominence. Some we handled well, some disastrously. But we knew appeasement wasn’t the way forward.

But as the years passed and those with memories of living through the wars passed on, collectively we have seemed to turn our back on Churchill’s warning.

We may, outwardly, continue to stand against such forces, but internally we are in trouble.

Today, we have a war in Europe again which has sparked much recent talk of conscription or National Service should the need come. The situation is very different.

For all the war anniversaries we have marked over the decades, all the history lessons explained at the time and in our classrooms, we seem blind to the troubling mindset so many of us have adopted.

Politicians of great influence blame immigration for the nation’s woes and, with their blessing, the xenophobic among us take heart. We fight among ourselves and distrust our neighbours; we reject union with our European neighbours and continue to revel in mocking them; and we wonder why our influence has so dramatically declined on the world stage.

Britain remains great but for very different reasons than it has done in the past. And making a huge song and dance for every war anniversary isn’t going to heal our divisions by revelling in long past glories when we fought and beat foreigners.

Surely better now, in this modern world in desperate need of stability, our focus moves on to healing the divide which exists in our society; to reminding people that scapegoating minority groups or those daring to move here from overseas (a few years ago it was the Polish, now it is the poor sods who risk their lives coming across the Channel) is a lazy distraction from the failings of our decision-makers and the pervasive nature of misinformation and xenophobia spread on social media.

Perhaps, instead of focusing on commemorating battles or campaigns which will mean little to the younger generation, we instead hold days to celebrate our diversity; the wonderful multi-cultural tapestry which we have become, our shared values of safety, security and desire for peace? And, above all else, our desire to remember the lessons of the past not just to revel in the jingoism of a brutal and bloody time now confined to the history books.

Surely that is what those who fought in those wars would prefer?