To think we are being lined up for something?

Could you give is the link please ?

Here's a good podcast on what lies behind the suggestion of this scheme: listen from beginning until at least 5 mins in

Good for you. My concern is that children are not getting the right advice. As you have proved, children can surprise us once they spread their wings.

Perhaps such a scheme as outlined by Sunak might well help many children. If nothing else, he at least knows the problems facing children whose family ancestors came from other parts of the world.

Presumably @Iwasafool this thought re ‘those who take money from the Government should give something back’ by its very nature should include ALL people who take money from the Government.

Or is it just people furloughed in a pandemic. A relatively short time rearly in the grand scale of things.

Most of my family were working because that was the reality for teachers, nurses, midwives, doctors.

They didn't choose furlough but they took plenty of money so why shouldn't they give something back rather than kids who had no choice either but didn't get anything for it.

I think I might be a boomer and I think its a ridiculous idea. It appeals to flag waving types. Anything beginning with the words " bring back" is just silly.

Poor kids can't even get a volunteering role for D of E.

?

.

My dh was the same.
His comp school told him to go the the factories near him. He went to Uni and became an architect.
I was told not to study Architecture because it doesn’t fit in with family life and I’m a girl it’s not what girls do by my school.

Its all about spreading your wings, opening your eyes and trying something out that you may never have had an opportunity to try.

How old are you @Iwasafool Cos people didnt choose furlough They were forced into it. You would have been one of the first to complain had they tried to illegally go to work. OR perhaps im wrong and you supported the guy who was fined for opening his gym.

So which is it?

How about the people who were getting paid for doing nothing on furlough do a bit of volunteering? I'm sure some do but maybe compulsory volunteering for the rest would be useful.

If 18+ children had had some sort of national military or social service training, would they have been able to help more in the pandemic?

Local authorities were suppposed to set up emergency Committees for dealing with accidents and diseases on a large scale, yet when it came to the pandemic, they did not even have enough PPE in store, or any preparation for lockdowns.

The memory of that might be in Sunak's mind. Also, the best carers are from Africa, because they are taught at an early age to honour their parents and care for them in old age. Britain is short of carers, short of a lot of people to do with care. If training as a nursing assistant, or paramedic and other positions was included in the compulsory social service, or even military service includes training as medics, would it not be worth it?

Some young people may discover that they were able to excel in something they never thought to do.

Lining up for … Labour 100% open borders.

Precisely my point.

I am not sure about that. I remember there was a programme on BBC TV - which highlighted prospects for children for careers. How many parents know what prospects their children have for careers? Are there career officers in their area, in their schools? Do children even know what careers are available for them? Are schools labelling children before they even pass them on to a careers expert?

Perhaps some form of military or social service would give some 18 year olds an idea of what is possible for them. Many children grow up believing that they will work in the local factory as their parents did, because no one has told them they don't have to.

I will not forget that one child wanted to go into the medical profession. She wanted to be a doctor.

When the teacher was asked if that was possible, the teacher replied that the family is poor and she was unlikely to achieve the goal so better she was guided into a career which was more in keeping with her family background. (or words to that effect as it was some time ago)

Now that appalled me. It might not other people, and that is the problem. There has always been a shortage of career teachers in schools, which could be why children leave school without an aim in life. It could be why children see no future in exams.

I once asked a child why he wasn't at school, and he said school was useless, that he wanted to be a mechanic and they didn't learn anything at school for that. It is heartbreaking when children cannot see the benefits of education. I told the lad that the point of school apart from learning a particular subject was to show future employers that his brain was capable of taking in knowledge and remembering it for exams. I like to think he took notice of that.

My brother joined the territorial army in the early 00s, and did a tour of Iraq II. The TAs were used a lot in security and patrols, looking for snipers and IUDs, escorts and the like. They were very well-trained and were valuable in supporting the regular army (they were far better trained than the American regulars). However, after Iraq they had a lot of funding pulled and my brother left because the training standards severely dropped. I think it would be a far better idea to beef up the TAs again, recruiting from tec industries to increase the expertise in tactical intelligence and drones, and the like.

My uncle was destined for the coal mines. Without Conscription his talent in maths would never have been recognised (his village school was absolutely hopeless and most boys ended up doing work for the coal pits - above or under ground). Conscription meant that he finished his time in the army as a major.

I don't think there was ns between the wars, however a number of young men joined the volunteer reserves, as my grandad did because they could see the likelihood of another war and wanted to be prepared, and also choose to a certain extent what they did.
My grandad joined the rafvr in 1938 and reckoned that extra year training before war broke out could have well saved his life. Once the Battle of Britain was underway the people arriving often had less than 2 weeks training. They used to reckon if they survived their first sorted then they had a 50/50 chance of surviving the next, and if they survived that one, then a good chance of managing long term. Not many did.

My DF born in 1932 did NS. He did it in the RAF and learned to fly (which he loved). Wasn’t too keen on military life so didn’t stay on in the RAF which they offered at the end of his NS stint.

After he died I went through his paperwork and found his old flying log books

My dad was born in 1934 and I don't think he did it, he never mentioned it anyway, both parents are dead now so I can't ask them. FIL born 1939, don't know if that's included was in the forces anyway.

The plan is for this to be for kids not in employment, education or training.

And the ones doing military/ cyberintelligence get paid.

My Dad (who died recently at 84), did everything he could to avoid national service, as did a lot of his contemporaries - it was something they absolutely did not want to do. He managed to escape it in the end by becoming an accountancy apprentice (which wasn't the career he wanted, but better that than NS). The main reason he wanted to avoid it was that his father had recently died and as the eldest, he NEEDED to be earning for the sake of his mother and sisters.

He was lucky, his family was lucky. Imagine how many families will be facing this dilemma in the cost of living crisis (which will be getting worse), when everyone in a household needs to be an earner.

My dad would NOT have been in favour of this policy, but sadly I think you're right about most of his generation. It's also worth noting that it was stopped not long after my dad's age group, so there aren't many left who actually did NS.

No. He is appealing to the boomers. Ie the youth of the today is useless and needs teaching a thing or two’ brigade.
Elders thinking the youth of today are out of control and need teaching a thing or two is something that elders have thought for hundreds of years- it’s well written about historically.
It’s just a ploy to target a certain band of potential voters.
The fact you think that everyone would hate the idea is naive but sweet

As Macron introduced it in 2021 I wonder if he’s been thinking 🤔maybe it’s a good idea if France can do it so can we.

Is it possible that Sunak discovered other political parties were thinking of including national service in their manifestos and he got in first?

It has been qualified by naming alternatives to the services. For my part I think it a very good idea. There is no doubt that the availability of apprenticeships could be higher. The military services train people in all sorts of careers, and there is nothing wrong with that.

How are career prospects for 18 year olds? I don't have figures, but can guess that openings are not exactly there in abundance. Perhaps the Government has more knowledge of employment of young people than we are aware of? The minimum wage for that age is really not much at all, and many of them are in jobs with ittle or no future, and if there is an opportunity for young adults to learn not only a trade but also the experience of life itself, learning to mix with people, how to get along with people, and more importantly, let them know there are many more types of employment than they get from teachers at school.