Military conscription

Op you mentioned WW3 and conscription, I think if we got to WW3 things we'd be past conscription, weapons have moved on a bit since WW2. If our troops need to defend Nato there won't be instant conscription but things escalate and once we've stepped over that line into fighting for our liberty no one is going to back down until someone wins. No one wants war, I don't want war and I don't want conscription but there is a lot of political instability right now and things could deteriorate. Would you just sit in your house and wait to be captured or will you fight? None of us really know how we would feel but humans have an inate instinct to defend themselves when threatened.

Sadly, if not this, then that.

And I am a little off with this weird narrative that it was really British inaction that somehow made Germany do what Germany did.

There are all sorts of counterfactuals that you can work as an academic exercise if you can't leave the house. But at some point you end up realising that when history moves in tides, using a teaspoon to try and shift an ocean will have no effect. Even if you used a million teaspoons.

And ultimately whatever view you may or may not have or form about various countries behaviours in the past, unless you actually use it to inform the future, along with enough people to make a difference, then it's all rather moot.

Also during the war the Allies could have bombed the trains going into the camps and saved literally millions but again wasn't considered a priority.

A couple of points:

Bombing the trains would have killed the people inside them.

The Germans were very efficient at repairing railway lines and no trains would have just meant people walking instead. Like they had to towards the end of the war.

No I didn't but I'm just a little bitter from the fact a very large chunk of my family was wiped out and considered collateral damage because of that reluctance.

Also during the war the Allies could have bombed the trains going into the camps and saved literally millions but again wasn't considered a priority.

Just because something is understandable doesn't mean it was right or people can't have feelings about it.

My grandfathers were in reserved occupation in the stew world in South Wales. I am lucky that neither went to war. My maternal grandfather was part of the Home Guard.

You do know ww2 only got as bad as it did because the British Government appeased Hitler and let him cross the line repeatedly and bought war to British door steeps?

Had you lived through WW! (you didn't) and had you lost all your brothers, your father and his brothers (you didn't) your husband and your sons (you didn't) then maybe, just maybe, you would have felt that nothing would be too great a price to pay to avoid it happening again.

We have hindsight. They didn't.

My DGM was generally very laid back. But when I started getting "into politics" and asked why people couldn't see how evil Hitler was at the time she got quite stern and explained the above to me. She didn't blame those who desperately tried to avert war. If I remember correctly it was her that mentioned Kipling .....

I am far too old to be conscripted, but would join the Home Guard. My Nan was in the ARP in WW2, so maybe I could do that.

Weirdly the ones who have never seen a moments military service

You do know ww2 only got as bad as it did because the British Government appeased Hitler and let him cross the line repeatedly and bought war to British door steeps?

It's all good and well saying well we aren't being invaded so why should we go is not obscenely selfish it's also incredibly stupid because tyrants don't stop they want more and more.

Also without conscription the British Forces aren't large enough any more to take any invading force on.

Yes I have served and ultimately anyone that wants to live in a free country should serve. Including you OP, your children, your partner and your great aunt Nora.

Sorry, intended to quote this above.

Coming to their aid doesn't mean the UK and all other NATO countries would immediately round up every able-bodied adult and ship them off to Poland with a gun, obviously. They'd send their professional armies first, including people who joined up voluntarily, and conscription would only happen as a last resort if that still wasn't enough to counter the Russian army and it eventually looked like they might pose a genuine threat to the UK. If things got that far then nuclear war would be a real possibility, making conscription a moot point anyway. Fortunately I think Russia has neither the capability nor the desire to invade the UK (to be honest, I doubt they have serious intentions to invade Poland either), so this is highly unlikely to happen.

I think any fetish for men with guns does not lie with the general population but rather with some world leaders!

My guess is that there would be a mass revolt by conscriptees.

People are so fixated on the idea that "conscription"="military service" (which does suggest a rather worrying underlying fetish for men with guns).

It's much more likely that "conscription" will entail working in a role as directed by the government whether you like it or not. More like a Workfare draft.

Mind you, if I am wrong, and we really need strapping young men to be targets, then some folk will feel pretty silly for rejecting all the fighting age men that were trying to get to the UK.

Quite.
Everyone had the wool pulled over their eyes, and more recently by Tony Blair and his WMD pronouncements.

We are now in a situation where everyone has access to non stop news and we know a larger amount of what is going on. People can decide for themselves more. They are not going to walk docilely into putting themselves at risk based on central dictat.

In the last war people were huddled round radios catching infrequent bulletins. That is not how it works now. We are bombarded with up to date news and political commentary.

My guess is that there would be a mass revolt by conscriptees.

I completely agree with you. I don't want my my child anywhere near that, and I hope I can take their place.

It lies with us to ensure that future never happens. As it always has.

As I approach a date with the grim reaper, I can't help but feel I - and my entire generation and the generations either side - have massively fucked up. And all we have to offer to the subsequent generations is a limp "Sorry".

As a derail, until you reverse Brexit, any attempts at fixing the economy are window dressing at best.

The UK was never at risk of an invasion in WW1.

We now know that in WW2 there was also no risk of invasion. However they didn't know that at the time.

History: It helps.

They absolutely should be sending unfit middle aged people and older and hope they do if there is a choice. Young people are the future.

I strongly suspect that those conscripted now might not be as docile and compliant as those in the same situation in the last 2 world wars.
Young people are more politically aware and will baulk at giving their lives to causes that have been decided by the chaps behind the desks whose views they might disagree with and who are complicit in creating the war scenario in the first place.
I think any UK government who mooted conscription would be very aware of the possibility of a mass revolt.
In any event 21st century warfare is a whole new ballgame technologically and uneducated non-specialist troops would be of limited value. The cannon fodder of the 1st WW is not what is needed.

I absolutely hate the idea of it. We have a young son and I’m terrified that one day he will be called up. War is brutal and I just wish it didn’t happen

Of course it won't be easy! No one wants war! The idea of my precious child being conscripted makes me feel physically sick. I'd rather take their place, but I doubt they need an unfit middle aged person. But just like our grandparents/great grandparents, if we need to step up to protect our country I know we will.

Can you link to proof that is what he meant? I saw him bring interviewed and don't recall him mentioning Farage.

I don’t disagree with you on the Tories bit, which is why I said government to not mean just the current one. However, I do disagree with you on the point that they are trying to fix things. What have they tried to fix, exactly? They are doing the opposite of growing the economy, still spending wildly, have done nothing for education, want to remove trial by jury for many cases etc etc. All they do is meddle and create more laws. The previous 14 years were no better though, so little achieved and so much spent, I despair.