National Service if Tories are re-elected

[MaryMaryVeryContrary]

Thoughts? 🍿

They are proposing cyber security national service etc

Yes we have nato exercise but these are more extensive.

The biggest joke about Brexit was we have a combined French / UK force and even share the aircraft carrier using their planes etc

What would be the plan to 'punish' those who simply didn't turn up for Nat Service/'volunteering'? The current guidance is to not arrest actual criminals because the prisons are overcrowded so that can't be an option. Also Data Protection, Safeguarding etc. would prevent a huge number of individuals being able to work for the organisations that are being suggested. It's all utterly bonkers. I'm not ignoring the potential threat from countless sources and we could probably do with a wealth of hard working, keen, patriotic young men and women all eager to do their best for King and Country.... but really, that ship sailed a long time ago and this is an absolutely idealistic, unrealistic idea. Rishi is clearly very sick of his day job.

But that's my point, not every one born in the boomer generation had it as easy as younger people thought. I'm speaking from my experience and of people I know. I'm glad if you as a working class person made it to uni at that time, the removal of the grammar school system meant that few of us did and none of my working class friends did. Most working class people who got a degree in my age group went to a.poly. Bristol may just have had a shit education system in the 80s

Why would 70 year olds want it when they didn’t have to do it themselves?

I said if the 18 year olds should do it then everyone should do it. I don’t really care whether it was easy or not growing up as a boomer, it’s not relevant, and if it wasn’t that’s no justification for why anyone else should suffer. It’s quite clear who this policy is designed to appeal to.

Today’s kids have had the roughest schooling in living history after Covid coupled with appalling cuts to education, and yet again they’re hearing the message that they have to make the biggest sacrifices to “serve” the country that has done nothing for them.

i hope the Tories burn after this election. And for 30 of my 40 something years I voted Conservative. I don’t hope they burn because I don’t like the idea of NS, but rather because I’m utterly sick of them pitching young against old and dividing society.

I am very puzzled over this.

Only a small proportion of the 18 year olds would go into a full-time one-year military post, even according to their plans. It's not going to solve the military recruitment crisis or reverse the cuts.

As for the rest of it, as far as I'm aware, anyone including 18-year-olds, can already volunteer one weekend a month! If it's not compulsory and there's no penalty if you don't do it, then you can do it. Lots of universities have ties with voluntary organizations and lots of students volunteer already, but the key problem is most need jobs and can't take 1 in 4 weekends off.

Charging students £9k or more a year, then limiting their earning power by not allowing them to earn the full adult minimum wage and then further limiting it by not allowing them to work all weekends- this generation is being further shafted!

If they want to introduce an expansion of the Reserves, or set an example by volunteering one weekend in four themselves- crack on!

Is he trying to lose?

It would seem so, it's been quite the few days.

Great idea! My Swiss ex bf did national service and they trained him as a chef as part of it - he obviously left NS being able to cook great meals.

i don’t see what the problem is with NS, can anyone let me know what the issue is please as my ex bf had a marvellous time learning.

🎶 who do you think you are kidding 🎵

This exactly. And let loads of people get out of it with flimsy excuses

He can just fuck off if he thinks my son who will be starting uni in 2025 will be doing this national service instead.

Sorry, I'm too passed off with this idea to be coherent

Well anyone aged 60 or so has children and I don’t want my kids in national service but if you are 70 or 80 maybe you have older kids who are too old.

Either he’s trying to alarm us or he is completely crazy. However he seems in some ways quite an intelligent person so that makes me alarmed.

He surely would realise it would cause upset, panic and fear. How can that win an election?

@DorisDoesDoncaster training people properly in skills like being a chef, or cyber security or the regular army is costly, it's a huge investment to train them to do this. Given we haven't worked out how to do this well in the education system yet, why would we set up yet another likely underfunded system- who is going to train all these young people? The money won't be poured into this, which is why the military probably don't want them either, how is it an effective use of their time to train someone to do a job for a year?

Yep I can see that happening..

Sigh - did they learn nothing from brexit?
They basically want to introduce a policy that will only affect those who aren’t able to vote/have their say in it. Yet again screwing over a whole generation who just have to accept the consequences of an ill thought out policy.
I’m all for encouraging volunteering - they could adapt the useless ncs programme but compulsory??? When so many children aren’t even able to access school properly? it’s shameful.
A plaster trying to hold together a gaping wound.

I'm beginning to wonder if something's brewing - haven't we just been encouraged to stockpile 3 days' water and tinned food? And now this.

Think I might build myself a shelter in the garden this bank holiday.

Well anyone aged 60 or so has children and I don’t want my kids in national service but if you are 70 or 80 maybe you have older kids who are too old.

Grandkids?

Thanks someone else can see what is staring us in the face!

I remember hearing about an infection in China and a few thousand people and then everyone went off for ski holidays to Italy!

2025? Oh, fuck off.

You can't even update a 6th form admissions policy to have the date on the top of the page changed in 12 months - it has to be done 18 months in advance (and consulted on for at least 6 weeks prior to determination if it's any more detailed or it's 7 years since the last consultation), so actually needs to be started around 2 years beforehand.

Like fuck are they going to be able to get as far as setting official parameters of operation for a commission, hold the things, get all the costings and logistics, make changes to laws to include what happens when 94% of middle England and 92% of poor urbanites tell them to fuck right off.

It's got to be a deliberate 'actually, we don't want to be seen to be in power, so we'll just take our severance cash and see you later' ploy. They know it can't be done. Not technically, not legally, not politically.

If you were 11 in 1980 you were born about 1969? You're not a boomer mate. I think you have to be born 1964 or before to be a boomer.

I am, just. Born 1962. And yes I was born in to a working class family and went to the local state school. While it is true that far fewer people went to University than now I really think the percentages you quote are way lower than average.

And it just isn't true that only the polys would take state school pupils. I went to what would now be called Russell Group and some of my peers went to Oxford or Cambridge. Oh and the grants were pretty good. I got a full grant and could make ends meet.

However, this doesn't have much to do with National Service and I don't suppose most boomers did it anyway. Actually the only person I know who did it is my 93 years old FIL, though by all accounts he had a great time!

This scheme isn't to start til Sept 2025 and so the first cohort wouldn't go through til Sept 2026. If it's going to all kick off, I don't think a lot of bewildered 18 year olds are going to save us.

18 year old was busy at University having a good time and also studying. I wouldn't have been able to volunteer 1 weekend a month.

Other friends were travelling. So how could they volunteer?
When I finished my 1st year, I had a family holiday and also worked full time. I also moved back home so I would have not been able to volunteer on one that was set up.

Volunteering doesn't just happen. You need to do checks, safeguards and make sure the volunteer is taken care of. Or else it becomes difficult to organise.

You know in Clarkson's Farm when Jeremy has an idea and then Charlie tells him what's wrong with it and why he can't do it. This sounds like Sunak

Christ as if being 18 year old isn't hard enough in todays world without the gammons wanting kids in the army

Well for one thing, one of the constituent countries of the UK is still recovering from a long and bloody civil war that only ended 25 years ago with the effects still felt across society today. Half of that country may live in the UK but they aren't British citizens, although they could choose to be if they liked.

Telling those people that they need to serve the UK would not be a wise idea and would destabilise a remarkable peace process.

But no one, especially the Tories, ever seems to care about that. Infuriating.