Mandatory National Service for 18 yr olds Sunak decrees

[Heavenssakes]

How do you feel about mandatory National Service for 18 year olds - Sunak says he will introduce it if he wins election.

This is so not what I want for my DC, nor something they want to do. 1 years military service, when they have worked hard towards getting into Uni, and developing a career?

It's like steppng back into the 1950s.

Only saving grace, I can't imagine the forces wanting or being able to deal with thousands of press-ganged kids.

I fear for Sunak's sanity.

https://news.sky.com/story/sunak-says-he-will-bring-back-national-service-if-tories-win-general-election-13143184

As usual he hasn't considered Northern Ireland and seems to have lost the plot completely. There's not a hope in hell that he'd be able to implement this, see what happened when the armed forces tried to advertise for recruits in a highly sensitive location - https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/mod-apologises-for-raf-recruitment-billboard-placed-near-bloody-sunday-massacre-site-in-derry/29884050.html

They have literally just stopped the funding for the NCS.
You couldn't make it up.

Blimey, really?!

Massively hacked away funding anyway:

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/national-citizen-service-trust-s-income-dropped-by-69-in-four-years.html

Ah thank you. So, cutting funding for the last thing that was supposed to do something in this area, in order to fund a commission to try and work out what else to do. Which might come up with something that looks remarkably similar to, er, what they just destroyed.

I find the triviality and the cynicism equally unpleasant.

Surely since Call me Dave was elected on a promise of creating a Big Society full of willing volunteers. Presumably that was a successful as all his other policies so this National Compulsory Volunteering for 18 year olds is unnecessary?

Possibly lose the ability to access things like student loans or benefits ( not just at the time but for a set period or even life).

How about Rishi puts the billions he seems to have floating around for this scheme into schools, education and training for young people.

Three days ago the Minister of Defence (Tory, obs) said...

“If potentially unwilling national service recruits were to be obliged to serve alongside the professional men and women of our armed forces, it could damage morale, recruitment and retention and would consume professional military and naval resources.

If, on the other hand, national service recruits were kept in separate units, it would be difficult to find a proper and meaningful role for them, potentially harming motivation and discipline."

😂

This is different because they will be willing voluntary National Service recruits who are doing it compulsorily.

How would it be funded? How would it be implemented around education or full time work ?

I doubt neither the Armed forces or NHS would welcome this idea anyway.

I served for a time some years ago. I would hate the idea that anyone was forced into it.

Id hate my children to be forced into doing any job, if they voluntarily joined then Id also support that.

My parents are 80yo and too young to have done National Service.
So I don't think there are enough elderly voters with pleasant memories of the good old days, at most it is the same group of gullible fools who thought Brexit would herald a new era of prosperity.
I suspect that this might finally motivate the youth voters to get involved and might therefore be the final nail in the Tory coffin.

Blimey, wonder what rishi is thinking?

Is there any evidence that he has thought previously?

SummerFeverVenice · Today 13:45
MrsSkylerWhite · Today 13:41

SummerFeverVenice
**
To be fair to the other classes, many of their young officers were slaughtered leading their men during WW1.
Not as many…disproportionally “

Fair enough. Quite happy to bow to superior knowledge.

It was all though - and I hope we’ll agree - an utter waste of young lives. Conpletely pointless.

Doubleplusgood

It’s just a last minute headline grabbing election thing - it has not been well considered or planned. See
https://x.com/huge_action/status/1794684909635899440?s=46&t=QB2e9ru2gkmvy-l0QizGCg

Its designed to distract us from the Tory engineered carnage in the NHS, unsafe drinking water, polluted rivers, Brexit damage, etc.

Nothing the tories do has been well considered or planned over the last 14 years unless it’s been to enrich themselves and people in similar circumstances.

I think it would be difficult for National Service to work in practice although obviously some countries do have it. Supervising unwilling 18-year-olds would be hard work. However, if they chose to do voluntary work once a month or chose an army placement then it could work. I thought at first that there is no way I would want by son to do it but then I saw a cyber security placement was an option and that seemed like it would be appealing to my son.

National Service/volunteerism - an effort to shift from people thinking that being British is “take-take-take” & something for nothing to a society of contribute “give back”. ??

Been thinking a lot about how a policy can change society … is it possible?

Well seeing as our 'leaders' are completely take-take-take for themselves and their friends, perhaps having a government that actually wants to serve the people and give back to society themselves would be a better start than this last minute plan that the head of the army has characterised as 'bonkers'

I could see mine being interested in that tbf. I do feel some children wouldn't be happy about the proposal considering they are struggling with school refusal. I don't know what's best anymore. It's a minefield.

Volunteering is not the right word anyway. It's not "volunteering" if you have no choice.

It's community service

When I read, not just about this stupid idea which even the forces don't want, but the further tory idea that if (18 yr old and therefore adult) kids refuse to do it, their parents could be punished, I though to myself- I wonder how that'll go down on Mumsnet....
😆