Return of conscription

[hidetheelephants]

The recruitment system is st and takes too long; expecting teenagers to wait 6 months while it does some elementary admin is farcical. Conscription would not solve this stness, it would probably make it worse.

[Sheets Tabuer]

wking and national service, two things the conservatives are obsessed with.

I left just after the gulf war and there were murmurings about it then yet we had dodgy helmets because there was no money, and no one wanted youths that didn't want to be there, the army prides itself on being a professional organisation, the last thing they want is baby sitting a load of kids because the government has no idea what to do with them.

[Dingu]

Sheets Tabuer said:

wking and national service, two things the conservatives are obsessed with.

I left just after the gulf war and there were murmurings about it then yet we had dodgy helmets because there was no money, and no one wanted youths that didn't want to be there, the army prides itself on being a professional organisation, the last thing they want is baby sitting a load of kids because the government has no idea what to do with them.

Those last two words were probably not needed.

[zarjaz1991]

How’s this going to work then? Do you get paid? If not, how are you meant to live?

And if you take the “one weekend a month” option…people are already worked to the bone during the working week. Who’s going to give up one weekend a month for no pay, to do free work for the government? ps off!

And what if you’re disabled? Or have health conditions?

What if you simply refuse? Prison? Fines? Young people have no money.

This is a very, very dangerous idea in terms of civil liberties. Don’t think because you’re older you’re safe. If they get away with this they will not stop there.

[Sheets Tabuer]

I honestly can't fathom how people could vote for the conservatives, I've been a tory voter all my life but they are so out of touch, wtf Rishi knows about life in our communities is beyond me.

He literally has no idea what life is like for anyone outside of his billionaire circle, get rid!!!!

[jdw100]

Most of today’s kids are trans so will they be serving alongside proper male soldiers for a year? What a joke.

They’ll have to have their own regiment or something.

Churchill will be rolling in his grave. No time for instagram when the bullets are flying. Putin is laughing at us right now.

Kids with their PlayStations and bubblegum vapes and hanging around with muslims…they should bring back National Service!

[Ridgemont]

jdw100 said:

Most of today’s kids are trans so will they be serving alongside proper male soldiers for a year? What a joke.

Parody post I guess? I’ll get my parrot.

[zarjaz1991]

Vote for me. I'll force your kids to join the army or work for free, if they refuse I’ll lock them up.

Real vote winner this one. Sheesh.

[Sheets Tabuer]

You went a bit mad there Ted.

[Flumpo]

eharding said:

Chris Peacock said:

They're never going to win the election so they might as well have a laugh with it.

This. Although they could have used a bit more imagination.

"Prime Minister Sunak has announced the flagship policy of adopting the Great British Youth Astronaut programme - every 18 year old will undergo 2 days of intensive astronaut training including prolonged exposure in unusual gravitational conditions using equipment at Thorpe Park our new Space Cadet education centre, thereby placing Britain at the forefront of space exploration for decades to come. Those unable to participate in the full training programme can have a go on the Dobble Tea Party ride instead"

If he’s accepting he’s lost and just having fun, he should really just start trolling all the conservative voters switching to Labour/reform or the ones saying they just won’t vote. They’re the ones he should be winding up.

He should just start dropping these and laughing himself through the next 6 weeks:

- allow building anywhere on the green belt as permitted development as long as 10% is donated to house migrants
- displaying Union Jack/flag is illegal anywhere unless an equality impact assessment is personally signed off by Dianne Abbott
- banning poppies from Remembrance Day as a sigh of aggressive colonialism
- announcing the flights to Rwanda will be updated, for each person sent to Rwanda, 250 convicted prisoners will be sent the other way to rehabilitate them in uk communities.
- climate change tax added to all British meat and dairy products, but any imported products of the same type exempt
- sign off the biggest ever increase of the tv Licence, but on the condition all local news and radio is scrapped

If he wants to go nuclear he could just start muttering Allāhu ʾakbar randomly.

[Kermit power]

119 said:

16-18 year olds have the highest unemployment rate as of March 24.

Plus, I suspect there will be a wide range of different types of job available.

How on earth do they manage that, given that it's compulsory to be in education until the age of 18 these days?

Obviously that can include working, but I'd assume there must be a very small subset of 16-18yr olds who can actually manage to put themselves into a bracket than can even be counted as unemployed?

[Kermit power]

I suspect this thread is not going the way the OP wanted if he was seeking validation of his own brilliant thinking on this subject!

[Kermit power]

eharding said:

This. Although they could have used a bit more imagination.

"Prime Minister Sunak has announced the flagship policy of adopting the Great British Youth Astronaut programme - every 18 year old will undergo 2 days of intensive astronaut training including prolonged exposure in unusual gravitational conditions using equipment at Thorpe Park our new Space Cadet education centre, thereby placing Britain at the forefront of space exploration for decades to come. Those unable to participate in the full training programme can have a go on the Dobble Tea Party ride instead"

Yeah, parody is all very funny until signs start appearing to suggest that the public sector is actually turning said parody into reality!

[Southerner]

Ridgemont said:

There is some nugget of relevance in this proposal but tossing (so to speak) it out in an election window is not how you do it.

There are around 850000 NEETs in the Uk (ONS).
There are chronic shortages in the armed forces.

The army is not geared to handle thousands of unmotivated conscripts however the reality of the geopolitical situation is that there are at least two globally significant disputes (Ukraine and Taiwan) which might easily break out into proper continental conflicts. Making this change may, and I say may with all due caveats, make sense. The forces need manpower, and current recruitment is woeful. Just bumping salaries won’t help. So something must be done.

But not as a pre election throw of chump to the aging electorate segment.

He won’t be sending people’s kids into actual warzones against their will; just no.

[croyde]

eharding said:

What else are they going to promise bring back over the next few weeks in order to give fans of the 1950's a warm glow?

Hanging?

The Birch?

Food ration books?

The Suez Crisis?

Mandatory cod-liver oil doses for school children to avoid rickets?

Skiffle?

Well they have already given us those other lovely 1950s habits of not being able to heat our homes, damp, mold and no hot water.

[Sheepshanks]

zarjaz1991 said:

And what if you’re disabled? Or have health conditions?

The Army rejects 25000 applicants per year so there’s going to be huge numbers of people who don’t qualify - or they’ll have to massively drop entry standards.

[119]

Evanivitch said:

119 said:

16-18 year olds have the highest unemployment rate as of March 24.

Plus, I suspect there will be a wide range of different types of job available.

So unpaid volunteering and less-than-minimum wage military service is the answer?

This is why we have a productivity crisis...

Where do you get the 'unpaid volunteering' from?

From what i can find, no actual details of the proposal have been given.

[grumbledoak]

We're actually going to push all this idiotic "brinkmanship" into war with Russia, aren't we? And Rishi wants out before it happens.

[BikeBikeBIke]

The military service aspect of this is a complete red herring. Nobody will do a year in the army to avoid 25 days of volunteering.

Nobody will do 25 days of volunteering either, because it's not a policy of the party who are going to win.

[borcy]

Of all the things to bring up to close a 20 point gap?