Sunak promises to introduce mandatory national service for 18 year olds

[Wilf]

eenagers are good at procrastination, surliness and dismissive sneering, so you could deploy half of them as neurology consultants and the other half as receptionists for GPs.

I've liked that, but in doing so have probably made myself a target voter for this shite.

 

[philosophical]

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Obviously not going for the youth votes. Sounds like they want to cling to the grey hair 'propper Britain for propper british' daily mailers that were considering the new tory light Labour.

 

[two sheds]

I'm sure some voters will think this is great but teenage kids have parents and grandparents who can vote. This will lose more votes than it gains.

I dunno I've never wanted kids but if I had I can imagine wanting to get rid of them for a few years, possibly from ages 14 to 25 though.

 

[kebabking]

I dunno I've never wanted kids but if I had I can imagine wanting to get rid of them for a few years, possibly from ages 14 to 25 though.

Sensible policies for a happier Britain.

 

[MickiQ]

I dunno I've never wanted kids but if I had I can imagine wanting to get rid of them for a few years, possibly from ages 14 to 25 though.

They come back and bring hangers-on with them, Eldest is 35 and has her own kids and we seem to see far more of her than we ever did when she was 21 and supposedly lived in this house.
I have asked my own Gen Z'er what she thought.
I'm 5'1" and a girl Dad probably not SAS material but we're going paintballing in a couple of months so I might change my mind, I'll let you know

 

[freshapple]

I'll bite.. Why?

Because isn’t it voluntary?

 

[freshapple]

It’s a stupid, ridiculous, desperate idea which will/would never work imho

 

[Oriole]

I see no possible way this carefully thought out plan might be derailed when it is rolled out in Northern Ireland.

 

[kebabking]

It’s a stupid, ridiculous, desperate idea which will/would never work imho

Ok, it's a desperate flag waved for purely electoral purposes by a bunch of spivs who have no interest in defence or social cohesion.

On the substance, why is it that socially liberal, politically and socially cohesive countries - with some of the highest 'happiness' scores in Europe - can have national service/conscription (Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway etc...) but if it happened in the UK it would be the Greatest Afront to Humanity Evah/the last step into a totalitarian hellscape?

I'm genuinely interested in the political/societal difference that you think apply?

 

[Ming]

Well it will train a lot of now pissed off young people weapon handling and infantry tactics. I wonder if the Tories have thought this through.

 

[Wilf]

On cue, Admiral West describes the scheme as 'bonkers'.

 

[Epona]

Disrespectful Wretch #1 WhatsApp'd me this morning to ask if I was in charge of this goat rodeo - upon learning that it's nothing to do with me, she became more upbeat, and suggested that in that case, it might work.

Honestly, my children are such cunts.

I always think the term goat rodeo sounds not only much more benign, but also a lot more fun and cute, than any application of the term for this sort of use.

 

[Gerry1time]

I've been trying to think about this proposed 'policy' a few times since it was announced, and every time I do my brain just does this.

 

[two sheds]

Nobody would go to jail for refusing to comply with National Service under a Conservative government, the home secretary has said.

The prisons are full so they'll just be taken out and shot?

 

[moochedit]

The prisons are full so they'll just be taken out and shot?

Don't worry i have a cunning plan...

 

[eatmorecheese]

Did Sunak find this policy, recommended in some Conservative association minutes from 1973, down the back of the piano at Chequers after having a meltdown with his spads on Saturday evening?

Like so much of politics right now, this will make a shit film one day.

 

[Limejuice]

In times like these, we must turn to the one true oracle of government policy...

 

[skyscraper101]

It just reeks of trying to out-Reform, Reform. It’s just more Sunak nonsense like ‘more Maths’ that will never happen. Just like the Tory re-election.

 

[Dogsauce]

I'm all for Tory vote being split between Reform and Cons. Hopefully it'll help destroy both parties.

I worry about Reform doing too well, getting a foothold, being taken (and promoted) more seriously in the media, becoming the defacto opposition while the tories eat themselves, and then recipients of disillusioned voters when Starmer goes tits up. I’d almost accept more Tory MPs if it meant Tice and his rancid bunch of bigots and climate change deniers shrivelled into nothing and never came back.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Sunak really wants out, doesn't he? Can't leave it to chance. He needs to make sure he's out good and proper. And he'll take as many of his colleagues with him as he can.

 

[Humberto]

Sunak really wants out, doesn't he? Can't leave it to chance. He needs to make sure he's out good and proper. And he'll take as many of his colleagues with him as he can.

It's a few bob for the lad.

 

[GarveyLives]

"National service would engage young people in society again when "too many live in their own bubble", Home Secretary James Cleverly has told the BBC. ...

... Too many young people are living in their own bubble, whether that's a digital bubble or a social bubble.

"We want to get back to a situation where young people are mixing with people - in different areas, different economic groups, different religions - to try and find a way of addressing the kind of fragmentation that we see too much of ..."

​

Rishi Sunak’s national service pledge is ‘bonkers’, says ex-military chief

The "policy" proposal will, however, undoubtedly be a success if it helps to divert attention away from issues like this:

​

 

[xenon]

Why is anyone even seriously debating this. It’s just another Tory brain fart. But it’s one they guff out every three years. So much so bring back national service is an actual Cliché.

Not to say there isn’t merit in doing some kind of national service. But this is not a plan.

 

[bcuster]

The UK is preparing for war

 

[Plumdaff]

Telling the teenagers who've had their entire adolescence and schooling completely disrupted by Covid lockdowns and restrictions (and have mostly borne it with good grace because they understood it was for the greater good to protect the vulnerable) that they live in a bubble and without joining the army for a year they'll never understand sacrifice is a fucking joke, btw.

This completely unworkable policy is only designed to appeal to a portion of one generation who have been convinced that a massive transfer of wealth to them via property prices is actually due to their personal genius and hard work, and that despite being too young for national service they were somehow morally responsible for the Allied victory in WW2.

 

[moochedit]

Why is anyone even seriously debating this. It’s just another Tory brain fart. But it’s one they guff out every three years. So much so bring back national service is an actual Cliché.

Not to say there isn’t merit in doing some kind of national service. But this is not a plan.

only simalar thing i can think of is the "big society" crap of camerons but i don't think military service was mentioned unless my memory is faulty.

It maybe bollocks and never actually happen (even if they were elected by some miracle) but they said it so we'll debate it.

 

[GarveyLives]

Why is anyone even seriously debating this.

To avoid confronting the fact that the current Prime Minister and his organisation are being funded to the tune of £15m by an individual who has reportedly called for a current Member of Parliament to be put to death.

 

[albionism]

After the way the youth have been utterly betrayed by the coffin dodgers in the UK,
this is taking the piss and has absolutely zero chance of working.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I'm genuinely interested in the political/societal difference that you think apply?

The armed forces in the countries you listed are actual defence forces.

Whereas your lot couldn't defend a duck from water. They're a force-projection outfit. An increasingly pathetic one at that.