UK Election!

I heard some Tory in the radio talking about banning smart phones for u16…as a parent of a 13 year old and a teacher, I would almost consider voting for them to see them try!!

They want to instil pride in the youth? How about having  a functioning health service, education , affordable housing? Things to make one feel proud about, rather than 12 months square bashing.

The last people to have done national service (and who you assume would be thise voting for its return) would now be about 75.

Mind you, given the limited work abroad options nowadays it might be quite a  popular way for young folk to get to see a bit of the world [my Dad of 91 was posted to the middle east and says it was the best thing he ever did]

I love the idea of banning smartphones, St Albans are talking about doing it locally.

but it’s the most un-conservative policy I’ve heard, that party really is in a bizarre death spiral.

The only demographic in favour of National Service are the over 65’s

From a YouGov poll in Sept ’23. 64% overall oppose it, but a small majority amongst the over 65s support

https://x.com/YouGov/status/1794481011574591682

As said its just a batshit policy aimed at older demographics to stop their slide towards Reform

My dad joined up to avoid NS. He got better pay, conditions, treatment and opportunities, all for committing to 3 years instead of 1. He ultimately did 37 years, first in the REME as a Radar Tech before going to OTC and earning a commission into the Royal Signals and finally transferring to the Intelligence Corps. He always thought NS now would be a terrible idea.

Let me guess, it will be administered by Capita in a multi billion in pound contract that allows Capita to increase charges every 6 months.

rare instance of a top daily mail comment being sane

My dad’s a big fan of National Service – gave a bright lad who was too poor to stay on at school the chance to get away from a dead end factory job, travel the world for 22 years and get the skills and training to have a successful career after he came out.

The fact that he was very much an exception to the rule rather passes him by. The fact that the Forces are also opposed to the idea is also a minor issue.

We are about 10 years too late to ban smart phones, and banning them just shifts responsibility from the parents who should be overseeing what their kids do with them. Though there was a delicious irony at seeing a patent interviewed yesterday saying “How would we keep in touch with our kids when they are out without them?” How the **** did your parents keep in touch with you without them? And more importantly,  did it even matter?

And maybe if you took the money for this shitty National Service scheme and invested it in family support, youth services, community projects, groups like Scouting and Guiding, sports clubs etc etc, maybe kids would have more structure,  self respect, social responsibility.

Crazy talk.

The last people to have done national service (and who you assume would be thise voting for its return) would now be about 75.

My dad is 84 and missed the chance by a year, there are very few alive who saw National Service.

The last people to have done national service (and who you assume would be thise voting for its return) would now be about 75.

bit older- my Dad would have been 81 now and NS was cancelled by a few years when he was old enough.

My dad’s a big fan of National Service – gave a bright lad who was too poor to stay on at school the chance to get away from a dead end factory job

Nothing stopping him signing up as a regular. That’s what my Dad’s brother did- him and 3 pals signed up a 16 as there wasn’t much options in the valleys other than down the pit. He had to get his papers signed by my Granddad (who’d been out drinking) as my Nan was against it (she lost 3 uncles in WWI).

The mobile phones thing is another no starter and hanging onto the past. They are totally integrated into society at all levels. What would make sense is teaching kids to use them responsibly. Banning them in schools is a retrograde step. They should be used where appropriate to teach critical search skills and phone use etiquette.

They will be proposing to send convicts to Australia next, oh………

Edit £2.5bn for the NS crackpot scheme. How many collapsing schools would that rebuild, I think spending it directly on the education sector would be much more productive, but then it’s a knee jerk unfunded policy spasm so really not worth worrying about.

Is there any policy content left to pinch? I remember when that book was satire…

@ernielynch they’re not fighting this election, they’re just setting up for 2029.

Is Alan Partridge writing the Tory policies now? Might as well be. Monkey Tennis anyone?

I reckon they have just shot down their 2029 chances with this latest nonsense.

There’s a million volunteer youth that will need supervisors. Those supervisors will need training to manage a youthful workforce who won’t accept the crap from supervisors the older population tolerate.

I can’t see any problems forthcoming,can anyone else? </sarcasm off>

sure it’ll get a load of support from the boomers who harp on about WW2 even though they were likely not born then.

That’s bollocks. We know directly from our dads how shit being shot at is.

Let’s hope so. 2034 as well with a bit of luck.

Farage on Sky this morning being a blatant racist POS.

No shame in him, no self awareness just lightning a fire and running off to the US to rabble rouse.

Can’t face the electorate just giving up a certain section of the population another stick to beat people who don’t look like you.

Service brings citizenship! Do you want to know more?

someone’s been watching Starship Troopers after a Friday night coke and champers binge…

Would this apply if I travelled to the UK in a small boat and then claimed it was initiative-led training for National Service in the SBS and I could then become a citizen? Or do I still get sent to Rwanda?

Couple of questions:
1. How does national service in other countries work where it is successful?
2. What would need to be done for it to work in the UK?

In Norway the reason it works is because they only have capacity for about 17% of eligible young people.  In Sweden it’s even less than that.

That means it is seen as something to aspire to and work towards and it means they can be very selective.  Looks good on the CV at the end of the day, and some folk decide they quite enjoy it and stick with it as a career.

Rethinking Conscription: The Scandinavian Model

I think it might actually work quite well from a certain point of view in the UK.  I suspect it would become a goal of a lot of ambitious middle class parents to get their children conscripted.    I suspect Daily Mail readers might be a bit less keen on sending their kids to invade various countries if it was their kids who were going to be killed and maimed.

But yes, this is without a doubt not what the Tories/Sunak were thinking about when it was announced.  If he was thinking about anything at all.

My dad’s a big fan of National Service – gave a bright lad who was too poor to stay on at school the chance to get away from a dead end factory job, travel the world for 22 years and get the skills and training to have a successful career after he came out.

22 years isn’t national service!

Joining the army famously turned Norman Wisdom’s life round, I am sure that there are plenty of similar examples.

Hopefully they’ll bring back Dad’s Army as an alternative to walking football.

If it’s ain’t half hot mum I’m in

Coming up next in the ’24 Tory manifesto… Oversize registration plates on the front and rear of all bicycles. 😆

An uncharacteristically self-aware comment from Farage:

Nigel Farage, the honorary president of Reform UK, said the proposal for mandatory national service was a “joke” and designed to appeal to his party’s voters.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/26/no-one-going-to-jail-for-avoiding-uk-national-service-says-cleverly

Damage limitation.

Home secretary says teenagers will not face criminal sanction

So it turns out that compulsory national service will in fact, for all intents and purposes, be voluntary.

They have 6 weeks to turn round polls which have been dire for 2 years and they want to spend that time talking nonsense.

This is the first Tory policy announcement of the general election campaign FFS.

Hopefully they’ll bring back Dad’s Army as an alternative to walking football.

I should like to volunteer for for Dad’s Army!

This is the first Tory policy announcement of the general election campaign FFS.

If this is their opening gambit, just imagine the crap they’re going to be tossing off in 5 weeks time. I’m sure these 5 weeks are going to seem like an eternity for all of us

I think Armando should revive Malcolm Tucker for the duration of the campaign to give a running commentary on Rishi’s activity

”So which **** thought it was a good idea to stand outside the Titanic centre … THE ****ING TITANIC CENTRE in a ****ing life jacket? Jesus, the headlines virtually wrote them-****ing-selves!!!

And this morning you’re telling the voters of leafy suburbs that you don’t want their kids doing their ****ing A levels! Oh no, instead you’re going to give them a gun and pack them off to ****ing Afghanistan!!! Are you totally ****ing mental!!!

That’s bollocks. We know directly from our dads how shit being shot at is.

Eh?

But yes, this is without a doubt not what the Tories/Sunak were thinking about when it was announced. If he was thinking about anything at all.

He was probably thinking there’s got to be a few Tory donors, ministers, friends etc who could suddenly start a military uniform business. Maybe repurpose some of their vast experience from running medical scrubs businesses during Covid.

And obviously it’ll need some sort of admin body to be given millions of pounds a year to run it all. Matt Hancock’s pub landlord could probably do that on the side.

It’s all about the grift. Follow the money trail, there’ll be a Tory or 3 with very deep pockets at the end of it all receiving our taxes and still failing to actually deliver anything.

It’s all about the grift. Follow the money trail,

This is usually the right answer, but here it’s wrong. There is no money. There is no costing. There is no plan. There is no intention to do any of this stuff. The announcement was the beginning, middle and end of the policy. It’s over. On this thread we have spent more time discussing the proposal than was ever spent developing it. They’ve already moved on to pet ASBOs.

I would, however, like to propose that 18 year old Brits and asylum seekers are paired up and sent to Rwanda. Whoever can get back to the UK first gets to stay. They’re allowed to speak to Bear Grylls for 10 minutes a day by WhatsApp. If they can answer an increasingly difficult series of questions about Life In The UK, they can skip a country – say they get to go from Togo to Ceuta directly instead of having to do Libya. also, they can get sponsors to put their logo on the front of their shirts, and the money can be used to pay their debt to people smugglers. The top 3 finishers can nominate a member of their family for an urgent medical operation. Simon Cowell can sell the TV rights to raise money for HM Treasury.

How is this “national” service canard going down in Northern Ireland, I wonder?

There is no money. There is no costing. There is no plan. There is no intention to do any of this stuff.

It appears that not for the first time, I am completely wrong. Or at least 75% wrong: I still think the last sentence is correct.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/leaked-tory-briefing-note-doesnt-32894713

0898 Hear me Mone

There is no opportunity cost with government spending. Just whatever they want to do.

The magic show of lack of money is just to turn voters inside out.

Of course with Tories there’s always the cash to make people’s lives worse.

Of course with Tories there’s always the cash to make people’s lives worse.

Yep – we’re not going to build a new railway or resolve the doctor pay issue or train strikes cos they cost too much. But we’re going to spaff billions up the wall in a Rwanda policy that might, if it ever works, make the lives of maybe 300 already desperate people slightly worse.

The National Service announcement has been spectacularly successful. A random policy that has completely distracted people from the more important subjects such as Rachel Reeves ruling out further tax increases or Hunt’s unfunded £67 billion abolition of National Insurance ambition.

Or the fact that there will be no flights to Rwanda before the election which means it has, aside from being bitterly nasty a complete waste of money. Cleverley was doing the TV shows this morning and should have been roasted on that.

Oh look a squirrel!