News Round-Up
- “Why Sergeant Major Sunak went over the top against his team’s advice” – Tim Shipman in the Sunday Times tries to get to the bottom of why Rishi called a July election, in spite of being advised not to.
- “Labour rejects Tory National Service plan” – Labour has rejected Rishi Sunak’s ‘National Service’ plan, says the Telegraph.
- “Young royals face National Service under Sunak’s election plans” – Tories say there are limited exemptions and Prince George, his siblings and cousins would be expected to take part, according to the Telegraph.
- “This national service plan is a patronising gimmick” – The idea of bringing back national service to knock into shape teenage tearaways and long-haired layabouts was a staple of my youth, says Patrick O’Flynn in the Spectator. It’s not a serious policy.
- “Sunak is right: National Service is just what Generation Z is crying out for” – In this atomised social media age, societal cohesion needs to be rebuilt. The Prime Minister’s initiative is a great first step, according to Ken Costa in the Telegraph.
- “The Tory MPs standing down at the general election” – Many of those quitting Westminster have already secured lucrative employment, reports the Times.
- “I’m smiling at strangers and picking up dog mess. Why? I’m running as an MP” – In the Sunday Times, Rod Liddle reports from his constituency in Middlesbrough, where he’s the SDP‘s parliamentary candidate.
- “Labour is plotting the greatest assault on property rights in living memory” – Landlords are already treated as punchbags and it’s about to get worse, according to Annabel Denham in the Telegraph.
- “Labour playing ‘politics of envy’ over school tax raids, says Gillian Keegan” – The Education Secretary claims Labour’s VAT raid on private school fees will “increase pressure on state schools” and “potentially cost taxpayers up to £1.6 billion”, reports the Telegraph.
- “The war against Israel in the courts is a danger to Britain’s Armed Forces, too” – Malicious actors are exploiting the ICC and ICJ, and it will have implications far beyond the Middle East, says former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis in the Telegraph.
- “Muslim Vote frontman suggested Britain helped ‘create racism’” – Abubakr Nanabawa, the head of the Muslim Vote, says Britain created racism, reports the Telegraph. But Nigel Biggar, the author of Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, begs to differ.
- “Teachers could get legal protection from blasphemy claims” – The Conservative Party manifesto will include new statutory guidance protecting teachers from being penalised for blasphemy, reports the Times.
- “Nellie Bowles: ‘It’s not healthy to tell kids that being white is bad’” – The former New York Times journalist has written a scathing exposé of how liberal politics “went berserk”, says Celia Walden in the Telegraph.
- “Murder probe continues after woman stabbed to death on beach” – A murder probe is continuing after a woman was killed and another injured in a stabbing on a beach in Bournemouth, reports the Bournemouth Echo.
- “CCTV images of Bournemouth stabbing suspect after Amie Gray stabbed” – Police have released CCTV images of the Bournemouth stabbing suspect after 34-year-old fitness trainer Amie Gray was stabbed to death on the beach, according to the Mail.
- “Trans men ‘becoming postmenopausal’ in their 20s” – A new study has found that some women who take testosterone supplements in the hope of becomign men have bladder and bowel symptoms you’d expect to see in a woman after the menopause, reports the Telegraph.
- “NHS trust sparks backlash over internal trans guidance policy” – Senior managers at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust have signed off on the 18-page document which forces medics to accept patients’ choice of pronouns, says the Mail.
- “Ireland’s ‘progressive’ elite has fallen for a lie” – Its unilateral recognition of Palestine shows the extent to which the country’s leaders now believe total bunkum, according to Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.
- “German Minister admits ruinous home heating ordinances were merely a ‘test’ to determine ‘how far society is prepared to go in terms of climate protection’” – Eugyppius is unimpressed by the German Greens’ proposal that all new heating systems installed after 2024 in Germany use no less than 65% renewable energy.
- “Germany’s authoritarian turn” – Thomas Fazi in UnHerd reports on the increasingly authoritarian methods Germany’s liberal political class is resorting to to fend off the threat posed by the AfD.
- “Gerontocratic Tyranny” – On X, Louise Perry says it’s a bit rich of Sunak to tell young people they’ll either have to join the Army or ‘volunteer’ to help old people with their shopping, given that they’ve already been asked to make sacrifices for the elderly and been given nothing in return.
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Young royals face National Service under Sunak’s election plans The ‘National Service’ scheme proposed will be established by a royal commission bringing in expertise from across the military and from civil society to establish the details of the programme. Youngsters choosing to volunteer for one weekend a month for a year will be helping local fire, police and NHS services as well as local charities tackling loneliness and supporting elderly, isolated people within their communities. Teenagers who choose to sign up for a placement in the forces will train and take part in logistics, cyber security, procurement or civil response operations. Does ‘National Service’ clash with “liberal values” and belief in “personal choice”? Answer: No. In 2013, 16-to-18-year-olds were required to stay in further education or training. This is a good idea that requires definition. There will undoubtedly be a pilot scheme to test out the initial framework. There will be all kinds of exemptions available for the many different individuals, sections of society, for whom the scheme is not a good fit. This is nothing new. Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) has always attracted motivated youngsters in numbers. There is good evidence that the scheme will enhance voter involvement,… Read more »
Doubtless, the Royal Commission will end up not a million miles away from this: The Royal Commission will set up a Strategic Committee that includes representatives of host organisations, young volunteers and parliamentarians, whose role is to deal with all matters relating to development of Civic Service and provide the Board of Directors with guidance. Implementation of missions is based on partnership between public and non-profit stakeholders. Civic Service is a programme designed for the civic commitment by young people aged 16 to 25, as well as by young people with disabilities aged 16 to 30, without any qualification conditions. Missions typically last between 6 to 12 months with at least 24 hours per week, for “non-profit organisations or legal entities governed by public law” having received civic service approval to accomplish general interest missions of educational, environmental, scientific, social, sporting, family or civil security or prevention. The commitment leads to payment of an allowance of £500 net per month paid by the State, and additional support in cash or kind paid for by the host organisation (£120). It entitles the volunteer to social protection funded by the State. The commitment is compatible with continuation of education or a part-time job. Civic service missions are characterised by their great diversity in terms of location… Read more »
How can you compare a compulsory national service scheme with Voluntary Service Overseas? One is compulsory, the other is voluntary. Do you not think that’s a big difference?
We will not know the exact details of the scheme until the Royal Commission sets them out after much debate and deliberation.
I would be very surprised if the scheme, in the unlikely event of a Conservative government, does not emerge with so many exemptions that it is, effectively, voluntary.
The government already works closely with VSO so volunteering for VSO will, no doubt, give an exemption from the ‘National Service’ scheme.
If it became voluntary, then that’s no different from what already exists. Any young adult can currently voluntarily choose to do voluntary work.
Yes and they can and will be exempted from this scheme for so doing.
Individuals doing apprenticeships, military, police, fire service will no doubt all also be exempted
This is an attempt to kick start youngsters not too sure of their direction of travel, to encourage them to try something that they otherwise might not have considered.
“Gerontocratic Tyranny”
Look around Louise. Have a look around. We grey tyrants have provided you with everything you see, and do and use. It is a wealth of opportunity, in a world of abundance for you to make a better life for yourself than any of your ancestors enjoyed. Its only 200 years ago that people lived short and brutal lives in the fields and the factories, or digging down holes in grinding poverty before dying at 35. Stop looking at what you don’t have, and whining about the new challenges that every generation faces, and blame us for not making better choices. Take up the challenge and do something to make your children’s lives better than yours.
I agree with you that young people do not have to endure the types of hardships that many of us (of a certain age), particularly us with a working class upbringing, had to endure. But I believe they do endure other types of difficulties that we never had to e.g. digital gaming, social media, girls having unrealistic expectations, boys being constantly told they’re worthless etc. We may have had more physical hardships, but they have more mental hardships, and our hardships matured us, theirs infantilises them. And I do think adults have abandoned adult responsibility for children over the years – from unrestrictive screen time to the allowing of obvious poisoning of children during the supposed pandemic. We’re partly responsible for a generation that cannot handle responsibility or properly communicate because they’ve never been taught to. Which era would I choose to grow up? Mine without a shadow of a doubt, and I think that question is a very telling one. I didn’t downvote you btw, I very, very, rarely downvote anyone.
Life, for the current generation of western kids is as good as it ever has been. But struggle makes you smart and tough. Maybe, we’ve made it too easy for too many of them. They are much more politically manipulated than we were, but these are lessons to be learned.
“digging down holes in grinding poverty before dying at 35”
Maybe not for people in the UK but that’s how we get cheap tech.
Maybe the nations who have the resources could have a bit of economic development and use machinery to do the digging.? Maybe the moaning kids could invent a better technology.? Maybe we should stop seeing going back to an earlier time as some kind of virtue..?
Indeed. First they would need to deal with the same problem we have and replace their government for one that serves the population.
“Muslim Vote frontman suggested Britain helped ‘create racism’”
Funny how they all want to come and live here…
An interesting new 20min documentary focusing on the threat Islam poses to the West, featuring testimonies from ex-servicemen and former Muslims;
”Radical Islam poses a significant threat to our freedom. The rise of anti-American rhetoric and violence in cities and universities is a direct result of the indoctrination led by those perpetrating a religious war against the West. PragerU’s short documentary features first-hand accounts from those who escaped Islamic rule and have come to warn America.”
https://www.prageru.com/video/dear-infidels
Radical Islam may pose a significant threat but is it just a pawn being moved across a board and if so, who’s encouraging it? Western countries certainly use Islamic extremists when it suits their own ends.
During the era of Classic COVID, Muslims fell in-line like the majority despite this, and the policies, ultimately emanating from Infidels. As with many believers in G-d, faith wasn’t strong enough for them to have trust in the creation that is their immune system.
Even in 2024 the Saudi government is recommending at least one dose of COVID vaccine to have been received in 2023-2024 for Hajj.
https://www.moh.gov.sa/HealthAwareness/Pilgrims_Health/Documents/Hajj-Health-Requirements-English-language.pdf
Whether it’s Islam, Judaism, or any other belief where teachings can be used to promote violence: extremists can make great fighters. Cheaper than a professional army and no need for explicit orders as they can take that from scripture, or a selective reading of it.
“The Prime Minister’s initiative is a great first step”
No – it might have been a useful fourth or fifth step, following on from a complete political formation, a national renewal, and the conception and execution of a plan to build a coherent defence force.
A citizen’s army depends on a sense of the polis which has been deliberately trashed by globalists like Sunak and Starmer, and won’t be remedied by sticking woke teenagers in uniform and getting them to paint coal and do strike-relief before being sent to die on the Russian Front to further the globalist cause.
Much of the racism we are exposed to in UK is anti-white racism from Muslims. Their racism is blatant and vicious, and the authorities are meekly complicit.
If course this is nothing like the Berufsbeamtengesetz or Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.
Sheesh.
What does an abusive, oppressive state do to you when you’re young and, unlike older people who’ve been working and saving their whole lives – have no money yet to confiscate?
It forces you to work for it, basically it turns you into a slave and calls it “national service” or “community. service”. And if you refuse? Fines or jail, presumably.
It is really baffling to me that a majority of the population isn’t just completely fed up of being treated like a farm animal property of the state.
Can someone explain how you can compel foreign nationals to do national service? And how desirable is it to compromise your national security by allowing them to train in your army or in cyber security? Luckily the Tories are dead and these are but hypothetical questions.
The baby boomer generation has shafted the younger generation.
By far the largest generation ever, baby boomers voted for income tax cuts and real terms pension freezes when they were in their peak earning years. In their retirement they’ve voted for steep rises in income tax and real terms increases in pensions. They have voted to restrict the supply of housing so that they obtained enormous unearned income from the value of their houses.
The baby boomer generation is the sow that devours its young. The future is bleak.
We’ll be gone soon, and then you can pick up all the tools that we have left you and do something else. The future is a challenge to be grasped.
The government of the day presented these options to manipulate voters then just like they present options to manipulate voters now. By early July we will see if it still works.
And who will be the beneficiaries of that enormous unearned income? Could it be the younger generation and the government who will share the proceeds when the baby boomers become the past generation?
You really need to think things through AJ.
I also don’t remember voting for limitless migration which is doing more for the lack of housing than any failure of government to stimulate the housing supply (remember the government doesn’t actually build houses).
Israeli right-wing journalists condemned for their celebratory response to the reported deaths of Palestinian civilians following a strike in Rafah.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-05-27/ty-article/.premium/right-wing-israeli-journalists-celebrate-rafah-attack-likening-it-to-lag-baomer-bonfire/0000018f-b983-dca9-a5cf-bd832e6e0000
‘”I want to remind you that in Rwanda the journalists were tried and sent to prison for supporting war crimes” – MK Ahmed Tibi referred to ‘some of the right-wing media people who expressed joy at seeing the pictures of burnt Palestinian children’ at the meeting of the Hadash-Ta’al faction'”
https://x.com/KnessetT/status/1795070521559634173