In the news

Plus the new destroyers don't even work in warm climates.

And also spending all the money on stupid F35s.

Oh, and then there's Trident.

The way the cadets used to work - and I can only go on my experience of being in the ATC 25-odd years ago - is that you paid your weekly subs and this covered the basic costs of running such a venture. The people who then oversaw this did so on a voluntary basis.

As for militarisation, that wasn't the vibe at all. It was actually quite a laugh and the people it attracted were fairly geeky. In some respects, it was little different from the Scouts, but was perceived as being way cooler!

This stuff about exempting the army from the ECHR sounds like something that will be talked about in future documentaries with ominous music playing in the background.

Exactly this, with regard to the point of the article I read.

there's always the robert heinlein approach.

no civil rights until you kill a load of bugs on a distant planet that has no beef with us.

#goroughnecks

LOL yeah. If you really believed it happened. I wouldn't put anything past those media hungry morons

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37540139

Polish women go on strike to express concern about a law that criminalizes abortion. Back to the Catholic dark ages.

[the abortion rate there is relatively high, due to lack of contraception access/empowerment of women but hey, sure, this shit works so well in Ireland/NI too]

I am all for bringing back the birch. It's a nice tree.

Do You Want To Know More?

#thefilmisbetterthanthebook

One of the most interesting political novels I've ever read.

The film is loosely based on the universe of..... very loosely

Yeah! Doublepost! *deleted

Fallon's speech makes it seem that he wants the UK to follow a US model of military-led foreign policy.

Which, I guess, means following a US-like approach to international law - Do without the unilateral / multi-lateral agreements, and make up their own shit as they go, bilaterally, tied in with the carrot & stick of bilateral trade agreements.

Well good fucking luck with that - because, you know, our trade position is so strong.

Unless, of course, we just do what the US wants. Because sovereignty.

My guess is that he / the MOD would also like to take away the rights of their own servicemen - who enjoy more protection under the ECHR than, say, an Iraqi farmer in a dungeon in Falujah.

Who can doubt the value of a 'club' that a child opts into, even with a little parental persuasion. There is a trade-off, the content has to be sufficiently enthralling to ensure repeat attendance.
The CCF will be run in the schools, by the schools.
I remember a previous Gove-ism designed to let surplus armed forces officers directly into 'ejucashun', without any specific teacher training. This could well be the pay-off.
Some borderline ptsd Iraq veteran living out out his fantasy of training a future generation of Jason Bournes.
Tomorrow does not belong to me!

If it's the Army Cadets in the existing sense then I doubt the school will have much to do with it beyond providing the physical facilities: a gymnasium and a class-room.

The guys who ran my ATC were in their 40s/50s and very nice people. The ones you had to watch out for were the sixth-form sergeants who got off on pulling your 13 year old self's hair when it gone too long at the back.

physical facilities: a gymnasium

Because schools have those still...

a class-room

And will probably have to sell these off soon enough...

I'm sure those newfangled academies possess very nice gymnasia.

Academies are so 2015. It's all about grammar schools now.

Sports halls part funded by grant and open at the weekend as a community resource so the local leisure centre could be sold off to a developer for luxury flats with 60% overseas absentee ownership.

what's the yield on those bad boys?

If you had fun it worked - the goal is to encourage young people into the military.

Any targeting of non-adults by the military is highly ethically dubious.

It was announced as part of a package of military policies, not education policies. The aim is to help the army. The army should stick to targeting adults.

This!

The army should stick to targeting adults.

My cousin is in the rifles. He does away days giving kids a taste of military style training, assault courses, orienteering, that kind of thing. Some of them love it, some of them are lazy pains in the arse. Whats the ethical issue? I don't think it turns any of them into violent people, and very few probably go on to join up.

I reckon one benefit for the army, or for those who do the away days, is it gives soldiers a break from the macho, racist, repetitive atmosphere of the army, and the prospect of learning skills outside of the forces which would be useful if they leave. Too many leave the army with no civilian skills.

Whats the ethical issue?
.
the macho, racist, repetitive atmosphere of the army