In a recent post, I quoted this from the BBC to show that we are now truly in the post-ironic age:
David Cameron has said that a Conservative government would train a 5,000-strong "neighbourhood army" to set up community groups. The Tory leader said in a speech this offered a "positive alternative to Labour's big government" approach. "Our aim is for every adult citizen to be an active member of an active neighbourhood group," he said...
Fair enough, you might think, it's only 5,000. What's 5,000 extra taxpayer funded jobs on top of eight million? Hardly an army, is it, against a population of over sixty million?
No, not fair enough. Those are just the 'officers'. Via Obnoxio (from whom I pinched the title for this post), we find that the Tories are, in all seriousness, planning a compulsory-voluntary National Citizen Service for all 16 year olds to provide the 'foot soldiers'.
The first idea was completely insane, and I'm not sure what word to use to describe something that is twice as completely insane as that.
Friday, 2 April 2010
The Caring, Understanding New Tories
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8 comments:
AKA Mao and his children?
And this is the 'Conservative' Party?? FFS!
I read an interesting recent article on the Marxism which has crept into the Tories under Cameron. If one thinks it through, it's not hard to see why. The nod and wink to the true Conservatives in the party over the EU was a sign of worse things to come. DC is in thrall to Brussels.
That word you are looking for is "bonkers".
Antisthenes, I disagree. The word is 'sinister'.
The word is Hitlerjugend.
Sieg Dave?
I'm beginning to feel a bit like Poland in 1944. My vote might mean the defeat of the Nazis but only by inviting in the Communists.
Woah! Contrary to what Mark says, there is no suggestion at all that this would be compulsory.
Here's what the blog Mark linked to actually says:
"This will offer all 16-year olds the opportunity to take part in a three-week social project in the summer after they’ve finished their GCSEs. First and foremost we want young people to experience a challenge – we’ll take them out of their comfort zones on a residential team-building course of a week or more."
I fail to see why that is "completely insane".
What's more, the 5,000 people ("officers" as Mark put it) are not taxpayer funded jobs, as I've pointed out before. DC has talked about them being trained at taxpayer expense, but that's a far cry from paying their salaries out of taxes.
AC, stop playing with words and logic.
We already have a voluntary system - anybody can join a litter-picking scheme, the Scouts, bob-a-job week, the Cadets, church groups, collect for charity, join Neighbourhood Watch, help an elderly relative with the shopping and cleaning, campaign for a zebra-crossing and so on.
That's all voluntary and doesn't need the Tories to pay for 'residential' training camps.
@adamcollyer: have you not noticed that what starts out as 'voluntary' soon becomes 'compulsory', whoever is in charge of the levers of power?
And anyway I'd be surprised if you could find 5000 adults who are stupid enough to try to voluntarily (and presumably FOC) organise a bunch of todays 16 year olds, with no right to discipline them in any way.
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