He can fuck right off, frankly.
And next Monday, the nation is asked to volunteer in the Big Help Out.
Okay…
Something quite fundamental and deeply disturbing is going on here, with implications for almost every aspect of public policy. If we do not raise levels of participation, volunteering and mixing with each other it will be increasingly difficult to level-up poorer areas, improve social mobility, maintain social cohesion, prevent a growing divide between elites and the rest, make common sacrifices in future crises — and there will be plenty of those, mark my words — or even maintain basic voluntary services.
As Timmy notes, there are ways to improve this. However…
Governments have made some moves to address this. David Cameron advocated the Big Society, and established the National Citizen Service, but his greatest ambitions for it were not fulfilled. Governments come up against financial constraints, the urgency of other issues and a reluctance to call for anything compulsory in an age in which people have stopped associating their right to freedom with corresponding obligations and duties.
Bog off. Seriously, go stick your head in an alligator’s mouth. Freedom does not mean that we are obliged to volunteer, because then it isn’t voluntary and mandatory is not freedom. The whole point about freedom is the freedom not to do things if you don’t want to, it doesn’t mean that you exchange it for what some politician thinks you should do in gratitude for the freedom they have graciously granted us.
The big question is whether we can ever brace ourselves for mandatory service. Our new Nato allies, the Finns, are enthusiasts for national service. The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, remarked recently on how much he would love to have the reserves this creates. We do not have to go completely Nordic to at least learn from and experiment with their methods: a paper from the Royal United Services Institute a few years ago proposed a more targeted and selective form of national service that would extend training and reserve status to far larger numbers than today.
Scratch a politician and you find an authoritarian cunt underneath. National service of any stripe is morally indefensible. We do not owe our service to the state. The whole point about volunteering is that you do it out of the goodness of your heart, not because you have been compelled. Also, just imagine the ranks of surly, unwilling recalcitrant conscripts that someone is going to have to manage. I know that if I was of an age to be conscripted, I’d be a grain of sand in the machine for the time I was imprisoned in the process.
Leave volunteering to the volunteers and leave those who don’t want to alone.
Willie Hague can go fuck himself and take his compulsory volunteering with him. Nasty little fucker that he is.
‘If we do not raise levels of participation, volunteering and mixing with each other it will be increasingly difficult to level-up poorer areas, improve social mobility, maintain social cohesion, prevent a growing divide between elites and the rest, make common sacrifices in future crises — and there will be plenty of those, mark my words — or even maintain basic voluntary services.’
What the hell any of the above sentence has to do with the price of fish is open to interpretation – a paid WEF shill and seemingly proud of it. Hang them all
…but first. The lions.
You can make a reasonable argument that many of the ‘catastrophes’ are far more about public compliance than the specific issue. So ‘Net Zero’ is all about compliance, not science. ‘Lockdowns’ were all about compliance, not science (and COVID controls are only slowly being relaxed in the USA). Being uncritical of Trans issues is all about compliance, not science.
Bureaucrats hate non-compliance, and most governments are increasingly bureaucratic. Strange that the bonfire of the Quangos never took hold – unless you consider that they are a sideways approach to enforcing compliance and therefore too useful to the Powers That Be.
Isn’t the whole point of having nuclear weapons that we don’t need to maintain a large standing army?
Come invade us and watch your country turn into a warm mushroom field…
Anyone who wants to volunteer to die in some godforsaken hell hole to make politicians richer is welcome to do so, but the rest of us can just get on with our lives peacefully.
I just view this as politicos wanting more bragging rights and ability to bully small countries so they can make themselves richer.
I’m with you. If I got conscripted I’d be a right pain. Obeying every rule to the letter. And we all know how much fun you can have doing that…
“If we do not raise levels of participation, volunteering and mixing with each other it will be increasingly difficult to level-up poorer areas, improve social mobility, maintain social cohesion, prevent a growing divide between elites and the rest…”
By far the best way to achieve all this would be to massively shrink the government. Constant government interference in ordinary people’s lives is the problem not the answer because they always manage to screw up everything that they touch. A few posts ago you covered the story of a lady who voluntarily cleared a patch of wasteland and planted a few flowers. What was the official reaction to this example of spontaneous volunteering? They came down on her like a ton of bricks and told her to stop. Meanwhile we help out friends, relatives and neighbours when they need it, providing lifts, caring for pets when they go on holiday, helping with removals. All without government interference.
“Compulsory volunteering”
Captain Manwaring did a “Right men: I want 4 volunteers – Pike, Jones, Frazer and Godfrey” type of skit in Dad’s Army. At least that was comedy, not real life…
Indeed. What these tossers don’t seem to realise is that we are not their chattels, we do not owe them anything and it is not their place to force us to do anything. They work for us, not the other way around.
In their view, you have that exactly the wrong way round. And, in their view, they must be right because they are the important people.
If they make volunteering compulsory, what are they going to do to those who refuse? Start locking up conchy pensioners, or will they dock social credit points so you can’t get 15 minute city travel permits or winter fuel payments?
Bags I get the “Dope Black Queers” gig.
If you don’t want to “volunteer”, you are selfish, self-centered, lacking in community spirit (volksgemeinschaft) etc etc
It’s precisely the same mindset that wants to harvest organs irrespective of consent. Unless you specifically say no we assume you consent.
I recall previous comments here in connection with assumed organ consent. It’s basically trying to nationalise private acts of charity and kindness.
They can SO fuck off.
Now that they have introduced assumed consent, I have formally withdrawn it. They may assume no such thing. They want my organs, they bloody well ask.
I did too and for exactly the same reason.
And every time I go into a garage these days, the infinitely irritating little red/green tabs for “donation” to “charity”. See similar things on quite a few websites for paying things online too.
Charity my arse!
I click the red button. ‘Charity’ could mean anything. If I want to give, it will be to an organisation that I’ve vetted.
When I showed my Spanish GP my organ donor card, he handed it back saying basically that he didn’t think I had many desirable parts! He was still lamenting the mandatory use of helmets for motor bikers when he retired.
I used to have all the donour cards in my wallet, when the covid bollocks nonsense started I withdrew my consent. They don’t deserve my organs, nor my blood. Fuck them.
I’m trying to help a local charity that exists for the benefit of the village. I need to get the existing Trustees replaced because two are too old and the other moved 200 miles. I need legal help to get the new trustees appointed, ID&V for the Charity Commission and the bank, have to comply with GDPR, and all this to give out £1,500 per year.
Yes that’s right, fifteen hundred quid for the benefit of sick and poor in my village. Why am I doing this? And why would making it compulsory help in any way??
I’m afraid it’s become necessary to do good by stealth. Once the activity comes to the attention of local government there are whole layers of jobsworths and bureaucrats passing forms to each other, making sure all the boxes *that they invented* are properly ticked. Required compliance is just control in a pin striped suit, or, increasingly, a clown suit.
The Government has taken all of our money to spend on stuff that used to be provided by charity, but Big Government does it less efficiently. And no matter what the service is it demands more and more managers, and regulation, all at increasing cost.
They take a load of our money when we earn it. They take a load more when we dare spend what they leave us. Sometimes a tax on the tax. They tax the tips we give to workers who have pleased us. They tax the pension we have saved for. They tax insurance premiums. They tax you when you die. And you pay tax on your funeral.
As for Wee Willie Hague, he should slap on his wee baseball cap, back to front of course, and lead by example, by marching off into the distance to where ever his WEF, Davos and CIA puppet masters are organising the next war.
Yes. It should also needs pointing out that low tax economies are more prosperous and productive. That the state does more harm than just rob us.
But don’t you remember the social contract you signed at birth?
Will our newly arrived English brethren who have a much better sun tan than me be included? I’ve watched white British dig deep into their pockets for disaster and humanitarian relief in Muslim countries but countries like Saudi Arabia etc. gave the square root of naff all. What about making them “give back to society” since they get far more in benefits, housing and other assistance than, for example, ex-servicemen sleeping rough on the streets.
Or will it be only those of the paler complexion that this modern form of slavery will apply to? I think that we all know what the answer to that would be.
As Stonyground said above, the Government have a reverse Midas touch in that everything they touch turns to shit. This will be no different in that it will need a lot more “Civil Servants” and tax to finance them and be another massive waste of time, cash and resources.
Besides, I know that the Services (the army in particular) consider themselves to be professionals and do NOT want National Service. Having a load of fat, druggie chavs forced on them will go down like a pork pie at a Jewish wedding.
Back in the 80s I was an Assistant Scout Leader with the village Troop. I helped because I knew the Leader and the good that he did with the village boys who would otherwise be at a loose end and find themselves doing mischief out if boredom.I believe we helped a good number of boys to become better equipped to deal with life by showing them how to do things like fellwalking and canoeing and becoming self reliant. I eventually resigned as I moved out of the area. Would I do the same thing again ? not likely as the Scout movement has become infested with all the woke bollocks and there is no way that I could support that.
The influence of charities was greatly enhanced by Bliar and Brune before they were kicked out of government and after they’d trashed the country. Far too many were created to carry on their dubious posturing.
These charities have continued to leech money for spurious reasons and have the elite of fat Islingtonites to support all their stupid desires!
I choose who I give anything to – never a lefty bunch of crooks.
In poorer areas, if you want to get things done you might get the volunteers but there is a lack of money to achieve things. Simple things like setting out a garden area costs, play areas are expensive. Perhaps the gov should set up a fund that the current volunteers can apply for. When people see things getting done it will attract others to help.
If you try making it compulsory people will rebel and nothing will get done.
“Perhaps the gov should set up a fund that the current volunteers can apply for. When people see things getting done it will attract others to help.”
I don’t think that is a good idea. It will just attract grifters. Far better for the government to butt out and tax people less. This automatically makes poor people considerably less poor. It also makes fundraising easier because better off people have more spare cash.
Ein Riech, Ein Volk, Ein Fhurer! My translation of what Hague said.