British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week found a new and ridiculous way to announce a national election by standing in front of No.10 Downing St in drenching rain, without an umbrella. But the campaign quickly grew more serious.
Sunak’s first election promise was that his government would reinstate compulsory national service for all 18-year-olds. This is a bold idea for an unpopular government to stake its future on. Did Sunak do this because of the seriousness of the military threats to Britain or because of the desperation of the British Tory party to win votes? Illustration by Dionne Gain Around 40 per cent of all nations on earth have some form of national service for young people, and the percentage is growing.
Such schemes vary enormously. Not all are compulsory; not all involve a military element. The plan Sunak proposes for Britain, for example, is a hybrid.
It’d be compulsory for all 18-year-olds, but only one in 10 would do military service for a year. The other 90 per cent would perform some community service. The concept of national service for young people had been passing out of fashion with the end of the Cold War but today is building momentum as the threat from autocratic regimes has returned.
In Europe, for instance, in the last half-dozen years, France, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania have announced the reintroduction of such schemes, and Germany is considering it. After two centuries of peace in Sweden, the country’s Minister for Civil Defence, Car.
