I decided when it was called to ignore the present general election. Its outcome seemed obvious the moment it was called. It had seemed obvious for at least three years. Labour will win. The Conservatives will lose, and lose badly. Labour in Government will be better in some respects, worse in others, but probably no different overall. I have teaching. I have marking. I have a book to finish. Commenting on the dullest general election since 2005 did not make an entry on my agenda for June.

I have now changed my mind. One of the Conservative election promises is to bring in military conscription. Speaking a few days ago on the risible GBNews, the Business Minister, Kevin Hollinrake, confirmed that “No one will be exempt from it when it’s in place.” What is the reason for this? There is no time in living memory when the British State did not treat the people of this country as its absolute property, to be robbed and bossed about just as it pleased. But why the sudden focus on kidnapping young people to put into uniform?

One reason is that the British State is keen on an open war with Russia – an open war, as opposed to the shadow war we have been fighting for the past generation. Even nowadays, a war needs a sufficiency of young men for sending off to be shot at. For the whole of this century, and particularly since the “Conservatives” came into government, there has been nothing like a voluntary sufficiency. Here are some figures I have put together from The UK Defence Journal. These show desired and actual numbers of ordinary recruits to the Army:

This is nowhere near enough fodder for a modern Somme or Passchendaele. Despite what they will say when they think someone in authority is listening, young men in this country are not stupid. They know that joining the Army has nothing to do with fighting for King and country, and everything to do with committing atrocities against civilians or dying for ends no one in authority will honestly or even clearly explain. The answer, then, to this collective “I pray thee have me excused” is “compel them to come in.”

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